Mental Health First Aider (MHFA England) Adult Two Day Course Materials

a reply to: SprocketUK

That's beautiful! I'm so happy she liked it, too. I thought it was a fantastic experience and well-worth waking up for at 2am to go into a big scary and dark bank office building all alone to talk to people in England on Teams. Twas a bit spooky, though! I'm interested in being a teacher, too. I want my ph.D, but until I get that, I'm not against any sort of teaching. I'm good with people and public speaking.

My pleasure with regards to sharing the information: I'm happy to be of service and let me know if you want to know anything else. I can get the correct answer myself, or ask my friends who have higher certifications than I do currently.

Psychology and MHFA absolutely behoove a teacher in any sort of capacity!! I absolutely agree, SproketUK.

Cheers and well done UK on the Mental Health First Aider initiative. I truly wish the United States and other Western counties would hop on board the train of pro-social behavior and be kind to their fellows.

Have a happy week

a reply to: Arthurox1717

I'm very sorry, Arthurox. A bunch of otherwise well-meaning professionals make mistakes all of the time. It has to do with lots of reasons, lack of care, lack of funding, lack of staff--history keeps repeating itself with regards to the history of psychology.

May I PM you some information? I'd be happy to get you information of someone smart and nice in your area to help. Part of the reason I plan on getting my doctorate in philosophy is so I can try to maybe make a difference in this world that's full of people trying to make a quick buck and not caring who they have to step on to get it.

Even people with medical doctorates and ph.D's can be phonies. Always be careful and don't trust people in general. I just trust God or do my best to and I'm lucky to have a good family and a few good friends in my life. The story you just told me is unfortunately one I've heard from a lady with dementia, once.

At the end of the day, always do your own research, too. If I'd listened to the medical doctors (my GP's), I'd still have a messed up anterior talofibular ligament instead of a totally fixed one. They thought that my serious ankle injury was a sprain for eight years of me begging for help until I looked it up and did research and figured out what was wrong on my own in my early twenties.

I wish I was making that up, because it sounds ridiculous, but it's how this world works. You are your own best advocate--never forget that you know your body best and if something feels wrong or off then listen to that feeling and get a second opinion or take a moment to reconvene.

After all, not to sound creepy, but you never know who is getting kickbacks/incentives for what. And most people didn't get their undergrad degree for free from the state government like I did, so they have money motives.

Luckily or unluckily for me, I don't think about money (I probably should lol but ironically I'm good with companies of stock and bookkeeping and corporate actions etc--odd how that works when I don't know the value of money very well).

While I know my impact is probably limited, I want to give as many people information as I can so that they can use it and think for themselves.

It's sad that a few people got defensive and acted like only people who have issues or who are struggling can make use of the MHFA. The truth is, it's good for everyone and can honestly help a totally average person say the right thing that might help another person not end their life or do something that they can't undo.

Feeling helpless in any situation is frightening. So I posted the long MHFA manual in my OP to help. Please read it and share it with your friends and such. It's a solid resource and I'm sorry again that the woman in your post felt silenced by "professionals". They sound like jerks and her experiences are valid and she deserves to be respected and listened to.

a reply to: AdultMaleHumanUK

So like I said in another response post a bit above, I took this class at like 3am until 10am for a couple weeks. My instructor mentioned that number and it should be in the textbook. It was in relation to the number of citizens in England who'd taken the class. I don't know if it was counting adults or minors or both and perhaps I got the number wrong but she mentioned it more than once. The class instructor I had would answer an email from me, if you want me to ask.

I took the notes directly from the presentation slides and they were only ever paraphrases. I've never miswritten a statistic, but I don't have the proof from the MHFA website since the information was given in the class, itself. I can totally ask my instructor, though, or my friend who took the class with me. She's friends with the lady who organized MHFA for the company I worked for, so I can absolutely 100% get you an answer, but it'll take me till tomorrow or the next day if you respond today (Monday, Feb 5).

