To register please visit abkwellness.ca or email trainings.mentalhealth@gmail.com
Course Overview
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) provides the knowledge, skills, and attitudes for
participants to recognize changes in mental health, respond supportively, and apply
practical actions for declining mental health and crisis situations. It helps
participants build confidence, reduce stigma, and enhance their own mental health.
Objectives
The MHFA course helps participants:
• Increase their awareness of mental health
o Distinguish between mental health, mental illness, and mental health
conditions.
o Recognize indicators of mental health across the continuum (optimal,
declining, poor).
• Improve their confidence to provide help
o Apply the ALGES framework in scenarios of declining mental health and
crisis.
o Demonstrate empathy and effective listening skills in supportive
interactions.
o Communicate non-judgmentally using verbal and non-verbal skills.
o Provide reassurance and appropriate information in supportive
conversations.
o Explain recovery-oriented approaches to providing support.
• Decrease their mental health-related stigma
o Recognize stigmatizing language and practice respectful alternatives.
o Reflect on personal attitudes and biases that contribute to stigma.
o Understand risks and limitations associated with diagnostic labeling.
• Enhance their mental health
o Identify personal self-care strategies using the Three Pillars of Self-Care:
reflective, purposeful, and boundaries.
o Recognize when self-care is needed as a Mental Health First Aiders and
how to integrate it into daily life.
o Commit to intentional self-care actions to maintain personal well-being
as a Mental Health First Aider.
To register please visit abkwellness.ca or email trainings.mentalhealth@gmail.com
Kristen Yorga has over 18 years of extensive experience providing support and services to people struggling with mental health and substance use disorders.