Mental Health
First AidEr or Champion?

Mental Health First Aider Vs Mental Health Champion

We are often asked what is the difference between Mental Health Champion training and Mental Health First Aider training.

Let's find out what the differences are...

What is a mental health champion?

Mental Health First Champions consider more of the end-to-end impact of mental health, and mental ill-health, in an organisation.

As shown on the diagram above, Mental Health Champions can help your organisation more boadly:

Prevent Mental Health Issues

The use of organisational and management controls, such as policies, risk assessments, awareness campaigns and metrics, to help colleagues maintain good mental health.

Detect Mental Health Issues

Helping the organisation to develop a supportive culture, where individuals are better equiped to self refer and the wider organisation is more able to identify colleagues with potential issues, rather than a dependence on nominated first aiders to detect people with difficulties.

Respond To Mental Health Issues

We're not look for super heros.

This is as much about how colleagues can help themselves, and colleagues being aware of available resources, than having that information sit with the nominated first aider.

Recover From Mental Health Issues

Every person can benefit from better mental health.

Mental Health Champions help their organisation to implement and maintain measures to help everyone, in addition to effective "back-to-work" campaigns, reasonable adjustments, and compliance with associated legal obligations relating to the Health and Safety at Work Act, the Equality Act, and recommendations by the Health and Safety Executive.

The Role Of A Mental Health Champion

Mental Health Champions help organisations to manage workplace mental health.

They are still trained on types of mental illness, common symptoms, and how to engage and support colleagues to get help if needed, but they will also establish broader controls and measures across the organisation.

What is a mental health First aider?

Mental Health First Aid has rapidly grown in popularity in recent years, and is often compared to the more traditional concept of Physical Health First Aiders. It is a catchy title.

What is Mental Health First Aid?

Mental Health First Aid is defined by the UK Health and Safety Executive as:

“The help provided to a person developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. The first aid is given until appropriate professional treatment is received or until the crisis resolves”

Mental Health First Aiders are much more focused on the detection and immediate response.

Limitations of Mental Health First Aiders

In their 2018 report to the nation, the UK Health and Safety Executive stated:

“There is no evidence that the introduction of MHFA training in workplaces has resulted in sustained actions in those trained, or that it has improved the wider management of mental ill-health.”

Their findings suggest that Mental Health First Aid training is typically available to a limited number of individuals, to help in crisis situations, and is less likely to support cultural change that is often required for organisations to effectively management workplace mental health.

The first aid role typically does not extend to the organisations' strategies and sustainable approaches to effectively manage workplace mental health matters.

Workplace Mental health champion training Courses

At StaffMentalHealth.com, we specialise in providing the Mental Health Champion training courses.

Our aim is to help organisations to manage colleagues mental health in a way that means they won't have a crisis situation, and so that there should not be a need for emergency first aid.

For more details or to book your place, simply visit our training pages.

In addition to in-house training sessions, our next available shared classes are:

• 27 April 2022

• 29 June 2022

How much can your organisation benefit?