So besides my notes from the presentation we were given and the class itself (which was more than just that two day manual), unfortunately I don't have an exact quote from MHFA. I did find this, though. Hope this helps to illustrate my point:

"MHFA England...Celebrating 15 years improving the mental health of the nation"

We have now trained 1 in 45 adults in England in mental health knowledge, awareness, and skills bringing us closer to reaching our mission of training 1 in 10. Over 835,500 people have been trained in mental health knowledge, awareness, and skills in the last 15 years. In total we have trained over 550,000 individual Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAiders®):

Over 450,000 Adult MHFAiders®
Over 19,000 Armed Forces MHFAiders®
Over 90,000 Youth MHFAiders®


We want to thank everyone from our Instructor Members to our clients and partners, MHFAiders®, MHFA England staff past and present, and all who have worked with us in support of our vision of improving the mental health of the nation. Mental Health First Aid isn’t just a course, it’s a community, and the last 15 years are a testament to that.

We have come a long way since 2007 and the mental health landscape has changed enormously. Great strides have been made to tackle the stigma associated with mental ill health, and more and more of us have the confidence to talk freely about mental health and seek support if we need it.

This anniversary marks an important stage in our journey as we, and many others, have had to adapt to a shifting world of work and greater need for mental health support. The pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities in our society and created new ones, these are now being compounded further by the rising cost of living.

Good question, AdultMaleHumanUK. LMK if you want me to email my MHFA instructor and I'd be happy to do so. PM me here or click on my link in my footer and message me on whichever social media that goes to. I forget but I get pings for those and will answer you promptly and not like on here. Sorry about that super late reply, my guy.

Oh and take a Hierarchy of Needs for the road--the MHFA sadly lacks it and everyone in my MHFA class loved this so hope you do, too. Cheers

a reply to: nerbot

I don't know why it replied to nugget and not you (maybe my macbook or I didn't reload the page--ie. it was totally my fault lol mb) but my reply as seen in my screenshot below: --was meant for you, not nugget.

Whoopsie. I posted that without realizing who I replied to. My bad. Hey, I'd love to hear more about your views on empathy, nerbot. Care to share more? Thanks and sick profile picture. I dig it

Edit: The other replies to nugget's interesting comment are indeed replies to that individual. Just wanted to clarify. Happy Monday

REPLY TO OP Abhorsen

Before I bit you all adieu until hopefully hearing further from you, if I missed anyone's comment I'm sorry and didn't mean to! I tried to make sure that I responded to everyone. Let me know and I appreciate you guys!

Kind regards and peace out

Happy Monday!

TLDR sorry if I bored anyone to death and let me know if you want me to answer anything else or if you disagree. I love different opinions and this is the place to have them so please, let's chat about it and for the record I don't think anyone is nuts or crazy or needs to read this for any reason. I just posted the MHFA because I enjoyed the class and loved how people in England approach good healthy habits, despite not using the DSM-V like we do in the US. It gave me appreciation for my friends in Great Britain and helped me understand them better, which I enjoyed. The textbook also helped me deal with escalated situations regarding the settlement of estates, the delisting of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) from public trading and what to say to shareowners about that news, being the point of contact with regards to stock splits and mergers or demergers--the list goes on. Point is, money gets people riled up and the MHFA, along with my formal education and formal in-field experience as a therapist in clinical, public (community), and private (at-home) settings, I feel confident promoting the message and purpose of MHFA England.

I'd happily defend the MHFA England class 'till I'm blue in the face. I met and connected with a slew of wonderful people in that class and it didn't matter that they were big-wigs and I was a grunt by comparison--we had a great time and helped each other simply because we took that time and chose to care about one another and not just pretend to care. It was really, really cool and if anyone wants to say it was anything negative then my firm belief is that any naysayers do not understand the class or the MHFA initiative.

The end. For the person who said they weren't having a breakdown and didn't need to read it, I hope you change your mind and choose to read a smart book for the sake of learning and reading a book.

It doesn't always have to be someone doing something for some dark purpose or conspiracy. I know this is ATS, but I'm not the usual demographic and that's why I love coming here, to just say the truth without getting crucified by virtue signalers or people who get confused and scared from that confusion.

