Overview

This online course trains people as Youth Mental Health First Aiders, giving them:

  • An in-depth understanding of young people’s mental health and factors that affect wellbeing

  • Practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues 

  • Confidence to reassure and support a young person in distress

  • Enhanced interpersonal skills such as non-judgemental listening 

  • Knowledge to help a young person recover their health by guiding them to further support – whether that’s through self-help sites, their place of learning, the NHS, or a mix – engaging with parents, carers and external agencies where appropriate

  • Ability to support a young person with a long term mental health issue or disability to thrive

  • Tools to look after their own mental wellbeing 
     

Format

  • This is an online course delivered through the MHFA England Online Learning Hub

  • Learning takes place through four live training sessions, spread across one to two weeks, with self-learning activities in between. See course structure section below for more detail 

  • Each session is built around a Youth Mental Health First Aid action plan

  • We limit numbers to 16 people per course so that the instructor can keep people safe and supported while they learn

     

Takeaways

Everyone who completes the course gets:

  • A certificate of attendance to say they are a Youth Mental Health First Aider

  • A manual to refer to whenever they need it

  • A quick reference card for the Youth Mental Health First Aid action plan

  • A workbook including a helpful toolkit to support their own mental health
     

Contact us

If you are booking as an individual, you can learn more about course options and book directly with one of our independent instructors here:

Book 1 to 7 places

If you are looking to train eight people or more, get in touch with our youth mental health experts to learn more and to discuss your organisation's requirements:

Contact the team
 


Accessibility

We strive to create courses and resources that everyone can access. When you book training through MHFA England, please specify if you will need course materials in accessible formats.

Visit our accessibility page for more information.

Course structure

Session 1: Introduction

Individual learning (1 hour 15 minutes):

  • Introduction to the Online Youth Mental Health First Aid course and the Online Learning Hub
  • Activity 1: Why Youth Mental Health First Aid?
  • Activity 2: What is ALGEE? 
  • Activity 3: What is mental health?
  • Activity 4: Mental health and stigma 
  • Activity 5: Mental health quiz: Impact of mental health
  • Activity 6: Risk and protective factors for mental health 
  • Activity 7: The Stress Container 
     

Live session (2 hours 35 minutes):

  • Introduction to the course
  • Outline of live session 1, the value of Youth Mental Health First Aid
  • Introduce ALGEE 
  • Recap what mental health is 
  • Recap the Mental Health Continuum 
  • Stigma 
  • Recap why Youth Mental Health First Aid is important 
  • Recap risk and protective factors 
  • The Stress Container 
  • The Frame of Reference 

Individual learning (1 hour 15 minutes):

  • Activity 8: Your Stress Container
  • Activity 9: Your Frame of Reference
  • Activity 10: What is depression?
  • Activity 11: What is anxiety?
     

Live session (2 hours 10 minutes):

  • Introduction to live session 2
  • Recap of homework after live session 1
  • Recap depression 
  • Signs and symptoms of depression in a young person 
  • Recap anxiety 
  • Signs and symptoms of anxiety in a young person 
  • ALGEE for depression and anxiety in a young person 
  • ALGEE for depression and anxiety, action 1 
  • ALGEE for depression and anxiety, action 2-5
  • Self-care and close 

Individual learning (1 hour 20 minutes) 
  • Activity 12: Adolescent brain development
  • Activity 13: About suicide
  • Activity 14: Suicide risk factors
  • Activity 15: What is psychosis?
  • Activity 16: Lived experience of psychosis
  • Activity 17: ALGEE for psychosis
     
Live session (2 hours 5 minutes)
  • Introduction to live session 3
  • Recap suicide
  • Explore the impact of suicidal feelings
  • ALGEE for suicidal crisis
  • Practice non-judgemental listening skills
  • Recap psychosis
  • Recap warning signs and symptoms of psychosis
  • Recap ALGEE for psychosis

Individual learning (1 hour 35 minutes)
  • Activity 18: What is self-harm?
  • Activity 19: What are eating disorders?
  • Activity 20: Resilience
  • Workbook activity 7: My action plan for using Youth Mental Health First Aid (completed after live session)
     
Live session (2 hours 25 minutes)
  • Introduction to live session 4
  • Recap self-harm, the self-harm continuum
  • Warning signs of self-harm in young people
  • ALGEE for self-harm
  • Recap eating disorders
  • ALGEE for eating disorders
  • Applying MHFA to family and carers; the Recovery Tree
  • Evaluation forms and close