This online course trains people as Youth Mental Health First Aiders, giving them:
- An in-depth understanding of young people’s mental health and factors that affect wellbeing
- Practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues
- Confidence to reassure and support a young person in distress
- Enhanced interpersonal skills such as non-judgemental listening
- Knowledge to help a young person recover their health by guiding them to further support – whether that’s through self-help sites, their place of learning, the NHS, or a mix – engaging with parents, carers and external agencies where appropriate
- Ability to support a young person with a long term mental health issue or disability to thrive
- Tools to look after their own mental wellbeing
Format
- This is an online course delivered through the MHFA England Online Learning Hub
- Learning takes place through four live training sessions, spread across one to two weeks, with self-learning activities in between. See course structure section below for more detail
- Each session is built around a Youth Mental Health First Aid action plan
- We limit numbers to 16 people per course so that the instructor can keep people safe and supported while they learn
Takeaways
- Everyone who completes the course gets:
- A certificate of attendance to say they are a Youth Mental Health First Aider
- A manual to refer to whenever they need it
- A quick reference card for the Youth Mental Health First Aid action plan
- A workbook including a helpful toolkit to support their own mental health
