{"id":131778,"date":"2025-09-09T17:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T17:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/131778\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T17:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T17:55:10","slug":"become-mental-health-first-aid-certified-with-eden-the-do-more-ag-foundation-and-fcc-pembinavalleyonline-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/131778\/","title":{"rendered":"Become ‘Mental Health First Aid Certified’, with Eden, the Do More AG Foundation, and FCC – PembinaValleyOnline.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eden Mental Health Services<\/a> has been chosen as a community-based champion by the Do More Ag Foundation<\/a> to host a Mental Health First Aid training course in Winkler, set for September 11th and 12th. The two-day program, nationally sponsored by Farm Credit Canada<\/a> (FCC), is looking\u00a0to equip people with the tools to recognize and respond to mental health crises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is Mental Health First Aid?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tyson Deceuninck, Marketing and Events Manager at Eden shared, \u201cSo this is a two-day training on how you can deal with someone who’s starting to experience a mental health crisis or some sort of minor issue. It’s basically what you can do for them. Similar to physical first aid\u2026 until you can get them the professional help that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participants will leave the course certified in Mental Health First Aid, developed by the Canadian Mental Health Commission. The training covers crisis identification, mental health awareness, and practical ways to support someone in distress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat education\u2026 affects everyone around them. So,\u00a0I like to think of it like that. It will give them the tools they need to have a ripple effect with their community and the people that they speak to on a daily basis.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

While seats were initially reserved for Eden staff and local partners, remaining spots are now being opened to the wider community, and people can register by clicking here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Why agriculture needs support\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nick Shymanski, Relationship Manager at FCC\u2019s Morden office, shared\u00a0why the organization is supporting the initiative. \u201cAt FCC\u2026 our mission statement is supporting the agriculture industry and farmers as a whole, and that’s more than just traditional financing services… Farming is one of the most stressful jobs out there,\u201d he said. \u201cRecognising that, FCC has partnered with the Do More Ag Foundation and Eden Health Services to provide support to communities and to farmers to help with mental health services.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Shymanski also emphasized breaking down stigma in agriculture. \u201cIt’s common for farmers\u2026 to view having or admitting that they\u2019re struggling with mental health as a sign of weakness,\u201d he said. \u201cI heard a cool quote a couple of days ago\u2026 \u2018Seeking help when you are struggling with mental health isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s taking care of business.\u2019\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

He pointed to resources the FCC has dedicated to helping people recognize, identify and take the next steps for those seeking help, such as their national crisis line for farmers, farmhands, and family or relatives of farmers, 1-866-FARMS01. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Deceuninck shared some statistics, highlighting not only the need for the training, but also spreading awareness that it is in fact needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“According to the Canadian Mental Health Commission, one in five Canadians will experience a mental health issue in any given year. One in two by the time they’re forty years old,” he added, “In terms of suicide rates, according to Canadian Mental Health and Addictions Commission, it’s double in rural areas than that in urban areas.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related stories:<\/p>\n

The Community Champion\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Eden, being chosen as Winkler\u2019s community champion for this training reflects its long-standing role in providing mental health supports across the region. \u201cWe had to apply for this grant\u2026 That’s who we are. It’s mental health,\u201d Deceuninck said, pointing to Eden\u2019s psychiatric facility, supportive housing, employment services, and counselling programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mental Health First Aid training will run September 11th and 12th from 9 am to 5 pm at Eden Mental Health Services in Winkler. Admission is free, but seats are limited, with just over ten spots remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome out on September 11th and 12th,\u201d Deceuninck said in closing. \u201cSign up. Not only are we the Community champion, but it also allows you to be a community champion as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eden Mental Health Services has been chosen as a community-based champion by the Do More Ag Foundation to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-131778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}