Mental Health First Aid
An Interview with Stella Sheldon, Director of Training at A Better Way
Stella, what is Mental Health First Aid?
Great question! Mental Health First Aid is a course that gives people the skills to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. The evidence behind the program demonstrates that it builds mental health literacy, helps the public identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness. Think CPR/First aid skills, but for mental wellbeing.
Can you tell us about the course that A Better Way offers?
We teach about recognizing and responding to early signs and symptoms, worsening signs and symptoms, and crisis situations. And we teach about hope. Hope and recovery are often missing from conversations about mental health problems.
We provide a daylong course that provides certification in MHFA. To break up the course content, we offer this as a hybrid 8-hour course. Two hours of online self-paced pre-work to complete on their own time, followed by a live instructor-led zoom course. At the end of the live course, participants are able to log back in to the MHFA online portal where they completed their pre-work to complete a quiz and obtain their certification. MHFA Certification lasts for three years.
How does someone sign up for the course?
People who are interested in taking this course should visit the Mental Health First Aid page on A Better Way’s website.
How could this course be useful for the average person?
There are many misconceptions about mental health issues. And stigma. In addition to recognizing and responding to varying levels of symptoms, MHFA teaches a concrete action plan for how to respond in times of need. The non-judgmental listening skills, coupled with uplifting the other person’s dignity of choice and autonomy are successful in supporting people to get the help they need in the way that feels best for them. In a way that is trauma-informed and supports people to not feel stigmatized for mental health issues, especially during times of need.
This course dispels a lot of the myths that prevent people from getting help, by discussing facts as well as cultural components that might make it hard for someone to get help. I have been facilitating this course for over three years. On a very regular basis, participants reach out to me to thank me and share that the skills they learned in this course have helped their colleagues, clients, friends, and loved ones in profoundly healing ways.
What have participants said about the course?
Participants regularly share they are grateful to learn how to do a suicide risk assessment. They leave the course feeling confident in their ability to support someone during a mental health crisis, and even more, how to prevent it from reaching that point by knowing early signs and symptoms.
Participants love the realistic video examples during the course that highlight common scenarios and the discussions on how to respond. And many are excited to learn that Michelle Obama and Lady Gaga are MHFA advocates, too!
Who facilitates the course, and what is their background?
A Better Way currently has three certified facilitators on staff, certified in both youth and adult MHFA. I am grateful to be one of them, having facilitated about 160 Mental Health First Aid Courses since 2020. MHFA Curriculum was created by a team of psychologists, professionals, and people with lived experience. It is evidence based and studies show it works. MHFA requires facilitators to attend a multiple day train the trainer certification course followed by several ongoing training modules. They have strict guidelines for presenting curriculum to meet the fidelity of their intended facilitation quality.
The program originated in Australia in 2000 and has since been adopted by more than 25 countries. An important factor in the MHFA program’s international expansion has been the continuing attention to research and evaluation. The course content is evidence-based, and studies demonstrate that the course is effective. The Adult Mental Health First Aid program was brought to the United States in 2008 through a partnership with the National Council for Behavioral Health. The Mental Health First Aid program continues to grow and adapt to the needs of the people in our country with regular curriculum revisions.