Learner Outcomes

The Youth MHFA course will teach you how to:

• Spot the early signs of a mental health problem in young people
•  Feel confident helping a young person experiencing a problem
•  Provide help on a first aid basis
• Help protect a young person who might be at risk of harm
• Help prevent a mental health illness from getting worse
• Help a young person recover faster
• Guide a young person towards the right support
• Reduce the stigma of mental health problems

Key areas covered within the course include:

• Promoting emotional, mental, social and psychological well-being
• Eating disorders
• Self harm
• Diversity and Equality issues
• Substance/Alcohol misuse
• Suicide
• Child, adolescent and family psychosocial development
• Depression/Anxiety/Psychosis
• Bullying/Cyber bullying
• Promoting protective factors and good parenting
• Solution Focussed Therapy

Participants will be given the opportunity to:

• understand how to integrate solution focused approaches, skills and principles into their practice
•  understand where to gain on-going support to develop a solution focused approach within their work
• develop their capacity to construct effective partnerships and agreements with children, young people and their families
•  develop their ability to listen, communicate and help children, young people and families
• identify and access their own resources, strengths and skills; to make effective choices and enable lasting change and increased safety
• consider how to engage and work with children, young people and their families whilst building their resilience
• learn how to use solution focused techniques (creative and linguistic) in a range of  environments including, child, adolescent and family work, team meetings and inter agency meetings
• learn how to use solution focused techniques to improve inter agency and inter professional, collaborative working whilst maintaining safety as the primary focus.

Course Length

2 day programme

Target Audience

Teachers, Learning Assistants, SENCO’s, Heads and Deputy heads, Learning mentors

Please see our downloadable version of Youth Mental First Aid