Mental Health First Aid
About this course
Most of us have been physically unwell, you are very lucky if you have not. For example, it might have been due to an accident or an infection, such as food poisoning. In this course we identify the differences between the illness, disease and sickness exploring some practical things you can do to support yourself and the people you care for.
This course is different to our Mental Health Awareness course which goes into detail about the different mental health conditions, treatments and the legislation relating to social care.
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Most of us have experienced being unwell.
A physical illness can be due to an accident or an infection, such as food poisoning or having a common cold.
Every seven years a survey is carried out in England to measure the number of people who have different types of mental health problems.
These are statistics from the last survey.
1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in the UK.
Anxiety is very similar to depression, however, there are important differences.
Flip the cards below to see the main differences…
Talking about mental health does not come naturally to everyone.
How did Hannah’s friend start the conversation with her?
How did she help Hannah to decide on a clear action to make an appointment with her GP?
In Lesson 2, we looked at how to assess the seriousness of a mental health problem.
Can you remember what the key areas were?
How much distress or suffering it causes the person
Is it impacting on their ability to do their job?
Is it impacting on their ability to do normal everyday things?
Is it leading to high risk behaviour?
If you believe there is any serious risk when considering any of these areas, do not hesitate to involve mental health professionals.
Call 111 or 999 for an ambulance if you believe there is an immediate risk of serious harm to the person or others. Stay with the individual until help arrives.
6,211,deaths by suicide were registered in the UK in 2020.
Due to the way statistics are gathered, this number does not reflect all of the suicides. Additionally, it is believed significant numbers due to the COVID pandemic were not captured in this statistic. So, the true number is likely to be much higher.
Doing something you are good at. It will make you feel good. It might be a good way to make friends. It can help with work life balance.
Switching off the TV to talk or playing a game with children, friends or family.
Having lunch with a friend or colleague. Make it a regular thing.
Using technology to stay in touch with friends and family. Video chat apps are great, especially if you live far apart.
