Mental Health First Aid

Overview

The Mental Health First Aid Program was developed in 2001 at the centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University. The program has been well evaluated and found to be effective in improving mental health literacy, reducing stigma and increasing helping behaviours. First Aid is the help given to an injured person before medical treatment can be obtained. Mental Health First Aid is the initial help given to someone experiencing a mental health problem before professional help is sought.

Intended Outcomes

There are many reasons why people benefit from Mental Health First Aid Training:

Mental health problems are common
There is a stigma associated with mental health problems
Many people do not recognize mental health problems
Professional help is not always available
Many people do not know how to help

Course Content

The course covers helping people in mental health crisis situations and/or in the early stages of mental health problems. Crisis situations covered are:

Suicidal behaviours
Acute stress reaction
Panic attacks
Acute psychotic behaviour

Other mental health problems covered are:

Depression
Anxiety disorders
Schizophrenia
Bipolar disorder

Participants will learn the signs and symptoms of these mental health problems, where and how to get help and what sort of help has been shown by research to be effective.

Dates and Registration

Registration and course administration is managed by Occupational Health, Safety and Environment. For course dates and registration please go to

OHS&E Course Registration

If you have any further enquiries please email shyama.fuad@adm.monash.edu.au

Mental Health First Aid plus (MHFA+)

Self injury presentation
Mental Health First Aid survey feedback
Alcohol and other drugs presentation

Updates

2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing

The ABS have recently released its findings following the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Of the 16 million Australians aged 16-85 years, almost half (45% or 7.3 million) had a lifetime mental disorder, i.e. a mental disorder at some point in their life. One in five (20% or 3.2 million) Australians had a 12 month mental disorder (i.e. existing mental disorder in the previous 12 months at the time of the survey). 26% (i.e. one in four people) aged 16-24 had a mental disorder.

To find out more details about the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health & Wellbeing, please access the Australian Bureau of Statistics website:

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4326.0?OpenDocument