As lockdown hit MHFA England worked hard with the world-wide Mental Health First Aid community to transcribe the old Two Day course to an online equivalent.
With a couple of moths they had succeeded. The previous material was transposed into a learning experience that is a mixture of live sessions and individual study via a smart online hub.
We are often asked :
'What will be in the course material of our MHFA England online courses ?'
'Is the Mental Health training course content as comprehensive as the old classroom based course?'
'Will we miss out not have face to face training ?'
We want two answer the first question as fully as possible, so below we have added every course module of the two day course, which will hopefully answer the second question too.
It IS comprehensive, and covers exactly the same areas as we used to in our face to face sessions. These are just delivered in a slightly different way with some of the exercises and videos now being delivered via the online personal study hub, but we still look at all of the same material.
SESSION 1
Individual learning (1 hour):
Introduction to the Online Mental Health First Aid course and the Online Learning Hub (course overview, safety procedure, attending live sessions, and completing individual learning activities)
Activity 1: Why Mental Health First Aid?
Activity 2: The Mental Health First Aid action plan
Activity 3: What is mental health?
Activity 4: Quiz: Impact of mental health
Activity 5: Stress Container (completed after live session)
Activity 6: Frame of Reference (completed after live session)
Live session (1 hour 45 minutes):
Introduction to course functions
Introduction to the course
ALGEE and mental health introduction recap
Stigma
Risk and protective factors
10 minute break
Frame of Reference
The Mental Health Continuum
Introduction to the Stress Container
SESSION 2
Individual learning (2 hours):
Activity 7: What is depression?
Activity 8: Risk factors for depression
Activity 9: Mental Health First Aid for depression
Activity 10: Introduction to suicide
Live session (2 hours 20 minutes):
Recap of individual learning on depression
Prevalence of suicide
Suicide, substance misuse and dual diagnosis
Analyse the impact of suicidal feelings
Recap of ALGEE and risk factors for suicide
Explain Mental Health First Aid action plan 1 for suicide
10 minute break
Explain non-judgemental listening, Empathy video
Practice using ALGEE in case study scenarios
Review of ALGEE for suicide and depression
Self-care
SESSION 3
Individual learning (2 hours):
Activity 11: What is anxiety?
Activity 12: Mental Health First Aid for anxiety
Activity 13: What are eating disorders?
Activity 14: Mental Health First Aid for eating disorders
Activity 15: What is self-harm?
Activity 16: Mental Health First Aid for self-harm
Activity 17: What are personality disorders?
Live session (2 hours):
Recap of individual learning on anxiety
Recap of the five basic steps of ALGEE for anxiety
Explain action 1 for anxiety
How to support someone who is having a panic attack
Explain crisis first aid
Practice action 2: non-judgemental listening
10 minute break
Practice applying the Mental Health First Aid action plan for anxiety
Explain cognitive behavioural therapy
Recap of eating disorders and self-harm
Case study for eating disorders and self-harm
Review ALGEE for eating disorders and self-harm
SESSION 4
Individual learning (2 hours):
Activity 18: What are psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder?
Activity 19: Risk factors for psychosis
Activity 20: Mental Health First Aid for psychosis
Activity 21: Helpful and unhelpful responses
Workbook Activity 10: My action plan for using Mental Health First Aid (completed after live session)
Live session (1 hour 55 minutes):
Review of individual learning on psychosis
Explain the development of symptoms of psychosis
Review the five steps of ALGEE for psychosis
Group discussion about MHFA Australia psychosis video
Case study activity using Mental Health First Aid action plan for psychosis
10 minute break
Recovery
Explore how to build a mentally healthy workplace
Start action plan to use Mental Health First Aid
Feedback
Finally to answer what you might miss having your MHFA England course being delivered online ? In our experience so far - very little.
It is still safe as we offer breakout room support for anyone who may be triggered by the material.
It is rare but it happens, so we always cover this at the beginning of any course and have a robust group agreement that protects confidentiality and support honest sharing.
The group exercises work well, the breakout rooms are effective learning spaces and we've enjoyed using them.
There is also an accessibility bonus. The candidates love that they can just log on from home or the office as there are no travel issues. There is no longer the need to take two full days away from your desk.
Businesses benefit too from not loosing people for large blocks of time that require cover. More senior people can be trained easily without taking too much down time. No more than a couple of hours away from the desk at anyone time.
One of the things we have enjoyed the most is training in-house for organisations.
There is always an additional feel good factor when training colleagues who know each other well, but these industry specific courses are an additional challenge for us, as we always make them bespoke to that sector.
Hospitality and construction have very different stressors to the financial sector and retail. Every industry has different challenges when it comes to wellbeing and mental health. We like to ensure those stressors are addressed in any training we deliver.
The course material will always be the same, but the way we deliver will always be bespoke.
Any questions, or to enquire about a block booking for your organisation please drop us a line, info@mindingminds.co.uk