Hilary Harrison
Hilary came to the USA over 20 years ago, she got involved in the mental health field after fostering and adopting 3 siblings. Their trauma and journey through therapy, medication and more has led to Hilary’s passion for increasing awareness and understanding of mental health. In 2014 Hilary was one of the first group AOCMHP trained as Mental Health First Aid instructors and she has been actively training and promoting the program since then. Ultimately it led to her joining Samaritan Health Services in late 2016 as their health education person for mental health, focusing on Mental Health First Aid and suicide awareness programs. In her role she coordinates the program across Benton and Lincoln Counties and loves getting new instructors up and going.
Her goal is to reduce mental health stigma and increase the community’s ability to reach out and help others. In fact, it’s become a passion for her, with over 95 trainings complete and more than 1300 people certified so far.
Favorite training: Youth
Favorite groups trained: The local humane society and Job Corps staff at Yachats
Most challenging training: Co-training the public safety module
Largest frustration: The technology and especially getting the sound to work
Favorite moments: Having former participants tell her how the training helped save a life!
Hilary is always happy to talk to other instructors, share ideas and get new insights.
Hilary Harrison
Samaritan Health Services, Health Education Coordinator – Mental Health
hharrison@samhealth.org