Training

“Mental health is one of the greatest causes of sickness absence in the UK” [Stevenson/Farmer review, 2017]

“1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem each year – but in Wales, only 13% of these people will access treatment.” [Mind]

In 2016/17 stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 40% of all work-related ill health cases, and 49% of all working days lost due to ill health. [HSE, 2017]. By giving your colleagues the chance to talk more openly about their mental health, you are not only helping your staff and customers, but also business productivity.

Every day your staff will interact with customers, visitors, colleagues and contractors – but would they know what to do if someone was in emotional distress, or just needed someone to talk to?

Each year, one in four of us are affected by a mental health problem. Front line workers often meet people with experience of mental distress, but might lack the skills and confidence to support them appropriately.

The idea of MHFA is that people should be taught how to perform basic ‘first aid’ for those exhibiting signs of mental health distress, just as we are currently taught physical first aid.

Mental Health First Aid is for everyone. Mental Health problems are extremely common with one in four people experiencing some kind of mental health problem in any one year.

Depression, stress and anxiety for instance, are widespread problems that affect thousands of people in Wales. Despite this, people do not always feel confident to discuss mental health or to offer the initial support that people need.

Each course is run by a fully qualified mental health professional. As your local mental health charity, we support people with their mental health every day, and can provide first-hand advice and experience for your staff.

The course covers:

• How to recognise when a person might need help and the best way to approach them.
• How to save a life by learning basic suicide intervention skills.
• What protects your own and other people’s mental health.
• New skills that are useful in every part of your life
• Listen calmly to a person’s feelings and fears
• Give some simple information about mental health
• Tell someone where to get appropriate help

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first aid.

ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. Although ASIST is widely used by healthcare providers, participants don’t need any formal training to attend the workshop—anyone 16 or older can learn and use the ASIST model.

Since its development in 1983, ASIST has received regular updates to reflect improvements in knowledge and practice, and more than 1,000,000 people have taken the workshop. Studies show that the ASIST method helps reduce suicidal feelings in those at risk and is a cost-effective way to help address the problem of suicide.

Learning goals and objectives

Over the course of their two-day workshop, ASIST participants learn to:

• Understand the ways that personal and societal attitudes affect views on suicide and interventions
• Provide guidance and suicide first aid to a person at risk in ways that meet their individual safety needs
• Identify the key elements of an effective suicide safety plan and the actions required to implement it
• Appreciate the value of improving and integrating suicide prevention resources in the community at large
• Recognize other important aspects of suicide prevention including life-promotion and self-care

Workshop features:

• Presentations and guidance from two LivingWorks registered trainers
• A scientifically proven intervention model
• Powerful audiovisual learning aids
• Group discussions
• Skills practice and development
• A balance of challenge and safety

i-Act offers an accredited specialist evidence based mental health training for senior managers, line managers and front line workers.

i-act practitioners and managers do not only improve the quality of people’s lives, they also save lives.

i-act is an evidence-based course which is systematically reviewed every three years.

i-act is an independently accredited course with certified CPD points.

i-act comes with a 168-page, evidence-based course manual, toolkit and resource pack.

i-act participants also gain access to online i-act resources.

i-act comes with over 50 practical step-by-step tools and over 95 organisations to refer on to.

i-act was developed in the UK, has a UK evidence-base, and can be delivered anywhere in the UK and internationally.

i-act offers a ‘first-response’ approach to supporting someone in distress, it’s also maintains a pro-active approach to improving wellbeing in order to help build resilience and keep people well – hence i-act rather than re-act.

i-act offers specialist mental health training for executives, senior managers and line managers, as well as a general awareness course for employees/front-line workers.

Teaching the theory and practice of suicide intervention skills that can be applied in any professional or personal setting, this programme is delivered over 3 hours as a suicide prevention awareness session. We use only the most experienced suicide prevention trainers to deliver this unique learning experience: for anyone who seeks greater understanding and confidence to intervene with people at risk of suicide.

The Suicide First Aid Lite (Virtual) course gives learners the knowledge and tools to understand that suicide is one of the most preventable deaths and some basic skills can help someone with thoughts of suicide stay safe from their thoughts and stay alive.

SFA Lite is comprised of 2 parts, each 90 minutes duration. The programme teaches the skills needed to identify someone who may be thinking about suicide and to pass the person onto a suicide first aider.

Part 1 – 90 minutes

· Introduction to the session; programme, ourselves and suicide prevention

· Stigma and survivors of bereavement by suicide and the Hidden Toll

· Suicide thoughts and suicide behaviour

· Intention of behaviour versus outcome of behaviour

· Possible causes of suicide thoughts

· Suicide – the ripple effect

Break

Part 2 – 90 minutes

· ‘I’m really glad you told me’ audio visual

· Suicide Safety Guidance

· Recognising and asking about suicide

· Referring a person onto suicide first aiders

Suicide First Aid Lite (Virtual) training offers learning outcomes that are knowledge based and factual. This training can be used as a stand-alone programme or as the first part of a journey to learn suicide prevention skills.

The one-day programme Suicide First Aid through Understanding Suicide Interventions is a City & Guilds qualification programme and the next step for people wanting a more in-depth practise-based approach to the learning. The information in SFALV is easy to grasp for people of all skill levels and those with no prior knowledge of the subject. It is designed to meet the needs of virtual groups and could be used as a forerunner to the one-day Suicide First Aid Programme.

Gwent Connect 5 is a free workforce training programme coordinated by Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB).

It aims to help you:

• Better understand how to improve their own mental wellbeing and that of others
• Increase their skills and confidence to have everyday conversations about mental wellbeing

• This training course is for you if you:
• Want to learn ways of helping to make the most of life and cope with everyday stresses.
• Want to improve your own mental wellbeing and the wellbeing of those around you.
• Work or volunteer in Gwent.

Gwent Connect 5’s overall aim is to improve population mental wellbeing by changing the way we all have conversations about mental health and wellbeing.

To do this, Gwent Connect 5 provides participants with:

• Evidence based tools and techniques to improve mental wellbeing, which can be applied within your own everyday life and within your working practice.
• The knowledge, skills, and confidence to have more effective conversations about mental health and wellbeing.
• Information on where to find trustworthy free resources and local opportunities to help improve mental wellbeing
• Practical skills and knowledge to know when and how to signpost people to specialist mental health support.