Become a Mental Health First Aider 2023

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a training course which teaches people how to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue. 

MHFA won’t teach you to be a therapist, but it will teach you to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis – and even potentially stop a crisis from happening. 

You’ll learn to recognise warning signs of mental ill health and develop the skills and confidence to approach and support someone while keeping yourself safe. 

You’ll also learn how to empower someone to access the support they might need for recovery or successful management of symptoms. This could include self-help books or websites, accessing therapy services through their GP, their school or place of work, online self-referral, support groups, and more. 

What’s more, you’ll gain an understanding of how to support positive wellbeing and tackle stigma in the world around you. 

By becoming an MHFAider® with us you’ll have access to continuous support – well beyond your initial certification – so you are confident, empowered and motivated to carry out your role.  You will get three years’ access to MHFAider® support and benefits which includes 24/7 digital support through the MHFAider Support App®. From there, you will find exclusive resources, ongoing learning opportunities and the benefit of joining England’s largest community of trained MHFAiders®.

Course Outcomes

• As an MHFAider® you will be able to:

• Recognise those that may be experiencing poor mental health and provide them with first-level support and early intervention

• Encourage a person to identify and access sources of professional help and other supports

• Practise active listening and empathy

• Have a conversation with improved mental health literacy around language and stigma

• Discuss the MHFAider® role in depth, including boundaries and confidentiality

• Practise self-care

• Know how to use the MHFAider Support App®

• Know how to access a dedicated text service provided by Shout and ongoing learning opportunities with MHFA England

Format

Delivery can be an online or face-to-face course structured across either 2 full days of 8 hours or four flexible sessions.  Each individual session is a maximum of 3hrs 45mins and sessions can be delivered within a two week period. 

Learners will be trained over four live sessions (this may be two full days or four separate sessions) with an MHFA England Instructor Member, covering 14 hours of content in total.​

It is essential you attend all sessions or both days in full.

Learning takes place through a mix of instructor led training, group discussions, individual and group activities.

Each session builds on the previous, enabling the learner to gain confidence in supporting others with a Mental Health First Aid action plan.

We limit numbers to 16 people per course so that instructors can keep people safe and supported while they learn.

We strive for all of our learning content to be as accessible and inclusive as possible.

Takeaways

Everyone who completes this course gets:

• A hard copy workbook to support their learning throughout the course

• A digital manual to refer to whenever they need it​ after completing the course

• A wallet-sized reference card with the Mental Health First Aid action plan​

• A digital MHFAider® certificate

• Access to the MHFAider Support App® for three years

• Access to ongoing learning opportunities, resources and exclusive events ​

• The opportunity to be part of the largest MHFAider® community in England

 

*Cancellation policy applies