Mental Health First Aid
Every day we support people who are struggling with their mental health.
People across Wokingham Borough rely on us for support with issues around welfare benefits, debt, housing, employment law, relationships & family, consumer, immigration and much more.
We know that those issues can and often do have a huge impact on our mental health and wellbeing. For people living with mental ill health, they can be disproportionately impacted by issues around money for example which can affect many parts of daily life, including employment and housing. You can find out more information about that here.
We also know that Mental Health affects 1 in 4 of us every year. So in order to more effectively support our communities across Wokingham, and our team, we have made mental health a key focus of our strategy.
Thanks to funding we are able to train:
– 60 Citizens Advice staff and volunteers across Berkshire as Mental Health First Aiders for free before August 2021, thanks to Berkshire Community Foundation
– 72 charity staff and volunteers across Wokingham Borough as Mental Health First Aiders for free before July 2021, thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund
From December 2020 to February 2021 we are also training 5 cohorts of staff and members at Wokingham Borough Council.
We also have a limited number of paid spaces available on our courses.
MHFA Adult Online two day course
This online course qualifies you as a Mental Health First Aider, giving you:- An in-depth understanding of mental health and the factors that can affect wellbeing
- Practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues
- Confidence to step in, reassure and support a person in distress
- Enhanced interpersonal skills such as non-judgemental listening
- Knowledge to help someone recover their health by guiding them to further support – whether that’s self-help resources, through their employer, the NHS, or a mix
Cost
MHFA England value this course at £300 per person. Costings through Citizens Advice Wokingham are £120 per individual, £1000 for 12 people via a charity/non-profit and £1300 for 12 people via a business/for profit organisation.Format
- This is an online course delivered through the MHFA England Online Learning Hub
- Learning takes place through four live training sessions, spread across two weeks, with self-learning activities in between. See course structure section below for more detail
- Each session is built around a 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 you are a Mental Health First Aider
- A manual to refer to whenever you need it
- A quick reference card for the Mental Health First Aid action plan
- A workbook including a helpful toolkit to support your own mental health
One of our cohorts of Wokingham Borough Council staff trained as Mental Health First Aiders for Adults.
Testimonials:
“The course was excellent, it ran at a really good pace and even though we overran it did not feel like you wanted it to end. Some courses you sit at the end of the day clock watching but this was not the case here. Both instructors were engaging and pleasant to listen to.“
“The course was delivered extremely well and lots of open communication was facilitated. I was never belittled or made to feel silly for asking a question or getting something wrong. The course was structured very well and easy to follow. The resources are of high quality and there is opportunity for further learning after the course. Jake, Lauren and all of the delegates made this a very enjoyable learning experience and I will be recommending it to anyone who has an interested in becoming a MHFA.”
“Hi Jake, thank you for the training last week. You have a very calming way of teaching which is very good for this type of course.“