Mental Health First Aid - Healthy Community in Action#1 March 10, 2007
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Question:What is Mental Health First Aid?
Answer: First Aid is the help given to an injured person before medical treatment can be obtained. Mental Health First Aid is the help given to someone developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. The first aid is given until appropriate professional treatment is received or until the crisis resolves.
The Healthy Community Project in conjunction with the Mental Health First Aid team will be delivering courses in Denmark in April and May 2007. A 12-hour training course (3 hours over 4 days) has been developed for members of the public and workplaces. This course covers how to give help in any of the following crisis situations:
· Person feeling suicidal
· Person having a panic attack
· Person who has recently experienced a
traumatic event
· Psychotic person threatening violence
· Person who has overdosed
The course also trains the public to give help to
people with mental health problems before a crisis
develops. The problems covered are:
· Depression
· Anxiety disorders
· Psychosis
· Substance use disorders
Does your work involve contact with people, do you have someone close to you who is affected by a mental health issue, or as a community member would you like to further your first aid skills?
Mental Health First Aid is the help provided to a person developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. The first aid is given until appropriate professional treatment is received or until the crisis resolves.
The Mental Health First Aid course is a 12 hour course usually ran over 2 days or 4 sessions. It is designed to give all participants whether you are a service provider or community member some basic skills to support a person who you think may be developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis.
Based on the same idea as a First Aid course it breaks down the stigma and gives positive step-by-step tools that can be used in early intervention of a mental health problem as well as dealing with mental health crises. It does not qualify the participant as a counsellor but rather promotes first aid, giving practical skills until professional help is sought.
This is a great course which has experienced success running both nationally and internationally. (Mental Health First Aid has been adopted by the Scottish government as a national approach to suicide prevention.)
Its rigorous evaluation of its effectiveness sets it apart from other educational approaches, and it is this research that has resulted in a recommendation that the Mental Health First Aid training become a prerequisite for practice in certain occupations which involve increased contact with people having mental health problems, such as teachers and the police.
In 2007 the Rural Community Support Service in partnership with the Great Southern GP Network, Southern Agcare Inc and Men’s Resource Centre have been given the opportunity to run this course (already being run privately) in the Great Southern region. So, if you would like to obtain further details or register your interest in Mental Health First Aid please call Susie Wiese, Project Officer, on (08) 9881 0700, or email: susie.wiese {at} health.wa.gov(.)au. All trial, evaluation and more in-dept course content information are available on the Mental Health First Aid website: www.mhfa.com.au or contact Dr. Gillian Sellar Denmark Community Health Project (08) 98483415 or email: gillian.sellar {at} health.wa.gov(.)au
Anyone living in Denmark WA can register for the course by contacting Dr. Gillian Sellar on 98483514 or email: gillian.sellar {at} health.wa.gov(.)au or Susie Wiese 9881 0790 email: susie.wiese {at} health.wa.gov(.)au for more information.
Stay tuned as we’ll update this information when venue and times have been set and check out the website www.mhfa.com.au