Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid

You’ve probably attended a ‘first aid’ course, but what do you know about ‘mental health first aid’ courses?

Standard first aid is the help given to a physically injured person before they get professional help. Likewise ‘mental health first aid’ is the initial help given to a person who is experiencing a mental health problem.

The Mental Health First Aid course equips you with the skills to help someone with a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis.

Mental illness can be scary, talking about mental illness can be even scarier. Many people wouldn’t know what to do if someone close to them was experiencing a mental health problem. If someone close to them was suicidal, they wouldn’t know how to handle it. If they suspected that a friend was self-harming they would be unsure how to approach the situation. They don’t know what psychosis is.

A Mental Health First Aid course teaches you all this and much, much more!

Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid (SMHFA) courses have been available in Scotland since 2004. You can find some general information on SMHFA below. If you require further information you may find it on the Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid website or alternatively feel free to contact us.

Duration 

The SMHFA course lasts 12 hours.

This can take a range of formats, for example:

• Two full days
• Four half days
• Six two-hour sessions

Prior experience / qualifications

NO prior experience, qualifications or knowledge are required to participate in a SMHFA course.

What topics are covered 

The following is a brief outline of the topics covered in Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid:

• Attitudes to mental health issues
• Recovery
• Alcohol and drugs and their affect on mental health
• Suicide
• Listening skills
• Self-harm
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Psychosis

Who the course is for

The SMHFA course is for EVERYONE.

Everyone has ‘mental health’ and mental health is something that affects everyone.

You don’t have to work in mental health to learn mental health first aid. You don’t have to be supporting someone with a mental health problem to learn mental health first aid.

Just as anyone can do a general ‘first aid’ course, anyone can do a mental health first aid course.  General ‘first aid’ courses are designed for ordinary people.  They provide members of the public with the skills to provide emergency help to an injured person before professional help arrives. It’s the same for ‘Mental health first aid’ problems. Mental health first aid isn’t for mental health professionals but for the general public. It is a course for everyone, to teach the skills for helping someone with a mental health problem.

Just like you don’t wait until someone is injured to learn general ‘first aid’, you shouldn’t  wait until someone you know is needing help with a mental health problem to learn ‘Mental health first aid’!

Format of the course

Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid is a participation-based course full of activities, discussions, film clips and case studies.

Where the course takes place

We offer Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid courses in your choice of location, this can either be in-house or we will work with you to locate suitable cost effective venues.

If you are an individual looking for training please contact us for details or courses near you.

For a list of all our SMHFA courses click here

What participants receive

All participants who complete the course receive the following:

• A NHS Health Scotland certificate of attendance
• A 160 page manual and
• Best of all… the skills to help someone in a mental health crisis!

Feedback from previous course participants

Click here to read some testimonials from previous course participants.