Mental Health First Aid

Mental Health First Aid. With around 1 in 4 individuals experiencing some form of mental health concern and around 16 million working days lost to mental health issues* it makes sense to try and understand and be more empathic with the subject of Mental Health.

Causes of poor mental health are many but the most common sited for work place absence include stress, anxiety and depression costing UK businesses around £35b every year*.

By learning about Mental Health First Aid in a safe, non-judgmental environment this course will help individuals identify the basic signs and symptoms of poor mental health, understand some of the more common causes of mental health issues and improve their knowledge and skills to help support their own and their colleague’s wellbeing.

Evidence does show that taking part in a mental health first aid course does raise awareness of mental health conditions and helps raise the likely hood of early intervention to help aid recovery.

It’s good for workforce wellbeing productivity and the wider social community.

*Office for National Statistics

**Mental Health First Aid England

In November 2018, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) announced new guidance for employers on Mental Health in the workplace. The guidance provides employers with useful advice on how to support their employees who may be experiencing mental ill health.

Outlining what the guidance change means to employers, HSE stated,

“The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has enhanced its First Aid guidance to help employers understand the existing need to consider mental health alongside physical health when undertaking their ‘needs assessment’.

“There has, however, been no legal change to make mental health first aid-type training mandatory.”