MHFA Programme
Welcome to Mental Health First Aid (Wales)
Mental health training 'for everyone'.
Front line workers in Wales often have to deal with people with experience of mental distress but lack the skills and confidence to support them appropriately.
With one in four of us affected by mental health problems each year, service providers across Wales are being offered a new short training course to deal more effectively with these challenges.
In an ambitious project, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, Mind Cymru has trained trainers to teach Mental Health First Aid throughout Wales. Mental Health First Aid was developed in Australia and is being rolled out in:
The 12 hour course does not train you to be a therapist, counsellor or mental health professional. It will teach you to:
- give initial help to someone experiencing a mental health problem
- deal with a crisis situation or the first signs of someone developing mental ill health
- guide people towards appropriate help.
Who should attend?
The Welsh Assembly Government and Mind Cymru aim to make the 12 hour courses accessible to a wide range of groups and individuals across Wales. The programme is targeted at raising mental health awareness literacy in the general public. Some key groups of people include people who work in the ambulance service, welsh police forces and prison service, JobcentrePlus, primary health care and social care, staff in further and higher education, support workers in a variety of settings, voluntary and communtity groups, and other workplaces.
Course programme
The following is a brief outline of what is covered on the course:
- guidance on being a Mental Health First Aider
- attitudes to mental health issues
- equalities
- the recovery message
- the impact of alcohol and drugs on mental health
- introduction to suicide intervention
- listening skills
- understanding depression
- how to offer first aid to someone experiencing depression
- understanding anxiety
- how to offer first aid to someone experiencing anxiety
- understanding psychosis
- how to offer first aid to someone experiencing a psychotic episode.
The course does not train people to be mental health workers. It offers basic general information about mental health problems. The knowledge presented and understanding developed in the course helps to remove stigma and fear and to give confidence in approaching a person in distress.
The course delivery is very flexible and may be delivered over 2 full days or spread out over a maximum of 4 sessions over 4 days. Participants will receive a certificate of attendance and a copy of the Mental Health First Aid (Wales) Manual, which covers the course content.
Course aims
Mental Health First Aid (Wales) aims to help participants:
preserve life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others
provide help to prevent a mental health problem developing into a more serious state
promote recovery of good mental health
provide comfort to a person experiencing mental distress.
Mental Health First Aid (Wales) Instructors
The course can only be delivered by a specially selected, trained and approved person. This ensures that all Mental Health First Aid (Wales) Instructors have the required level of knowledge, skills and experience, that there is consistency in delivery across Wales and that the quality of the delivery of the course can be monitored.
