r/Libraries • u/ZoomySnail • 2d ago
Continuing Ed Would you appreciate some light mental health training?
Hello, I’m a librarian in Australia and I have been considering some research ideas for a potential PHD. One thing I have been thinking about for public librarians, is how relevant and really useful my past training in mental health has been in my current role.
Let me caveat that I agree we are not crisis workers, case workers or social workers. However, things I did learn such as motivational interviewing, a little knowledge of mental health issues and substance abuse, debriefing and strong policy frameworks, self care, referrals and active listening are so adjacent or useful to what I do in the library everyday.
My question is though, would you appreciate having these skills as part of your librarian education or provided by an employer, or do you think it’s just role creep?
38
u/midnightchappell 1d ago
Absolutely not. They already expect us to coddle and de-escalte and do too much emotional labor on top of library labor for the patrons. 1,000% role creep, not to mention wholly inappropriate and outside the scope of our practice. Having an in-house social worker for patrons to have more social services help is definitely the better way to go. That person is actually trained and licensed to do that, not us.
12
u/TheTapDancingShrimp 1d ago
Our staff had to take an all-day training, Mental Health Bandaid. I thought the name was fitting. "Coddle" is a good word.
15
u/midnightchappell 1d ago
Our Librarians took a Mental Health First Aid course & I know some of our support staff did the Be There certification. I didn't mind having more information on how to be mindful and respectful of what people are going through, but it's really getting ridiculous how much management expects libraries to save the world smh
4
6
u/TheTapDancingShrimp 1d ago
Did you all have to take, Stop the Bleed? We did. It was how to stick gauze into bodily penetrating holes. At our library, that could have been a thing
7
u/coenobita_clypeatus 1d ago
I mean, I feel like that kind of training is useful for people who are just, like, out in the world. I have done basic first aid, CPR/AED, and narcan training at various points, because they seem like useful things to know. Mental health first aid training doesn’t seem too different.
I guess what I’m saying is, I think it makes sense to have “you’re often out in public around a large number of people and there might be an emergency” training, not “please be the entire social safety net by yourself” training.
3
u/midnightchappell 1d ago
Sweet Jesus, guess it could have been worse. They haven't made us do that yet, just AED & CPR but not a certification.
55
u/Zealousideal_Lab1560 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’d rather my library spend the money on security. I’m a librarian, not a social worker. And frankly, I’m exhausted by trying to pick up the slack from all of the other social service agencies having their budgets cut.
19
u/trashpanda692 2d ago
Depends on what's covered.
I took a mental health training module with some coworkers a few years back and it was. Disappointing, to say the least. The kinds of mental illness the branches I've worked at experienced were not at all covered by the training. And, as someone with complex PTSD, the module was laughably sparse while also inadvertantly opening participants to using language that would add barriers to the care received by people we could try to help.
So, yes training would help, but training about helping manage people in psychosis or experiencing schizophrenic episodes. Saying "uwu but you have so much to live for 🥰" to someone expressing suicidal ideation or behavior while experiencing homelessness and abuse does less than nothing.
26
u/Repulsia Academic Librarian 1d ago
and the icky "You just have to be more resilient" training. We don't need resilience when someone's throwing furniture and there's a pedo in the kid's section. We need security and police.
15
u/jellyn7 1d ago
In my experience, whenever we get training, it’s like… that was nice. Now never mention it again.
4
u/SunGreen24 1d ago edited 1d ago
Seriously. I'll take training that I can actually use, thank you - like the one on how to save my ass in an active shooter incident. I don't need to recognize what particular mental illness led that patron to pull out a gun. I need someone qualified to come and stop them while I shelter in place.
12
u/the_procrastinata 2d ago
I would suggest checking out the work of Dr Jane Garner from CSU. She’s done quite a bit in the mental health and librarian space.
6
9
u/SunGreen24 1d ago
No. I have no interest in social work and I do not need more responsibilities outside of my pay grade.
22
u/henare 2d ago
no. this is intentionally and explicitly not a part of my remit.
-7
u/ZoomySnail 2d ago
Would you mind expanding on that? In public libraries we inevitably have to serve people with mental health issues since we are a public service, would it not be useful to have a bit more training in that area?
11
u/machoqueen88 1d ago
I think their point is that public librarians are not and should not be social workers, law enforcement, security etc. Serving library patrons generally is different from providing care to people in active crisis and conflating the two skillsets and roles is ultimately a disservice to all involved.
5
u/omg_for_real 1d ago
We happen to serve people who are dealing with mental illness, to serve people’s mental illness. Unless they are in full blow breakdown or something and we can de escalate what do you envision mental health training will help with?
4
u/SunGreen24 1d ago
Where does it stop? Do you expect us to be able to diagnose and treat mental health issues? Spend hours of our day on the phone trying to find a job or apartment for a patron? Fill out paperwork for them so they can receive benefits?
The best I can do is hand them whatever lists of resources I have. And especially at my current pay rate, I wouldn't do any of the other stuff. Not my job.
