Mental Health First Aid

Due to COVID-19, all our training is being done virtually via Zoom. We have virtual workshops specific to Covid-19 on stress management, easing emotional distress and supporting employees. For more information on these workshops please contact us.

If you’ve taken a physical first aid course, you’ve learned the skills needed to help someone experiencing a sudden illness or injury. People can also have a mental health crisis, and it is important that more Canadians know how to provide help in these situations too.

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) 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 is resolved.

How MHFA helps

• Preserves life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others.
• Provides help to prevent the mental health problem from developing into a more serious state.
• Promotes the recovery of good mental health.
• Provides comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem.

Courses

Mental Health First Aid Standard Virtual

In this 8-hour blended course, first aiders will complete a 2-hour self-paced module and then participate in two, 3-hour instructor-led classes using Zoom videoconferencing technology.
Participants of the virtual course will learn how to recognize signs that a person may be experiencing a decline in their mental well-being or a mental health crisis and encourage that person to:

• Talk about declines in their mental well-being
• Discuss professional and other supports that could help with recovery to improved mental well-being
• Reach out to these supports
• Assist in a mental health or substance use crisis
• Use MHFA actions to maintain one’s own mental well-being

Participants are required to complete the self-paced Module 1 before participating in the virtual classroom sessions (Modules 2 and 3).

Mental Health First Aid Basic*

MHFA Basic is a 12-hour in-person course focused on adults interacting with adults in all environments. The course discusses the following mental disorders:

• Substance-related disorders
• Mood-related disorders
• Anxiety and trauma-related disorders
• Psychotic disorders

First aid skills for the following situations are learned:

• Substance overdose
• Suicidal behaviour
• Panic attack
• Acute stress reaction
• Psychotic episode

*This is an in-person course. Due to public health orders, we are not offering MHFA Basic currently.

Mental Health First Aid Adults Who Interact with Youth*

MHFA Adults who Interact with Youth is intended for an adult audience whose primary focus is youth (aged 14-25). In addition to the four most common disorders discussed in MHFA Basic, this 14-hour course includes instruction about eating disorders and deliberate self-injury. Participants who take this course are well prepared to interact confidently about mental health with the young people in their lives, including at schools, extra-curricular activities, social services, family, friends, and communities.

*Not available in a virtual format