Trainings & Courses
People Have The Power
“After our "Mental Health First Aid for Managers" training, I highly recommend Allie Fridstein of Capybara Counseling for all of your Mental Health Training needs! Allie's training was informative, and attendees praised her ability to navigate tough subject matter and offer real ways for managers to apply best practices in supporting their teams and themselves. Allie's framework for finding the right balance in understanding mental wellness and setting boundaries without guilt resonated strongly with our team members. Allie's engaging presentation style, coupled with her empathetic and knowledgeable approach, made the session incredibly helpful and empowering for attendees. Participants left feeling equipped to address mental struggles and create a supportive environment for their teams. Thank you, Allie!”
-Kathryn Dutton, Learning & Development Director of BarkBox
“I’d been wanting to bring an LGBTQIA affirming-care training for mental health professionals to the practice. The team really enjoyed this training.”
-Stephanie Purdom, founder & executive director of Wild Hope Therapy
“Allie and Capybara Counseling created an extraordinary version of Mental Health First Aid for us, centering the unique experience of LGBTQIA+ activists and allies. The program drew one of our highest number of registrations ever. Allie’s presentation was nuanced, personal, and extremely timely.”
-Ben Huelskamp, Executive Director of LOVEBoldly
“I feel that everyone left with comfort in knowing how to better approach certain situations. Talking about mental health and suicide isn't easy, but you created a safe space where everyone felt comfortable and could be engaged and ask questions.”
-Ohio State University Psychology Student Ambassador
Mental Health First Aid Trainings
For Companies & Universities
In the wake of the pandemic, mental health has justifiably become a major topic of discussion in the workforce. After all, preventative care for employees struggling with mental health concerns is both the kinder and more cost-effective approach than reactive care. I offer customizable live training packages for companies in the US looking for more in-depth training experiences.
Topics included in customizable Mental Health First Aid trainings:
Appropriate terminology for discussing mental health
How to foster a workplace with de-stigmatization of mental health struggles
Constructive communication strategies for asking others if they need help or asking for help themselves
Suicide risk assessment and mitigation
Mental health crisis management
How/when to get external community resources and authorities involved
How to find and navigate local resources available in your area
How to recognize warning signs within yourself that you may need help
Common mental health disorders, symptoms, and treatment options
Effective daily stress management and coping strategies
Self-compassion exercises for normalizing experiences
Methods for addressing workplace burnout
In-person Mental Health First Aid Trainings available to universities and schools in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Virtual trainings available throughout the United States.
Please contact me to schedule and discuss pricing.
New Course: Unpacking Guilt & Shame
Do you often find yourself holding onto guilt and shame? Do you ever wonder what it would be like to unburden yourself of these intense emotions?
During this three-hour course, you will cultivate an improved sense of self-worth and confidence. Through lecture, written exercises, and class discussions, we will explore your values, how to align your actions with your values, how to increase your self-compassion, and what adaptive coping strategies can look like for managing daily stressors. In just three hours, you will be able to give yourself the gift of a more positive inner dialogue. Give yourself permission to speak to yourself with the same genuine kindness as you show to others you love.
Mental Health First Aid Training & LGBTQIA+ Allyship Training
These are interactive psycho-education lessons designed to increase your understanding of how to support loved ones who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community and/or struggling with their mental health.
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Mental Health First Aid Training
Have you ever felt worried about a loved one’s well-being and not known how to ask if they’re okay? You want to support them but don’t know what questions to ask or how to start the dialogue? Conversations about mental health and suicide can be tough, so I’m here to help you learn how to navigate.
I have over a decade of experience volunteering at the national suicide hotline including several years of training new volunteers. I assisted in developing a mental health first aid training program used at University of Louisville for teaching RAs how to discuss mental health concerns with their students, created an educational program at Boston College for teaching local high school students how to talk about mental health with peers, and regularly provide suicide risk assessment trainings to newer therapists.
Mental Health First Aid is my first love and my bread and butter. I am extremely passionate about spreading knowledge that helps destigmatize mental health struggles and increase comfort in asking for and receiving help. The more comfortable we as a community are with talking about mental health, the better.
This is a 90-minute live training with virtual attendance, includes a lecture and ample time for questions and discussion.Discount codes available for students, first responders, and teachers. Please contact me for more information.
If you would like a Certificate of Completion to provide to an employer, please email me after the training at capybaracounseling@gmail.com and I will happily provide one.
Please note: this training comes with a massive trigger warning. The word “suicide” will come up frequently because after all, this is a mental health FIRST AID training, meaning navigating acute crises. I refuse to make "suicide" a taboo word when directly discussing mental health struggles. We will be talking quite a lot about the seriousness of suicide, the impact it has on our community, how to do a proper risk assessment and safety plan, and the resources available to help people with varying severities of risk for self-harm. If you are not in a headspace to safely participate in this training, it is absolutely okay to hold off until a later date as these will be held regularly. -
LGBTQIA+ Allyship Training: Co-led by Ellison Rugg, LMHC
When a loved one is part of the queer and/or trans community, it can be challenging to know how to best support them without putting the burden on them to educate you on updated language, resources, and systemic issues.
If you are ready to begin your allyship journey and want to support the LGBTQIA+ community but don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right training.
This is a 2-hour live training with virtual attendance, includes a lecture and ample time for questions and discussion.If you would like a Certificate of Completion to provide to an employer, please email me after the training at capybaracounseling@gmail.com and I will happily provide one.
Please note: the right for queer and trans people to safely exist is not up for debate. We will not be questioning the validity of anyone’s identity. Any form of hate speech, disrespect toward the community, or disregarding of their human dignity will result in that person’s removal from the training. If you have questions based on curiosity, clarification, and desire to deepen your understanding of why certain language is used to describe a person’s identity (or why certain clarifying questions are perceived as offensive), those are absolutely welcome and quite distinct from dismissing a person’s identity altogether.
Mental Health First Aid Training Itinerary
LGBTQIA+ Allyship Training Itinerary