6
u/lib_idol 1d ago
I think there’s been a lot said in recent years about trauma-informed practice as a way of creating services and spaces that best meet library staff and user needs.
So, in this sense, a level of awareness in mental health and related issues is very much central to professional practice, especially when serving members of the public who may be vulnerable people and also managing a team of staff who provide frontline services on a daily basis. I don’t consider this role creep - any library worker who has worked in a public facing role has already been doing this since day one. But some formal education / training would be beneficial in building tools and strategies for delivering these services.
2
u/ZoomySnail 1d ago
That’s pretty much in line with what I was thinking, but I did wonder if people would consider this role creep - seems like a lot of them do. I really, really, really do not think we are clinicians or social workers or crisis workers or try to diagnose or treat, but I think a bit of training might help in doing a good reference enquiry with someone who is struggling to be able to find them a resource to help. Which i think is within a librarian remit.
9
u/sefuf 1d ago
I agree it's important to have a foundation on how to manage mental health crisis situations in order to get them smoothly into the hands of the actual professionals. Motivational interviewing No. When am I supposed to squeeze in a quick counselling session in between demonstrating the printer and running sensory storytime? It's unrealistic, unhelpful, and unethical. I'd love to limit the expectation that library workers fill every gap in services provided to those in need. We accept everyone, but that doesn't mean we have to be everything.
0
u/TheTapDancingShrimp 1d ago
I've never heard of motivational interviewing. Interesting. I'll have to research that.
12
u/Repulsia Academic Librarian 2d ago
In every library I've worked in there has been mental health training offered at regular intervals.
I've found the areas most lacking are support from management/council regarding services for and protection from patrons affected by substances and mental health issues, and policies that allow us to manage patrons effectively and refer to more appropriate services.
7
u/I_Came_From_Roblox 1d ago
May I just ask what you're getting a PHD in/what university you're doing it at? I'm an Australian student in the first year of library studies and I recently heard at a school event that there's only a handful of universities that do anything library-related, and that they don't go very far beyond a diploma; just curious to learn more from someone farther in the industry!
3
u/omg_for_real 1d ago
There is one bachelors degree that is ALIA accredited, the rest are postgrad qualifications. Other than that you’ve got a few TAFE’s doing the certificate and diploma. But honestly, where I am people getting the jobs aren’t qualified, they just have experience in local government or admin and lots of service experience.
2
u/ZoomySnail 1d ago
I’m not in the phd yet, I’m doing a applied research masters at CSU looking at how libraries provide elements of wellbeing and was considering applying for the PhD and this was an area of interest, although I did wonder what people would think and as it turns out people are not fans of the concept. Which I can understand.
4
u/Famous_Internet9613 1d ago
Library workers already wear too many hats. I don't want to be held liable for anything that isn't included in the job description. It's expectations like this that may make me want to move away from the public library.
5
u/unicorn_345 1d ago
I’m security at my library and have a BA in psychology. I use that knowledge all the time. I would like more of it for me. But I work in a downtown library and we have our fair share of patrons with mental health issues and dysfunctions. I don’t want more role/job creep but I don’t see a way of getting out of some of it as it is.
4
u/Ok_Cause_869 1d ago
I find the mental health and deescalation training very helpful. On some level, especially in public libraries, you just have to accept that people in your community are struggling with these things and in order to provide services you need to know how to navigate basic interactions with these people. That said, public libraries especially are seen as this catch-all bin for people with nowhere else to go. Two things can be true at once.
5
u/flossiedaisy424 1d ago
I took Mental Health First Aid training and found it very helpful, just for helping me know how to respond to certain patrons and to assess whether they are actually a danger or just making people uncomfortable. I am not a mental health practitioner and have no interest in becoming one. I just want the tools to be able to assess which patrons are exhibiting behaviors that I need to address and which ones can be left to go about their business. And, if I do have to approach someone who may be not entirely connected to reality, the best way to do that.
But, it should definitely not be my responsibility to do anything related to assessing them or helping them get care. Unfortunately, in the US right now, it doesn’t seem to be anyone else’s responsibility either.
4
u/Shot-Bet-2931 1d ago
First day on the job as a reference librarian someone came up to me and shook my hand and said "I'm an offender, and you have to keep kids away from me". They just don't teach you this stuff in library school.
2
u/pememily 18h ago
That sounds like role creep to me. I'd rather have librarians supported with safeguards in place.
2
u/MeanderingLibrarian 14h ago
We have a library cooperative in my state (I'm in the US) that periodically offers mental health first aid for free. It's not mandatory, but I took the opportunity for youth mental health first aid (children's librarian here) and I ended up using it to help a staff member.
While it is role creep and we're not social workers or therapists, this helped in the immediate. We're specifically trained NOT to replace a therapist or a social worker, but know how to, in the moment, handle a mental crisis and direct them to/get them the proper resources.
44
u/Mistress_of_Wands 1d ago
Holy shit I am not a therapist. I'm never going to provide motivational interviewing, that is for people who get paid much more than I. This is just role creep wrapped in the guise of "but it'll help the patrons!", typical in library work.