What is Mental Health First Aid?

Regardless of your company size, 20% of employees in your company will have a mental health issue at some stage. Our Mental Health First Aid course offers an effective way that employers can breakdown stigma and create a space where staff feel able to share and seek help when they are struggling. Just as conventional first aiders administer help to a physically injured person, trained Mental Health First Aiders are equipped to deliver immediate care to a person who might be experiencing a personal crisis or distress in the workplace. We will help your employees spot the signals and develop skills to manage each situation as it arises.

Who Should Attend?

While any employees can attend, our strong recommendation would be that the course is made available to all employees, at every level of the organisation, where anyone interested can volunteer for the training. This is the best way of ensuring that attendees are enthusiastic and engaged in the training and dedicated to their role as a Mental Health First Aider.

Managers and HR personnel are more than welcome to attend and undergo the Mental Health First Aid training, as often times they are in the best position to spot signs of a mental health issue and to provide the necessary help. However the training should not be made mandatory for a specific group or team, as it is received better where there is buy in.

Benefits For Your Employees

• A better understanding of mental health issues
• Practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues
• Confidence to step in to reassure & support someone who is distressed
• An ability to have a supportive conversation & to signpost appropriately to professional help

Positive Impact Within Your Organisation

In having Mental Health First Aiders spread throughout the company, you are letting your employees know that you care about their mental wellbeing, that it’s okay to speak up if you are suffering and that there are supports available when you do. In this way you will have taken a significant step to making your staff more open to, and comfortable with, the topic of mental health. This is a positive intervention, particularly in relation to the role it can have reducing stigma.

Delivery Approach

Our Mental Health First Aid course is only delivered by expert mental health professionals from within our network here in Ireland. The course is broken into 4 by 3-hour online sessions over a 2 week period, delivered by the same clinician. The course involves group discussions, exercises and activities helping those attending to really engage with the material, share their experiences, to put what they are learning into real-life context and practice their new communication and helping skills.

We can also deliver the course onsite within your company across 2 x 6 hours days, to up to 20 people (more than the digital maximum as it is easier to engage people in the interactive elements of the training when it takes place in person).

We also provide additional add-on services that work to support the delivery of the Mental Health First Aid Course and ensure that its implementation is as effective as possible. These services include:

Mental Health First Aid Implementation Workshop

The 1-hour Mental Health First Aid Implementation workshop is designed to be delivered to senior leaders/managers ahead of the company’s Mental Health First Aid course, in order to assist the company in preparing for the course, supporting their First Aiders after they complete their training, and ensuring the company gets the most benefit from the course overall.

Facilitated Peer Consultation Groups

Our facilitated peer consultation groups, approximately 2 hours in length, are delivered by a trained clinician and are open to any individuals who has completed the mental health first aid course. The goal of these quarterly groups is to support the First Aiders in their role, work through any learning events or challenging experiences, reinforce their understanding of the model and their role, and review processing of experiences and self-care.

Refresher Course

A 1-day follow-up course, approximately 6 hours in length, that can be delivered to employees who have already completed the Mental Health First Aid training, 2 years later, in order to refresh their knowledge. The Refresher Course will cover a range of areas including a review and revision of the First Aider’s model and main principles covered in the Mental Health First Aid Course, facilitated conversation around the First Aider’s experiences to date, and a Q&A.

These add-on services can be delivered separately in addition to the Mental Health First Aid course, but it would be our recommendation that they are delivered as a bundle in conjunction with the course, as this will ensure the highest level of support for your company’s First Aiders, and the most effective results. Get in touch for information on our pricing and bundle discount options.