MHFA for Managers
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Are you booking on behalf of your workplace?
Course overview
MHFA for Managers training gives people managers and leaders the knowledge and skills to spot the signs of someone experiencing poor mental health, the confidence to start a conversation, and the tools to signpost them to appropriate support.
Building on the foundation of our MHFA® training, this course puts core Mental Health First Aid skills into a management context – empowering managers to create psychologically safe working environments. Through managerial case studies and scenarios, individuals embed their learning and gain confidence in how to use their Mental Health First Aid skills with their teams.
MHFA for Managers is the ideal choice for organisations that want to strengthen how their managers support workplace wellbeing.
With our training, MHFA doesn't stop when the course comes to an end. Your people will be invited to the Association of Mental Health First Aiders® where they’ll gain exclusive access to a wide range of resources, from ongoing training and qualifications to events and research.
Course details
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Course format: Online or face to face
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Course length: Four sessions (total 14 hours). For online delivery, we recommend four half-day sessions.
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Course capacity: Up to 16 people
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Course delivery: Instructor-led training, group discussions, and individual/group activities
What’s covered
As MHFAiders®, your employees will be able to:
- Explain what mental health is
- Describe how to look after their own mental health and wellbeing
- Describe the signs of possible poor mental health
- Explain some of the risk factors associated with poor mental health
- Demonstrate how to apply ALGEE® in a Mental Health First Aid conversation
- Describe the role of an MHFAider
Why take this course?
This course is for your organisation if:
- You want your managers to learn mental health first aid
- You want your managers to build awareness about mental health conditions and how they affect people at work
- You want your managers to be mental health advocates at work and challenge stigma
- You want your managers to gain the knowledge and confidence to provide support to their teams, both day-to-day and in a crisis
- You want to provide opportunities to enhance interpersonal skills, such as non-judgemental listening
- You want your managers to learn to support the day-to-day mental health of their teams through relevant, real-world scenarios
- You want to strengthen organisational productivity and performance by enabling your managers to support wellbeing and reduce absence
- You want to create mentally healthy environments where people, communities, and business thrive
Course takeaways
Your employees will get:
- A digital MHFAider certificate
- A digital manual to refer to when needed
- A workbook, which includes key information, spaces for note taking, and tips
- A wallet-sized reference card with the MHFA action plan
- Membership to the Association of Mental Health First Aiders with exclusive access to a wide range of resources, from ongoing learning and qualifications to events and research
- Access to the MHFAider Support App® for three years
Association of Mental Health First Aiders
- The opportunity to be part of the largest MHFAider community in England
- A resource library of toolkits, guidance, animations, and core mental health concepts to support you as you support others
- A signposting database through Hub of Hope to find local and national mental health services for additional support
- Secure conversation journalling to make reflective notes while protecting confidentiality
- Reminders for wellbeing check-ins with the people you’re supporting
- 24/7 text support services through Shout for advice and reassurance on a mental health conversation, or to support wellbeing after a difficult conversation
- Exclusive webinars and resources to embed and broaden mental health knowledge
- The benefits of being part of a national movement for better mental health
Accessibility
We’re committed to creating courses that everyone can access. When booking through our website, please fill in the ‘accessibility requirements’ section of the booking form and let us know what you need to access the course venue and materials.
For more information, visit our accessibility page.
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Fill in your details using this form to secure your place. If you don’t know if this is the right course for you or you have any questions, get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
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Contact your Instructor Member by replying to your booking confirmation email.
If you aren’t able to get in touch, email info@mhfaengland.org and we’ll be happy to help.
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MHFA England® offers a range of training courses, from awareness raising to skills development.
Through our mental health first aid courses, we take people on a journey to understand what mental health is. We discuss how we all have mental health, like physical health, and we teach people to look after their own and others’ wellbeing.
