MHFA - Youth courses

Completing our two day course qualifies you as a Youth Mental Health First Aider. Youth Mental Health First Aiders have:

• An in depth understanding of young people’s mental health and factors that affect wellbeing
• Practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues
• Confidence to reassure and support a young person in distress
• Enhanced interpersonal skills such as non-judgemental listening
• Knowledge to help a young person recover their health by guiding them to further support – whether that’s through self-help sites, their place of learning, the NHS, or a mix
• Engaging with parents, carers and external agencies where appropriate
• Ability to support a young person with a long term mental health issue or disability to thrive
• Tools to look after your own mental wellbeing

The course is delivered in four manageable chunks: - About mental health - Depression and anxiety - Suicide and psychosis - Self-harm and eating disorders. It focuses on the issues faced by young people today, such as cyber bullying and substance misuse, and teaches how to promote protective factors and good parenting.

Everyone who completes the course gets a Youth MHFA manual to refer to whenever they need it, and a certificate to say they are a Youth Mental Health First Aider.

This course teaches you how to identify when a young person might be experiencing a mental health issue and how to guide them to get the help they need.

It is run in two sessions, the first of which looks at the issues of Depression and Suicide, whilst the second explores Anxiety Disorders, Self-Harm, Eating Disorders and Psychosis.

This 4-hour introductory session is designed to increase awareness of young peoples’ mental health and some of the issues that can affect this age group. It develops our capacity to be aware of both risk and protective factors that can impact on a young person’s mental health. It addresses questions around how best to approach and support a young person who may be experiencing mental health issues, and offers ideas around how to promote positive mental health.