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At MHFA England®, our vision is to improve the mental health of the nation. We will achieve this through our mission to train 1 in 10 people in mental health knowledge, awareness, and skills – the tipping point for lasting societal change.
This week we are celebrating a huge milestone, having trained one million people in across all our courses. This remarkable achievement means we have now trained 1 in 38 people.
There are several people without whom this wouldn’t have been possible, but we certainly could not have achieved it without the hard work, dedication, and ambition of our central team. Each department has played a vital role in helping us reach this point.
Rob Christoper has worked as part of our Development team at MHFA England for over two years. In this Q&A blog post, led by Georgia Hendry, Social Media and Content Specialist, Rob provides an insight into his role, explains the importance for mental health training, and looks ahead at his team’s aspiratio for the future.
I’m an Instructional Designer. This means I research what learners need to be able to understand and then be able to do once they’ve received their training. Then, I work alongside mental health experts to write the content of a training course to ensure our learners leave with the knowledge, awareness, and skills they need.
I love the creative side of it – talking with my colleagues about ideas for course content and how to make those ideas work for learners.
I also really enjoy working with the mental health experts because they have such a positive attitude towards the fact that recovery is possible or people can learn to live with their diagnosis. They often stress the importance of getting help as soon as possible, and that is exactly what mental health first aid is all about; recognising that someone is experiencing poor mental health, reaching out to them, and signposting them towards the help they need.
Awareness of mental health has been steadily increasing over the last decade or so and this is such a positive thing. What’s important, though, is to know how to support someone who might be going through a tough time. Having a clear plan of action and knowing where to signpost them to could make such a difference. It could set them on a path to good mental health, and maybe even save their life!
I am really proud to work for MHFA England and knowing that the work I do could help someone have a supportive conversation with a colleague, family member, or friend. It is amazing to think that there are a milion people who feel able to support someone in need. Imagine you are on a crowded bus – two or three people could have receieved MHFA England training and are more aware of the importance of positive mental health.
We are always seeking to make our courses more diverse, acessible, and relatable to those attending. We redeveloped our MHFA® course in 2022 with diversity and inclusivity at its core, and we’re looking to do the same with our other courses over the next few years.
It’s exciting to think we are now working our way towards training two million people!