An interview with University of Washington Bothell business student Mubarak Sokry on Mental Health First Aid Certification
By Angelina Lam, Mubarak Sokry, Yien Son, Tanveer Tamrez, and Navya Uppuluri, University of Washington Bothell School of Business
CONTENT WARNING: This post contains discussions about suicide.
As Mubarak Sokry turned on his Zoom screen to talk to his classmates about his recent certification in Youth Mental Health First Aid to learn communication skills in having difficult conversations around mental health, he was leaning back, gazing off to the side. The display name under Mubarak did not match because he was using another students’ computer, so at first, we didn’t know he had entered the virtual classroom. At first, he was nervous, rocking back and forth in his chair.
However, the more Mubarek talked, the more confident he became as he described young people within the mosque community whom he hopes to bring his newfound communication skills to, offering deeper insight into cultural perspectives on mental health and his role in breaking stigma in his community.
Suppose you have somebody at your mosque who’s a teenager comes up to you and says: “Hey, my best friend just moved away and I’m feeling really sad”, or perhaps, “I’m kind of awkward at school, and I don’t have a lot of friends”, and/or “I’m just sad.” We already went through what ALGEE stands for, so I’m not going to go through it again, but how would you approach, and how would you assess that the young person is not in crisis?
MS: In the ALGEE action plan, the first thing that you would need to do in this situation is approach and assess whether the person is in a crisis situation or a non-crisis situation. What this means is that you are trying to find a good time to have a conversation with the person and assess whether the person is contemplating suicide or harm could be caused, which would mean you would be in a crisis. If they do express signs of a crisis, then you would have to take immediate action and contact emergency services, such as 911 if you need people immediately dispatched, or 988 if you don’t need people to be dispatched.
Assessing the situation in this scenario, whether it is a crisis or not. You would have to look at verbal and nonverbal cues; this could be if the teen actively is alluding to the thought of suicide or if you notice that the teen is more socially disconnected than usual, etc. In certain situations, it might even be appropriate to ask them, “Are you thinking about suicide?” However, in this scenario, we wouldn’t have to approach the teen because they approached us. Also, given this scenario, there are no clear signs of a crisis, so most likely it is a non-crisis situation.
Since the teen brought this up to me, it would be best to pull them aside to a more private area of the mosque and have a one-on-one conversation, and try to listen to them nonjudgmentally and follow up with what the teen brought up by saying, “I know it’s tough to have a close friend move away. Do you want to talk about it?” This would be a good way to show empathy to the teen and allow them to share more about what they are feeling.
After listening to them, you could give reassurance to validate their emotions that they just opened up to you by saying, “It is normal to feel sad when a close friend moves away. You’re not alone in feeling this way.” This instills in them that there is hope in getting over the emotions that they are going through.
After this, I would try toencourage them to seek out professional help, such as counseling. This is a helpful step in helping the teen gain better coping strategies and feel less isolated in what they are struggling with. I think that a lot of people are hesitant to seek professional help, so if the teen seems hesitant, I would offer to help find them resources and accompany them to said resources.
As for other ways, I would encourage self-help and other strategies by encouraging them to keep coming to the mosque, as it’s a place where people gather socially, and most people are familiar with each other, or support groups like NAMI Connections. It’s important for self help because friends can support one another, and having that sense of community can really help someone feel less isolated.
Especially in such a tight-knit community where everybody knows everyone, right?
MS: Tight-knit community, when once something gets out, it spreads. Gossip in the community is very common. I feel like that kind of thing kind of makes people more reserved, because if you share one thing, you’re not really sure if it’s gonna spread on to the next person.
How can mental health first aid help your community? You mentioned there’s a lot of stigma, right? A lot of cultural stigma, maybe, a lot of institutional stigma. How can mental health first aid stop the stigma?
MS: I feel like you could bridge the gap of how people who hold mental health stigmas see doctors and psychiatrists, is you could frame it as seeing a doctor if you have an injury. You wouldn’t ignore an injury, and you kind of compare the two like that. And then, I feel like, by having that [many within] the older generation […] they are not really used to talking about topics like mental health, so they can be a bit more against talking about mental health. So it’s kind of hard to, I guess, bring it up, but I feel eventually, if more young people talk about mental health more, then I feel like stigma around mental health would decrease in my community.
What are some signs and symptoms that you would look for? Crisis or not in crisis?
MS: When trying to determine whether someone is in crisis, is to look at their body language and behavior. Someone in crisis may show signs that they are in extreme distress and could potentially harm themselves or even people around them. Or they might show that they are unable to function normally. Depending on how difficult the situation is, you would probably need to call 911. If you don’t need someone dispatched, you could reach out to 988. Signs that someone is not in crisis include manageable stressors, somewhat normal mood fluctuations, and the ability to function normally and complete day-to-day tasks.
If someone in your community says no after you ask the direct question, or one of the two direct questions (Are you thinking about suicide/are you thinking about killing yourself?) Does that necessarily mean that they’re not thinking about it? So you’re shaking your head no. And why is that?
MS: Because I feel like people keep that to themselves, and you kind of have to bring it up over and over again to try to get to actually see if they’re actually thinking about suicide or not […] When trying to determine whether someone is in crisis, look at their body language and behavior. Someone in crisis may show signs of extreme distress… they might not be able to function normally. Depending on how difficult the situation is, you would probably need to call [for emergency services]. If you don’t need [immediate] dispatch, you can reach out to 988.
How did this training change your approach to conversations around mental health? For example, I go back to the suicide prevention training, or the suicide… I would say, suicide education. So we talked about asking the question. Prior to this training, would you have asked the question directly?
MS: Honestly, I don’t think I would’ve felt comfortable asking those questions. I feel like, before this training, not even being trained on what to say can make any conversation around mental health kind of scary. It would be kind of hard to even bring up the conversations, to even talk about mental health. I feel like the training has really allowed me to be more confident when talking about anything mental health-related by giving me structure, such as ALGEE.
During the training, they discussed self-care. Is there anything that you do for self-care?
MS: Yeah, there are some things I do. I exercise around five times a week and try to eat relatively healthy. Taking care of my health is a big thing for me. Another thing that I include as self-care is taking care of my pet Cockatiel, Mango.
Moving forward, conversations like the ones Mubarak is starting are essential to breaking the stigma around mental health, especially in close-knit communities. In practicing having these difficult conversations, Mubarak is making shifts in his social circles and preventing the idea that it’s shameful to discuss mental health and making key points on how to approach others to express concern. It’s significant to be the change even when mental health is not normalized. Instead of being silent, make an impact in your community, and one clear step towards that is education through MFHA certification, which equips people to recognize signs of mental health challenges, respond appropriately, and guide others to professional support.
In addition, people of all generations may face challenges in understanding and being familiarized with the term “mental health” due to the idea of it being a weakness when there are other “difficulties” in life. They can still benefit from learning the broadened outlook of mental health and support methods by enrolling in an MHFA course offered by NAMI: Mental Health First Aid Certification and Valley Cities: Mental First Aid Training. These trainings are accessible, community-focused, and designed to empower people every day. By becoming certified, individuals can help create safer, more open spaces in religious settings, such as mosques. This gives mental health the same level of importance as physical health through slowly fostering a place where “toughing it out” is replaced with understanding, support, and care. Please visit NAMI Seattle’s volunteer page to participate in making a difference revolving around the topic of mental health.
This article was created by a group of University of Washington Bothell School of Business students. We want to send our thanks to Leanne Machado and Anastasia Mironyuk, both writing tutors at the University of Bothell Writing Center, for their sincerity and support in our writing development.
This interview has been edited for content and clarity.