About mhfa

info@mhfa-northeast.co.uk

What is mhfa?

Mental Health First Aid is exactly what it suggests, a first aid approach to mental health.

Where traditional physical first aid is the help given to an injured person before medical treatment can be obtained, mental health first aid (mhfa) is the help given to someone experiencing a mental health problem before professional help can be obtained. depr

The aims of mental health first aid are:

to preserve life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others
to provide help to prevent the mental health problem developing into a more serious state
to promote the recovery of good mental health
to provide comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem
to raise awareness of mental health issues within the community
to reduce stigma and discrimination

mhfa does not teach people to be therapists, however, it does teach people:

to recognise the symptoms of mental health problems
to provide initial help
to guide a person towards appropriate professional help

History

To help people provide initial support for someone with a mental health problem, the mental health first aid (mhfa) training course was developed

in 2000, by Betty Kitchener and Professor Anthony Jorm at the Centre for Mental Health Research (Australian National University).

Together they co-authored a mental health first aid manual and an accompanying course, with the aim to improve the mental health literacy of members of the Australian community. Since then, the mhfa training and research programme has been developed, evaluated and disseminated nationally and internationally.

Mental Health First Aid came to the UK via Scotland in 2003 when Betty Kitchener was invited to train a small group of instructors to pilot the course across Scotland. After a very positive response to the pilot, the course was adapted and modified for Scotland with the training programme starting in 2005. Wales and Ireland are working on introducing mhfa which is currently being rolled out across England through the guidance of CSIP, a Department of Health regulated and funded organisation.