Here are some suggested actions that Course Organisers from a requesting organisation and the Mental Health First Aid® Australia (MHFA™) Instructor can undertake to ensure considerations of the course participants' sensitivities, reactions and self-care:
BEFORE THE MHFA COURSE
- Course Organisersdistribute to each participant an outline of the specific MHFA course they are attending and the content to be covered (MHFA Instructor can obtain this information from the MHFA website page https://mhfa.com.au/courses). This will ensure course participants are clear in advance of what the training course is about and what they will use the training for.
- Course Organisers should provide participants with information about any relevant Employee Assistant Program or other supports that are also available, acknowledging at the same time that the topics covered in the MHFA course are likely to be more than just theoretical in terms of personal and professional experience and that participants need to make a special effort regarding their self-care during and after the course.
- Course Organisers should also make it clear to participants and their managers that participants should not be expected to continue their work/work role/workload during their course attendance.
- MHFA Instructors should ask the Course Organiser about who is coming to the training and if there are any particular areas of concern for those participants that the Instructor needs to be aware of - personal/professional experience, workplace incidents, etc.
DURING THE MHFA COURSE
- MHFA Instructor informs that the MHFA course is not a support group - it is an educational course. However, some people may find some of the information discussed to be emotional for them, due to their experience of mental illness in themselves or others significant to them.
- At the beginning of the course, MHFA Instructors are to inform the participants that they need to be in control of what information they chose to share as a course participant (issues of safety and confidentiality) and how to indicate to the MHFA Instructor if they need to leave because they are upset.
- If there are 2 MHFA Instructors conducting the course, advise course participants that one of them can/will follow-up with an upset course participant. It is important that this action of follow-up is clearly identified at the start of the course which may result from a course participant indicating through the agreed signal that the content is having a personal impact on them and that they need a time out.
- MHFA Instructor informs the participants that the MHFA course information will include information and resources about where to seek support and help.
- MHFA Instructor reminds participants about accessing the Employee Assistance Program or other supports available if they so desire.
AFTER THE MHFA COURSE
- MHFA Instructor informs course participants about MHFAider™ accreditation possibilities: https://mhfa.com.au/firstaider and how a MHFA Officer can be appointed in each work area: https://mhfa.com.au/mental-health-first-aid-officers
- Where a number of people within an organisation are being trained, they are encouraged to form a network of support -regardless of official designation as Mental Health First Aid Officer - where they can make a call, have a cup of coffee and talk about their MHFA skills and interventions.
There are occasions where:
- a course participant may approach the MHFA Instructor or the Instructor has followed up with a course participant and it is evident they are upset. The MHFA Instructor is to render mental health first aid and ask the course participant to identify if there is someone within the organisation with whom they would feel comfortable talking about what is going on (as well as recommending the Employee Assistance Program) – ideally the course participant will identify a colleague, line manager or someone within HR they are comfortable to talk to. If not, resources outside of the organisation can be suggested.
- a MHFA Instructor may be approached by a course participant who is suicidal. The MHFA Instructor is to follow the Crisis Mental Health First Aid guidelines.
- a MHFA Instructor may also approach a course organiser/organising team in general terms when there are concerns about the level of distress in participants or evidence that they are currently unwell - asking them how/why these participants came to be in the course, and checking in whether there was awareness in the organisers of the level of experience and distress in the group.
Host organisations are to take responsibility for who attends a MHFA course within their organisation and the impact it might have on individual course participants.