I'm just here being chill so don't accuse me of saying anyone is nuts or that anything is wrong with anyone. Please. The last thing I want is anyone feeling bad or anything and for me to have inadvertently caused that maybe. I think too much, but I'd rather think too much than not care at all.

I didn't think I had to say anything but here it goes: I don't think there's anything wrong with any of you. I'd never post a thread saying something's wrong with you guys. ATS helped me with homework when I was getting that degree--back when the original owners were in charge a few years ago...I'm doing what I can to try to give back to ATS. Now, you can take it or leave it and that's cool--I'm just offering. It's up to you guys to want to talk. If nobody wants to then I get to sleep easy at night knowing at least I gave it the good old college try.

If I do become a teacher (and if I don't God help anyone I talk to because I'm sorry for always info-dumping and being super ADHD about it), I hope I don't become a mean teacher, but I'm afraid that perhaps I do sound mean. If I do, I'm really sorry and I hope you forgive me for being forthcoming and rather blunt in my language choice. I'm trying to sound entertaining but I'm afraid I perhaps come off as being flippant. Not sure, but I know I'm the only one who cares this much about how I sound LOL Even still, it's worth mentioning in the event anyone was hurt by anything I said. I was sad when I saw a couple people reacting negatively to the post, since this post is meant to be wholesome, nice, and make people feel empowered and able to take advantage of education and information that is helpful especially when SHTF.

Always be calm if SHTF. The ALGEE method is airtight and I am unable to find a single instance in which it wouldn't be useful. Maybe a terrorist situation or something, but even then, it all depends on how brave one is and how far one is willing to go. Frankly, once people cross the line and become viable threats, I see that as the time for friendly discourse as being over and done with. But maybe that's just me being hardlined about it.

It was supposed to be a happy post about something nice because that is all this is.

But..the truth is several of you have stories that are troubling and I absolutely understand not liking psychology or mental healthcare and not having trust for it. And I'm not here to argue with you or tell you that you're wrong because that's frankly not my place to make those sorts of big promises or statements.

Heck, I'm the one being overly verbose and talking too much now because I'm bored and want to chat and like to type so there you have it.



Ha, I mean, if we're going to judge the craziest in the room it's totally me and my lengthy replies that maybe the people I'm replying to will hopefully read...but do I really care? No. I'm just at ease because I can say I tried and at the end of the day trying to help is all I'm able to do and that's my choice to behave this way while knowing darn well that nobody usually knows what in the Sam hell I'm talking about lol (except other smart people and people who like me).

I'm probably thinning out that "people who like me" list but meh. I have fun saying all of this and if it's useful then that's awesome. I think it's good to be real.

(Even if I totally sound like I'm having a time adjusting to ADHD meds.
--Oh shoot did I say that?!
Nahhh that was your imagination! )

Nobody, absolutely nobody
Meanwhile me:

a reply to: Foundryman2

What about someone at work who is crying at the coffee maker? What, you're just going to keep walking and pretend you didn't see it? This isn't just about big bad situations. This is about everyday, not confronting violent terrorists. MHFA makes it very clear to call proper authorities.

Please read it. It's like less than 300 pages and that's super short and you have none of the group activities or anything. Plus i'll seriously answer your questions with up-to-date info from the university of wisconsin-milwaukee which is actually one of the best schools for psychology in the world, funnily enough. I'm an alumni member of the psych department's diversity community, so please. Don't jump to the worst conclusion and give the MHFA a second of your time.

If you don't like it then fine. It's here to help and to be useful. If it's only useful for you to disagree with it then that's totally Kosher, but I think you'll like it if you give it a change.

Also sorry--I skimmed your comment initially because it upset me that some misunderstood the OP (which isn't anyone's fault besides mine, but it's frustrating when one is trying to make people happy and it ends up doing the opposite--it doesn't feel good and I didn't mean to make anyone feel badly and I'm sorry if I worded things badly and if it was my fault you misunderstood).

