Mental Health First Aid with Soundcastle

About the course

FAA Level 2 Award in First Aid for Mental Health (RQF)

We all have mental health – it affects our psychological, emotional and social wellbeing. Anyone can be affected by a mental health condition, either because they are experiencing difficulties themselves, or through supporting a family member, friend or colleague.

On completion of this course, you will be qualified as a First Aider for Mental Health. The course will provide you with the knowledge to recognise a suspected mental health condition and the skills to start a supportive conversation as well as signposting a person towards professional help. You will become familiar with the First Aid for Mental Health Action Plan which enables you to provide comprehensive guidance and support for a suspected mental health condition.

Course Content

• What is First Aid for Mental Health?
• Identifying mental health conditions
• Providing advice and starting a conversation
• Drugs and alcohol
• Understanding mental health conditions such as psychosis, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide
• Learning how to enhance our own resilience when working in challenging settings
• First Aid for Mental Health action plan
• Mental Health in the Workplace

Training with Soundcastle

As Arts Leaders, the Soundcastle Team have all learned that we need to dedicate time to maintaining our resilience when working in education and community settings, as we can encounter a range of challenges when working with vulnerable people and in difficult times.

Having Mental Health First Aider training has been an invaluable tool for us and we are so pleased to be able to share our knowledge and these important skills with you.

Learning Needs

It’s really important to us that the course works for everyone, so if you have any access/ support needs that we can help with, please let us know how we can help.

In order to qualify, you will need to complete a short comprehension paper as well as take part in a practice discussion around the Mental Health First Aid Action Plan (if in person) or attend a 30 minute 1:2:1 professional discussion with your trainer, following the course (if online). If there is anything which is likely to pose a barrier for you please let us know.

Taking Care of Yourself During your Course

This will be a packed day of learning with some challenging subject matter, and we want you to be as comfortable as possible. You are welcome to stand up and move around, stretch and hydrate as you go, and we will make sure there are regular breaks too.

Some of the course content may feel triggering depending on your own personal experiences. Your instructor will give advance warning of each section and there will be the option to temporarily leave the space when a particular subject is being discussed. If you feel like you already know you won’t be able to attend a section of this course due to personal triggers, please let me know beforehand. We hope that we can make this course feel welcoming, understanding and useful for everyone.

Accessibility

• Technology: Zoom
• Captioning: AI-Generated
• Breakout rooms: TBC
• Recording: Whole group sessions will be recorded for the purpose of sharing with course delegates and only available for a time limited period after the session.

If you would like to request presentation slides, questions and provocations in advance of the session, please get in touch with info@musicmark.org.uk. Speakers may decline sharing this information on the basis of protecting their intellectual property or for other reasons and we cannot therefore guarantee availability for all events.