Mental Health First Aid training provides vital skills to identify and respond to concerns

Recently, one of our Recovery Practitioners co-facilitated Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training with colleagues at BeWell, a Step One programme. BeWell offers a variety of training, peer support groups, and courses which benefit both individuals and employers in responding to mental health concerns. MHFA training, a nationally accredited course, aims to enable people to recognise and respond to the signs of someone experiencing a deterioration in their mental health. More training like this is vital to create a more caring and understanding approach to mental health concerns at home and in the workplace.

Larry, Recovery Practitioner for the Devon Mental Health Alliance, is passionate about training and was thrilled at the opportunity to co-facilitate the recent course. He explained:

“I am very pleased to be able to offer Mental Health First Aid training to the wider community. I hope people participating in this course will learn valuable insights into how they can help people experiencing a variety of different mental health needs, both in the workplace and elsewhere.”

With the number of people experiencing mental health concerns higher than ever, it is important that people get the guidance and support they need as early as possible in their journey. Often, this can start with the people around them — having support networks at home and work is vital for an individual to feel at ease and confident. A main focus of the Community Mental Health Framework is enabling people to access services that are right for them; if an individual is confident to be able to do this before their concerns become too overwhelming and unmanageable, their journey to recovery will be far smoother.

Ed, Locality Manager for our Eastern and Southern localities, commented:

“It’s well known that negative mental health experiences can be born from work-related stress/anxiety. Often colleagues want to help, but fear making things worse through lack of understanding or a nervousness to intervene. I would encourage employers to take the step of enrolling themselves and their employees onto this training.

From an Alliance perspective, it is excellent to be involved in this level of training provision. We want to help provide people with the skills and knowledge to act early and correctly when mental health issues arise. This approach will help not only the individual, but also the services to provide the best possible support and interventions for that individual.”

For further Mental Health First Aid courses, please visit the BeWell@StepOne website. A number of course dates are available throughout the year already, or specific group bookings can be arranged.