Our mental health first aid courses:
- Encourage people to challenge the language we use around mental health
- Explore our different frames of reference and the stigma attached to mental health
- Help people to understand what positive mental health looks like
- Explore the factors that can have an impact on our mental health
- Look at how to support yourself and others with self-care
- Demonstrate how to approach, reassure, and signpost to further support
- Explain diagnosable mental health conditions, what poor mental health looks like, and how to spot these signs in yourself and others
- Talk about what to do if you think someone has poor mental health and the steps to take for early intervention
- Talk about recovery from mental ill health and looking forward
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MHFA England courses are for everyone. Mental health first aid is as important to know as physical first aid. And you don’t need any mental health knowledge or training – just like you don’t need a medical background to take a physical first aid course.
Here are just some of the people who benefit from MHFA England skills:
- Individuals
- Managers
- HR professionals
- Social care professionals
- Teachers and youth workers
- Parents and foster parents
- First responders
- Medical professionals
- Local authority employees
- People with lived experience of poor mental health
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Yes, our training has been created with the help of clinical experts and those with lived experience. All of our courses are grounded in research. 91% of learners say they have a better understanding of mental health following their MHFA England course.
You can read about the impact of our training across a range of organisations in our case studies, MHFAider stories, and in our MHFAider report.
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Like physical first aid, your training is valid for three years. We recommend that MHFAiders attend an MHFA Refresher course every three years to renew their skills, update their knowledge of mental health supports, and practice applying the MHFA action plan. You’ll also get another three years of membership to the Association of Mental Health First Aiders with exclusive access to a wide range of resources, from ongoing learning and qualifications to events and research.
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Once your Instructor Member has marked the course as complete, learners will get an email asking for feedback. After they’ve left feedback or chosen to opt out, they'll get an email with their certificate attached. Remember to check spam/junk folders.
If they still haven’t received it, email us at info@mhfaengland.org. Please let us know:
- The date of the course
- The location of the course
- The name of the course
- The name of your Instructor Member, if you know it
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Of course, just email info@mhfaengland.org and let us know:
- The date of the course
- The location of the course
- The name of the course
- The name of your Instructor Member, if you know it
- What needs to be corrected (if applicable)
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Our vision is of a nation where everyone's mental health matters.
There’s plenty you can do to raise awareness of mental health and MHFA England skills in your community. Take a look at our free toolkits for some resources and materials to get you started.
You may also like to follow us on social media or sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date with what we’re doing. We support mental health campaigns throughout the year including our own My Whole Self campaign, as well as initiatives such as World Mental Health Day, Time to Talk Day and Mental Health Awareness Week, and we’re often looking for members of the MHFA England community to get involved.
If you’re interested in working for the MHFA England central team, check out our careers page for our latest vacancies.
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As a training organisation, we can’t offer mental health support or advice, but there are lots of organisations that can.
In an emergency:
- Call 999
- Go to your nearest Accident and Emergency (A&E)
If you or someone else needs medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency:
- Call 111 followed by option 2 (for mental health)
This is a free number to call. They can direct you to your local crisis support services and mental health organisations and offer health advice 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Samaritans are also there for you if you need to talk. You can call for free 24 hours a day, 365 days a year:
- 116 123
If you’re looking for non-emergency advice and guidance, see our list of mental health support contacts.
Enquire for prices
Are you booking on behalf of your workplace?
91% of people said they had a better understanding of mental health after our courses.
I really enjoyed this course, firstly because it was great to learn something new and different, and secondly because the Instructor Member was brilliant. It was very interactive and kept our attention the whole time over two days.
I had an amazing Instructor Member. This has been the best course I have been on in all my time with the organisation.
The course was hugely valuable. I have learnt things I have already been able to put into practice (successfully!) and will continue to use the tools and knowledge.
Related courses
Learn more about our mental health training courses.
Introducing our people manager portfolio
The gap between manager influence and manager training is widening, and it is costing employees their wellbeing.
Mental Health Aware
You can help make wellbeing part of everyday conversations with our introduction to mental health awareness.
MHFA Refresher
We recommend MHFAiders® take the MHFA Refresher course every three years to ensure their mental health knowledge and awareness.