You'll be happy that I asked the MHFA england instructor the same question you have. I told her flat out that I wasn't going to approach dangerous people--I'm literally the exact height of Queen Victoria so I'm petite and not a large physical presence in the world. I have a loud voice and confidence but a very small physical form. It's kinda comical, I think. Anyway, I thought you were saying (you kinda did) that you thought what I posted was only for use when SHTF or when someone's going to jump off of a building or use their Bankai! anime powers to hold innocent people at Zanpakuto point or something (lol now THAT's me being flippant and trying to be funny probably in an unfunny way but I'm going full-send sorry )

If you thought it was just for the extremes then I'm sorry I didn't make it clearer that this information and the two-day class and free textbook from nice and thoughtful people in England is solely to be used as helpful information that might be useful. It is useful in unusual situations, in surprising situations--but it's usually the most useful in everyday situations.

If you pay attention, you'll see people around you all of the time dealing with their lives and feelings and trying to deal with everything on their own.

By making yourself available as I did--doing nothing difficult and nothing besides offering my attention and willingness to help.

All this is is about you and everyone else taking personal responsibility for oneself and for our own roles in society. It's our duty to be kind to others, even if it's not a law or mandatory. It feels good and it is good.

That's all I'm about: Just promoting trying to do the morally correct thing.

Sorry for going on and on and on, but it really is very sad to me that most people don't even know how to sit quietly with themselves and still be happy. I have good self esteem and I love myself, so I think I'm a good person to stand up and offer my help if anyone wants it.

Heh I swear I'm not *usually* this stupid. Maybe. Mayyyybeeee

I censored myself, but censor me more (Daddy?)

Sigmund Freud's ghost intensifies since I said "Daddy".

Straight facts.

a reply to: Abhorsen

Thank you very much for your reply. I spent many decades struggling through issues that should have been no-brainers for 'professionals' and have seen some people come out even more messed up after 'professional' help.

Another issue I have is cost; even on a sliding scale it takes a huge chunk out of ones budget. You're faced with paying your rent and buying food or talking to someone for a half hour each week.

Honestly, if there were more people like you I could see a big advantage for everyone needing help. You're obviously not doing it as 'just a job'. Much respect.

a reply to: nugget1

..you don't sound like you have anything terribly the matter with you, despite what you've experienced. I think that's pretty cool! You've got resilience and that's wonderful. (Dude, I'm only on ADHD meds because I asked for them for help at work situationally and some anti-anxiety stuff for situational panic attacks that I requested...I find them helpful during certain times but otherwise I take nothing regularly besides a multivitamin and acid reflux meds). You sound like a nice person who speaks well.

I don't want to or intend to disregard your pain or your struggle, but what if you're doing really well and you sound like you'd benefit from someone smart listening to you? I think you'd like talking to someone who actually does a competent job. I'm not surprised you've had a hard time finding anyone remotely capable of doing the job they've been hired to do.

People are so lazy, nugget. It annoys me, too.

If I end up getting a ph.D or whatever, I'll keep just trying to help to help. If I ever get tempted by money I'm going to quit, I think. It's scary how slippery the slope seems to be.

You're a smart person, and there's help available for free, too. Online, even, like just people to speak to confidentially etc. I can find you specifics, but insurance through employment or the state should cover things. Lmk if you want links for places to talk to people for free. UW Milwaukee likely has something since their grad program for psychology is big-into helping the community.

I'm blessed and I'm not paying for rent or anything at the moment. You're absolutely right, though. It's a scary time.

When I was actively not eating and over exercising and stuff, I made myself struggle more than I should have. Just remember to try to be kind and patient with yourself. I think you seem pretty darn swell, so you're not doing too bad at all, I don't think

I hope you have a lovely week and I had fun talking with you and thinking about what you said

Also thank you for your kind words--I don't think I deserve them all, as all I did as a therapist was encourage my clients to do what they loved and had passion for and whatever was healthy for them and their family. They did the work--I just facilitated some programs and supported them. I'm happy to say they're all doing great, as are their families. I am pretty good at getting kids excited about reading, though!

Goodnight, nugget

a reply to: Abhorsen

Yes, you can PM me. Thx you so much for this! 🥰💯🙏

a reply to: Abhorsen
2AM sounds dedicated

Glad you are enjoying the journey