Mental health first aid
Introduction
Mental Health First Aid is exactly what it suggests, a first aid approach to mental health. Originally conceived by Betty Kitchener and Professor Tony Jorm in Australia, the introduction of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) has become an international activity: Hong Kong, Finland, Singapore, Canada and Scotland have all introduced mental health first aid. Wales and Ireland are currently working on introducing MHFA, so along with the introduction to England, UK wide coverage will be achieved.
What is Mental Health First Aid?
MHFA is the help given to someone experiencing a mental health problem before professional help is obtained. The aims are:
- to preserve life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others
- to provide help to prevent the mental health problems developing into a more serious state
- to promote the recovery of good mental health
- to provide comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem
MHFA does not teach people to be therapists. However, it does teach people how to recognise the symptoms of mental health problems, how to provide initial help and how to guide a person towards appropriate professional help.
The five basic steps
The action plan for MHFA has five basic steps:
- Assess risk of suicide or self-harm
- Listen non-judgementally
- Give reassurance and information
- Encourage the person to get appropriate professional help
- Encourage self-help strategies
(Source: Scotland's mental health manual, 2005)
NIMHE's Involvement
NIMHE's aim is to deliver the MHFA course within England. NIMHE and Lewes & Wealden Mind have worked very closely with Health Scotland towards achieving this goal. NIMHE plans to deliver MHFA in England with the support of Health Scotland and the Scottish Development Centre. The plan of delivering training will mainly consist of using its current infrastructure, via regional development centres, to deliver the instructor training and associated materials. This will only involve some of the development centres during the first year as a pilot phase.
Current position in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber
Most of the National Training Team are now approved for training MHFA instructors, and the supporting materials - which have been amended to be relevant for England - are almost ready to go to print. As soon as all the arrangements are in place for MHFA training, then details will emerge on the website. Currently, we anticipate the first intake to be sometime during mid summer 2007. The application process will be finalised shortly and will be publicised, along with the required competencies.
We are also currently developing a new dedicated Mental Health First Aid website, and commissioning the production of a DVD with video clips to support the training of first aiders.
How much will it cost?
Many people are wondering how much MHFA will cost if they want to be an instructor. We are only able to indicate likely costs at the moment, which are likely to be around £1900 per instructor, however NIMHE is hoping to make a substantial contribution towards those costs. This will include the total package for supporting materials (presentation set of slides, instructors kit and reference materials, MHFA manual, film clips, training and development days, assessment and registration as an instructor, plus annual update day).
Supporting MHFA is an additional activity that NIMHE has agreed to support in order to establish a national standard for MHFA across England. We hope to pilot the work during this year and as a result, we have to introduce the charge to cover the costs of developing the materials, training the National Training Team and to ensure a sustainable future for MHFA. We are constantly seeking funding to support this work, but in these times of increasing financial pressure, it is not always possible to obtain new investment. Within NIMHE in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber region, we will have at least three people trained to deliver Instructor Training. We will be able to train up to 12 instructors at any one time, and anticipate up to four cohorts of training during the coming year.
MHFA Programme Lead for England: Dave Belshaw
