Mental Health First Aid

Course Objectives

In the MHFA course, you will gain a solid understanding of the 5 basic actions of ALGEE:

Assess the risk of suicide and/or harm
Listen non-judgmentally
Give reassurance
Encourage professional support
Encourage other supports

ALGEE is the framework for having a confident conversation about mental health with family, friends, colleagues, and strangers.

Key outcomes

International evaluations and feedback have found the following outcomes for participants undertaking an MHFA course:

• Increased awareness of signs and symptoms of the most common mental health problems
• Decreased stigma related to mental health
• Increased confidence interacting with individuals experiencing a mental health problem or crisis
• Increased help actually provided to individuals in crisis or experiencing a mental health problem

Crisis first aid skills learned

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

Topics

1. Mental Health and Stigma

• What is Mental Health First Aid?
• Common mental health problems
• Five basic actions of mental health first aid
• Stigma and discrimination

2. Substance-related disorders

• What is a substance-related disorder?
• Signs and symptoms
• Risk factors
• MHFA for substance-related problems
• Crisis first aid for overdose
• Treatment and resources

3. Mood-related disorders

• What is a mood-related disorder?
• Types of mood-related disorders
• Signs and symptoms
• Risk factors
• Substance use and mood disorders
• Suicide in Canada
• MHFA for mood-related problems
• Reasons for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI)
• MHFA for non-suicidal self-injury
• Treatment and resources

4. Anxiety and trauma-related disorders

• disorders?
• Types of anxiety and trauma related disorders
• Signs and symptoms
• Risk factors
• Substance use and anxiety related disorders
• MHFA for anxiety and trauma related problems
• Crisis first aid for panic attacks
• Crisis first aid for acute stress reactions
• Treatment and resources

5. Psychotic disorders

• What is a psychotic disorder?
• Types of psychotic disorders
• Signs and symptoms
• Risk factors
• Substance use and psychotic disorders
• MHFA for anxiety problems
• Crisis first aid for psychotic episodes