Mental Health First Aid Training
Due to the pandemic, civil unrest, natural disasters and other upsetting factors, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, binge drinking, suicidality and other mental health conditions are on the rise in our country. As an employer, you have a responsibility to ensure that your employees have the resources they need to cope with these stressors. But do you and your administrative team know how to identify signs and symptoms of mental illness? Do you know what to say to an employee who presents with indicators that they may be struggling emotionally? What you don’t know could be costly to that employee as well as your business.
GCG offers Mental Health First Aid training to businesses, organizations/groups and municipalities. It is an 8-hour course that teaches participants how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The training gives participants the skills needed to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis.
The National Council for Behavioral Health – a national trade group with more than 2,900 member organizations serving millions of Americans nationwide – helped bring Mental Health First Aid to the United States in 2008 with the goal of making it as common as traditional first aid and CPR. MHFA has strong evidence backing it. Three quantitative and one qualitative studies have shown that the program: 1) improves people’s mental health, 2) increases understanding of mental health issues and treatments, 3) connects more people with care and 4) reduces stigma.
Mental Health First Aid takes the fear and hesitation out of starting conversations about mental health and substance use problems by improving understanding and providing an action plan that teaches people to safely and responsibly identify and address a potential mental illness or substance use disorder.
Another exciting component of Mental Health First Aid training is that it is part of a certification process! That means, anyone who successfully completes the training becomes a certified, which is a terrific addition to one’s skill set and resume.
Who from your company or organization should attend Mental Health First Aid training?
- C-Suite executives
- HR professionals
- Managers/supervisors/team leaders/shift leaders
- Anyone in a leadership role
- Any employee who wants to be part of such an important movement
What Mental Health First Aid training can do for your company:
- It assists those in positions of leadership with identifying signs/symptoms of mental illness in employees who are demonstrating unusual or disruptive behavior
- It provides information to HR professionals on risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns
- The participant will learn how to apply the Mental Health First Aid action plan in a variety of situations, including when someone is experiencing:
o Panic attacks
o Suicidal thoughts or behaviors
o Non-suicidal self-injury
o Acute psychosis (e.g., hallucinations or delusions)
o Overdose or withdrawal from alcohol or drug use
o Reaction to a traumatic event
- Listening is critical in all fields. This training teaches a set of verbal and nonverbal skills such as open body posture, comfortable eye contact, and other strategies to engage in appropriate conversation.
- Oftentimes, managers, supervisors or HR professionals are faced with threatening or potentially explosive employees so MHFA training provides step-by-step process to de-escalate volatile situations.
- MHFA helps the managers and other professionals to discern the appropriate level of help the employee might need and provides resources for those individuals
The 8 hour commitment to take MHFA training will have a life-long effect and it could saves someone’s life!