Mental Health Now Blog > Becoming a Mental Health First Aider – the benefits to you at home and at work | March 2019

Have you experienced a mental health problem in the past year? If so, you’re not alone – around 1 in 4 of us experience mental health issues including anxiety, stress and depression every year ¹. As society becomes more aware of mental health issues, more people are asking what they can do to help both their own mental health and that of their family, friends and colleagues.

Become a Mental Health First Aider

One way to help is to become a Mental Health First Aider. Mental Health First Aid is an internationally recognised course which trains people to recognise the signs and symptoms of mental health problems and to be able to provide help and support. It won’t train you to become a therapist, but you will learn how to listen, respond and reassure people, as well as know how to point them in the direction of professional support if they need it. You’ll learn about common mental health conditions, how they differ from each other and the kind of support that is available to help people through them. You’ll also learn how to start conversations with people who are showing signs of problems – either in a crisis situation or before one arises.

Understanding mental health is a skill which helps across all areas of your life. Whether we’re at home, with friends or at work, mental health issues can have an impact on all of our everyday lives. The skills you learn on a mental health first aid course will help you to help others, wherever you are. They’ll also give you a powerful set of skills for looking after your own health and wellbeing.

Giving you new skills at work

Businesses are increasingly realising the importance of supporting the wellbeing and mental health of their teams. Mental health issues are now the largest cause of workplace sickness absence in the UK and the cost to business is huge. Good managers know that supporting their teams is important for the wellbeing of individuals and great for business. Creating an open, supportive and positive culture around mental health can help to make a business a great place to work, and allows employees to thrive. 

Become a Mental Health First Aider allows you to bring all of the skills into your workplace. You’ll be able to support colleagues who are struggling, provide a listening ear and know how to point people in the direction of professional help. You could be the difference a colleague needs, creating a supportive environment which helps them to stay in their job even through difficult times. 

Two days of training to make a difference

You can help be a part of this culture shift within your organisation by becoming a Mental Health First Aider. If your company already supports mental health first aid then you’re in luck. If not, our business benefits of mental health first aid download is the ideal way to open up a conversation with your manager about why you think your organisation would benefit, laying out the financial costs of mental health to the business and the benefits which formally trained first aiders can bring. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about our two-day courses, click here to explore the syllabus and what you will learn. We run open public courses regularly and can also provide in-house training for larger groups.

1. McManus, S., Meltzer, H., Brugha, T. S., Bebbington, P. E., & Jenkins, R. (2009). Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, 2007: results of a household survey. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.
2. McManus, S., Bebbington, P., Jenkins, R., & Brugha, T. (Eds.) (2016). Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatry Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital.
3. Health and Safety Executive (2018 ). Health and safety at work. Summary statistics for Great Britain 2018.
4. Centre for Mental Health (2017). Mental Health at Work: The business costs ten years on.
5. Health and Safety Executive (2016). Work-related Stress, Anxiety and Depression statistics in Great Britain.