The February issue of Scientific American had an interesting editorial on ‘Psychological First Aid’. This is not a new area, but has become more important with COVID having been responsible for increased anxiety and depression. The course is analogous to normal  first aid courses in that it teaches people what they can do, and more importantly, what not to do if they find themselves having to help somebody having psychological problems.

The State Library of New York teaches this to their ‘Public Safety and Health’ Care students but they have now started to teach it to their Librarians “who have become frequent confidantes to patrons experiencing extreme stress”

Johns Hopkins offers a free online course if you are interested.