The Kettle's On. ☕

What is MHFA?

Mental Health First Aid - is essentially first aid for our mental health not our physical health. It is a course that provides people with the confidence to notice changes in their friends, family, community or colleagues, and start a conversation. It's not a course that will give you super powers, make you a counsellor or a psychologist. It's first aid, it's meant to be a first response to a change in behaviours, a worsening illness, or a crisis.

MHFA gives you a framework to understand what you're seeing, to start a conversation and be able to point that person in the direction of further help.

Why do we need it?

More often than not - people care, they just don't have the tools or confidence to start, and in a workplace, there can be added feelings of apprehension about having this type of conversation.

In a workplace, it isn't about turning your employees into counsellors.

It isn't about asking managers to diagnose mental health conditions.

And it certainly isn't about expecting someone to "fix" a colleague's problems.

It's about creating a workplace where people feel more comfortable and safe talking about mental health.

That's one of the reasons I started The Kettle's On Learning. Because sometimes the hardest part isn't knowing that someone might need help. It's knowing what to say when you sit down with them.