The Independent highlights the need for Mental Health First Aid

CEO of MHFA England, Poppy Jaman, this week spoke to The Independent for Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) 2018.

In an in-depth feature, Chelsea Ritschel explores the need to treat mental health and physical health equally, and looks at the role of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training in helping to address this imbalance.

Giving a brief history of the organisation, Ritschel looks at how MHFA England has trained nearly 300,000 people nationwide in Mental Health First Aid, as part of its mission to reach one in ten people across England.

Talking about the need for mental health to be considered a part of everyday life, Poppy explains that educating as many people as possible will go a long way towards normalising stress, anxiety and depression. She goes on to break down how MHFA courses go about this: through compassionate, non-judgemental listening, encouraging open conversation, and advising on simple self-care methods.

The piece closes by referencing MHFA England’s ‘Address Your Stress’ campaign. Launched for Mental Health Awareness Week, the campaign toolkit provides free resources to help everyone identify signs and sources of stress, reflect on different coping strategies, and take steps to help reduce the impact too much stress can have.

To read the full article, click here.

To find out more about MHFA courses for your workplace visit: mhfaengland.org/organisations/workplace.