Mental health courses

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Read below to understand why Mental Health Training is important. To organise a bespoke online or face-to-face course, please do contact us to discuss. 

To book on an existing course, click on the button below which will take you to the MHFA England site where my existing courses are listed. 

Mental Health Skills for Managers

Managers who can support the mental health of their teams will encourage employees to thrive, increasing talent retention and reducing the impact of presenteeism and long-term sickness absence.  To create a mentally healthy workplace it is vital to build supportive relationships between managers and team members. This four-hour training course is ideal for people managers who want to help create an open culture around mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.  Providing this training to everyone with people management responsibilities will ensure a consistent approach to mental health and wellbeing across teams and departments. 

Everyone who completes the course will learn to:

• Identify if an employee may be experiencing poor mental health
• have open conversations about mental health with team members
• be able to signpost to available support 
• Role model good self-care practice, inspiring teams to look after their own mental health and wellbeing

Successful completion of this course leads to

• A certificate of attendance
• Knowledge and tools to take care of their own mental health as a manager and empower their teams
• Digital workbook to use during the course

The full curriculum for the course is here: https://mhfaengland.org/individuals/adult/mental-health-skills-for-managers/ - It is delivered over half a day (4 hours) face-to face or online, with some self-reflective work before the start of the course, group activities and discussions.  

This course is delivered at £150 plus VAT pp or £2400 for companies that can fill a full course of 16 learners.  Please contact us if you would like us to deliver a bespoke online or Face-2-Face course. We would be happy to carry out bespoke delivery.  

Train a Mental Aid First Aider (2-day Course):

Our online Adult Mental Health First Aid Course is now available. Among other topics, it covers depression, anxiety, suicide, psychosis, and other mental health illnesses that many people are grappling with. Maybe some of your family, friends or colleagues are grappling with these too.  The course also covers traumas such as vicarious trauma, something that volunteers experience through the work that they do in supporting/listening to those that they are working with.  

The course takes you through a framework approach to supporting people. Successful completion of the course leads to: 

• Access to a workbook to support the learning throughout the course 
• A digital manual to refer to whenever you need it​ after completing the course 
• A wallet-sized reference card with the Mental Health First Aid action plan​ 
• A digital MHFAider® certificate  
• Access to the MHFAider Support App® for three years 
• Access to ongoing learning opportunities, resources and exclusive events ​ 
• The opportunity to be part of the largest MHFAider® community in England 

The full curriculum for the online and Face-to Face course is here: https://mhfaengland.org/individuals/adult/mental-health-first-aid/ -

The online session is delivered over 4 half day sessions. This allows the learners more time to absorb, what are quite, intense sessions for a better learning experience. The Face-to-Face is delivered over 2 full days. 

Both the Online and Face-to-Face courses are valued by MHFA England at £325pp. We offer them at a reduced rate. Discounts are available for Charities and Non-Profit Organisations, Independent Volunteers, or for Group Bookings. Please contact us if you would like us to deliver a bespoke online or Face-2-Face course. We would be happy to carry out bespoke delivery.  

Mental Health First Aid Refresher (4 hours / half day)

The curriculum for the half day MHFA Refresher can be found here:  https://mhfaengland.org/individuals/adult/refresher/

The four-hour MHFA Refresher course gives learners the chance to renew their skills, update their knowledge of mental health support, and practice applying the Mental Health First Aid action plan.  

Everyone who completes the course receives:

· A digital MHFAider® certificate valid for another three years

· A digital manual to refer to whenever they need it

· Access to MHFA support, resources and an online app for three years

· Access to ongoing learning opportunities, resources and exclusive events

· Opportunity to be part of the largest MHFAider® community in England

Please note that the MHFA Refresher is only for people who have completed an MHFA course or an Armed Forces Mental Health First Aider course. 

Both the online and face-to-face courses are valued by MHFA England at £150pp. We offer them at a reduced rate. Discounts are available for Charities and NPOs, Independent Volunteers, or for Group Bookings.  Please contact us if you would like us to deliver a bespoke online or Face-2-Face course. We would be happy to carry out bespoke delivery.  

