WHY MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID?
Mental illnesses often start in adolescence or early adulthood and it is important to detect problems early to ensure the young person is properly treated and supported. The YMHFA (Wales) course teaches adults who have frequent contact with adolescents, such as parents, guardians, school staff, sport coaches and youth workers, how to assist adolescents who are developing a mental health problem, experiencing a worsening of a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis.
The Government Green Paper ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision’ plans for every school and college to have a designated lead in mental health by 2025. The designated Youth Mental Health First Aider will be a trained member of staff who is responsible for the school’s approach to mental health.
This course is designed to meet this requirement by providing you with a clear understanding of the role of the school mental health lead. This step-by-step course will take you through essential skills needed to develop a multidisciplinary, whole systems approach through effective practice procedures to ensure the improvement of mental health and wellbeing in your school.
COURSE CONTENT & AIMS:
The YMHFA course teaches adults how to assist adolescents who are developing any of the following mental health problems, experiencing a worsening of an existing mental health problem or in a mental health crisis.
Developing mental health problems including:
- Depression
- Anxiety problems
- Eating disorders
- Psychosis
- Substance use problems
Mental health crises:
- Suicidal thoughts and behaviours
- Non-suicidal self-injury
- Panic attacks
- Traumatic events
- Severe psychotic states
- Severe effects from alcohol or other drug use
- Aggressive behaviours
- To raise awareness and understanding of mental health problems in young people
- To build confidence to help a young person experiencing a problem
- To preserve life where a young person may be a risk to themselves or others
- To provide help on a ‘First Aid’ basis
- To reduce the effect of a mental health problem and prevent the problem escalating
- To encourage early intervention and speedier recoveries
- To provide comfort to a young person experiencing mental distress
- To know where to refer the young person to for the right on-going help
It is designed to be interactive and participants are encouraged (if they wish) to share views and experiences. Whist sharing experiences can benefit the training experience participants must be aware that Mental Health First Aid is designed to help participants support others and is not intended as a therapy session for the participant. This is for the comfort for all participants.
Please note that due to the sensitive topics discussed within the training it is recommended that participants have a level of well-being before attending.
COURSE DATES
The next course wil be on the 21st & 22nd November
Dates of upcoming courses can be found on our website here
For in-house bookings we can deliver this anywhere in Wales, for groups between 6-12 participants.
COURSE COST
£140 + vat per person or £1,400 + vat for an in-house course for up to 12 people
COURSE VENUE
We run this course monthly at Ajuda Training Academy in Cardiff Bay.
LENGTH OF COURSE
2 days / 14 hours
It is recommended that these 2 days are run consecutively however they can be spread across a maximum of 2 sessions within 3 weeks.
WHAT IS INCLUDED
We provide a fully qualified, experienced trainer, all the course materials, and certificates for participants on completion of the course.
BOOKINGS
To book a course or find out more information call Rachel on 029 20576883
Email: rachel@ajuda.org.uk