A recent report found that almost half of UK workers are ‘running on empty,’ with burnout, mental ill health, and work-related stress now costing the UK economy £28 billion annually. Poor mental health accounts for more than half of all work-related illnesses. Around 51% of long-term sick leave is due to stress, depression, or anxiety. It is known that mental health issues cost business more than physical first aid injuries like back problems.
It is with this in mind the First Aid Training Co-operative (FATC) has developed a new range of Mental Health First Aid courses to support the needs of our clients.
With a third of managers feel out of their depth supporting their team with mental health concerns we hope these courses will go some way to alleviating that stress and provide a solution that is part of an overall package of personnel health, safety and wellbeing provision.
The Health and Safety Executive now consider Mental Health should be part of a First Aid Needs Assessment in a workplace. It is now recommended that employers consider ways to support good mental health in the workplace, such as:
- Providing information or training for managers and employees,
- Employing occupational health professionals,
- Appointing mental health trained first aiders
- Implementing employee support programmes.
Unique Mental Health First Aid courses.
The First Aid Training Co-operative has a great reputation delivering contextualised, practical hands on relevant physical first aid courses. We have to brought this practical approach to delivering mental health first aid training too. Our mental health first aid courses incorporate as much practical, scenario based activity as possible into the course programme.
Our courses are backed up with a brand new digital mental health first aid manual which will provide further support and act as a course content refresher tool. Like all our digital manuals, it is available free to all course participants, and via our website shop. The manuals are designed to be downloaded onto your phone so they are always at hand.
Our courses have being developed in partnership with Changes East Lothian, a charity that aims to enable people to achieve and maintain good mental health and wellbeing through support groups, one-to-one therapy and wellbeing activities. Brian Glass from Changes has presented at two of our First Aid Conferences and we have built a great relationship which makes them our ideal partner in this new endeavour.
Specialist Mental Health First Aid courses for outdoor practitioners.
Most mental health training courses are designed to support you to deal with workplace issues, but as we know, not every workplace is the same. As outdoor practitioners we are often working with groups who are put into challenging situations where mental health issues can come to the fore.Â
In discussion with outdoor expedition leaders, Mountain Rescue Team members, Countryside Rangers, forest school practitioners, mountain and paddle guides, Scout and DofE Leaders, and many more, we have heard a huge range of different experiences of dealing with mental health issues within groups they have worked with. The feedback from these practitioners has been that they often feel ‘caught off guard’ and unsure as to how best to respond.
In addition, many outdoor professionals experience highly stressful or traumatic situations themselves, or know colleagues who have. Post traumatic support is vital in processing these experiences, but again my practitioners feel under-qualified in this regard.
FATC has therefore developed a 1-day face-to-face course specifically for outdoor practitioners, to help them understand more about Mental Health issues and how to support individuals who might be suffering, need support, or confide in them.
The idea is not to become a Mental Health First Aider in 1 day but to give you a range of ideas for how to listen, ask questions, and signpost further support. Better equipping our outdoor clients to support their clients and colleagues and young people.
Want to learn more about Mental Health First Aid?
The First Aid Training Co-operative now runs a suite of private first aid courses that can be delivered at your choice of venue, at a time and date to suit you. We’ll come to you and tailor your course to suit your specific situation, based on one of the core course types that we have in our portfolio. We now have a range of courses available for those looking to become Mental Health First Responders in the workplace, raise awareness of mental health amongst their staff plus specialist mental health training for outdoor professionals. Check out our mental health first aid course suite.