Mental Health Awareness (Half Day)

The curriculum for the Half Day Awareness can be found here: https://mhfaengland.org/individuals/adult/half-day/

Everyone who completes the course gets:

• A certificate of attendance to say you are Mental Health Aware
• A manual to refer to whenever you need it
• A workbook including a helpful toolkit to support your own mental health
   

MHFA England value this course at £125 pp. We offer the courses at a reduced rate. Discounts are available for Charities and Non-Profit Organisations, Independent Volunteers, or for Group Bookings. Please contact us if you would like to discuss delivery of the half-day awareness. 

The Statistics

Prevalence of mental ill health at work 

MHFA England's has gathered information which states that: 

• 1 in 6 people experience symptoms associated with mental ill health
• 50% of employees have experienced at least one characteristic of burnout
• 46% say they have continued working despite feeling physically or mentally unwell
• Mental Ill Health costs employers approx. £56b each year (up by 25% since 2019)
• 55% of respondents in a CIPD survey have experienced work-related depression 
• 38% of HR employees in the CIPD survey think line managers are confident to have conversations about MH
• one-third (in a Deloitte report) would like more employer support for their mental health and well-being

According to Mind: 

• 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England?
• 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem (like anxiety and depression) in any given week in England?

And, in any given week in England, specific diagnosis include:

• Mixed anxiety and depression: 8 in 100 people
• Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD): 6 in 100 people
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): 4 in 100 people
• Depression: 3 in 100 people
• Phobias: 2 in 100 people
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): 1 in 100 people
• Panic disorder: fewer than 1 in 100 people.

A person's diagnosis may also change several times during their life.  And according to the last set of statistics, only 1 in 8 adults with mental health illnesses were receiving any kind of treatment. 

(source: Mind Health Facts and Statistics) 

Our own mental well-being and that of our family, friends and other relationships is something that we all need to consider just as much as we consider our physical health and well-being. Would you recognise the signs of someone going through anxiety or trauma? Would you know how to approach someone who might be self-harming? Would you know what to say to someone who has hinted at completing suicide?  Who is the person that your staff might be able to confide in if things were getting on top of them? Does that person have the background knowledge and tools to be able to point them in the right direction to get help? 

" We had some really important conversations which aided my learning as well. I think the breaks in the mornings could have been a bit longer but I understand that there is a lot of information to get through. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and thought the learning materials were great. I'm glad to have roleplayed some scenarios as well to increase my confidence. The instructor was clearly knowledgeable and came with her own examples and it was well organised."

"There are so many challenges involved in delivering this course, all the more so with Zoom. I felt fully involved and this is due to the considerable skill of the presenter. It’s a course which is full of challenging material and I felt that her consideration of our feelings was absolutely appropriate. The sheer volume of material is daunting but we have been signposted to the manual and the app and these are clearly solid resources. I would like the opportunity to re-evaluate the course after I have had a chance to put it all into practice."

"It has been really helpful learning about ALGEE and having it as a framework to support individuals. It has made me less apprehensive and more confident about safely and competently supporting individuals in MH crisis. I thought I was non-judgmental, however I realised how unconsciously I can be when we covered Our Frame of reference and Window of the World. Also, the course has taught me I may need to re-educate myself on helpful and unhelpful language. To be comfortable asking direct questions about Suicide. I know the course was meant to be interactive, but I confess to being uncomfortable with role playing it's never been my thing', however I did appreciate its importance for practicing MHFA conversations. On reflection though, in my discomfort, I truly appreciated the importance of non-judgement, being present, active listening, being genuine and empathy from the perspective of the person being supported. One of the valuable things I learned and need to reinforce for myself is Self-Care. Overall, I found the course really helpful."

"Really valuable lessons learnt through the course - the manual is very informative and the teaching and facilitating was great"

"Sumita is such an excellent instructor and made us feel so at ease. Cannot recommend her course enough and want to thank her and MHFA for the opportunity!"

"This was a great course and it was especially helpful that Sumita was able to tailor it to focus on the field of refugee and homeless support."

"A really good course, nicely up to date with our times too. I learnt quite a bit about using the right language. Practice sessions are great, I definitely feel much more confident now. Sumita is a very good trainer, kept everyone engaged. A good mix of videos, slides, group exercises and breakouts."

If you are interested in developing your understanding of mental health, and undertaking the online or Face to Face course to train as a Mental Health First Aider  or just to get a better a better awareness of Mental Health, then please contact us for more information or book an existing course here.

All courses are accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health and Mental Health First Aid England.