Whilst people often know a lot about common physical health problems, ignorance of mental health is prevalent. Regular first aid courses are widespread. However, most of these courses do not address helping with mental health problems.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) aims to fill this gap.
Mental health first aid is the help provided to a person who is developing a mental health problem, experiencing a worsening of a mental health problem, or in a mental health crisis. The first aid is given until appropriate professional help is received or the crisis resolves.
Course content is derived from a number of consensus studies incorporating the expertise of hundreds of researchers, clinicians, mental health consumer advocates and carer advocates across the English speaking western world.
Our MHFA courses can provide members of the community with:
- Skills in how to recognise the signs and symptoms of mental health problems
- Knowledge of the possible causes or risk factors for these mental health problems
- Awareness of the evidenced based medical, psychological and alternative treatments available
- Skills in how to give appropriate initial help and support someone experiencing a mental health problem
- Skills in how to take appropriate action if a crisis situation arises involving suicidal behaviour, panic attack, stress reaction to trauma, overdose or threatening psychotic behaviour.
Whilst people often know a lot about common physical health problems, there is widespread ignorance of mental health. Regular first aid courses are recognised as improving the public’s skills in giving initial and appropriate help at medical emergencies but, unfortunately, most of these courses do not address helping with mental health problems. However, mental health problems are common. In Australia, approximately one in five adults will experience mental illness in any given year. In light of this, all members of the community can expect to have close contact with someone experiencing a mental illness.
Lack of knowledge and stigmatising attitudes about mental illness may prevent people from seeking help early, seeking the best sort of help and also providing appropriate support to colleagues and family members, simply because they do not know how.
Fig Leaf Consulting is committed to providing high quality, evidenced based mental health first aid education to everyone.
We believe that every workplace should help promote good mental health, prevent mental illness and have the tools to support people with mental health problems.
To do this, we believe that:
- Every workplace should offer Mental Health First Aid training to their workers.
- Every worksite should appoint at least the same number of Mental Health First Aid Officers as First Aid Officers.
