Mental Health First Aid Certification

 Open to all ACOs and Animal Welfare Professionals in the U.S.
You must be 18 or older to participate.

Taking Care of Your Mental Health Helps You Keep Showing Up for the Animals and People Who Need You Most.

MHFA Certification Registration – $170 per student

Each session is limited to 15 participants.

NOTE: Completion of the pre-work is required before you attend the live session.

Attention animal care and control professionals!

Do you want to gain easy-to-use evidence-based tools and increase your confidence in and ability to deal with mental health situations in your work as an animal care and control professional? Do you want to be able to better support your co-workers and volunteers when they are experiencing mental health challenges, and/or more effectively handle mental health crisis situations you encounter on your field service calls? If so, national MHFA certification is for you and NACA in Partnership with the National Council for Mental Wellbeing is forming a first of its kind to be offered strickly to animal care and control professionals!

What You’ll Gain

  • National MHFA certification
  • Practical tools for responding to mental health crises
  • A deeper understanding of how to support others and yourself
  • 10 NACA CEUs

Why Mental Health First Aid?

The NACA-offered MHFA certification course consists of:

  • 2 hours of virtual self-paced content to be completed BEFORE the Live Session.
  • 6 hours of LIVE virtual instructor-led training, via Zoom
    (includes a 30 min lunch and two 15 min breaks)
  • 1 hour of post-Zoom self-paced content to be completed for CERTIFICATION.
  • $170 per student

Available Live Session Dates

Click on Date Below to Register for the Course

All Live Sessions Below:
9am to 3:30pm Pacific Time / 12 noon to 6:30pm Eastern Time

All Live Sessions Below Eastern Time
Variable Times Available

LIVE SESSION 8am – 3:30pm (EST)

LIVE SESSION 10am – 5:30pm (EST)

About the Instructors

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training is offered through a partnership between NACA and Open Door Veterinary Collective (ODVC). Course instructor, -10px, is a Veterinary Social Worker and certified MHFA instructor at ODVC. Kaitlyn is a licensed clinical social worker with experience supporting and training animal welfare professionals. She previously served as a full-time social worker at Seattle Humane and is a co-author of the National Social Work Guidelines in Animal Welfare (2025), funded by the ASPCA.

**Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training offered through the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA). The course instructor is Ashley Kuzma, Director of Finance & Business Services at NACA and a certified Mental Health First Aid instructor. Ashley brings more than 16 years of professional experience in operations, leadership, and community-facing roles, along with her work supporting animal care and control professionals nationwide through NACA.
 
In her role with NACA, Ashley works closely with agencies, leaders, and professionals across the animal welfare field and has developed a strong appreciation for the unique demands placed on those who serve animals and their communities. As an MHFA instructor, she is passionate about creating practical, supportive learning environments that help professionals feel more confident recognizing and responding to mental health and substance use challenges in their workplaces and communities.

Maddie’s University – Free Course:
Navigating Compassion Fatigue in Animal Welfare