Mental Health First Aid Programme

 

What is mental health first aid?

Just as first aid is administered to someone with physical injuries, mental health first aid are basic steps in which one can apply to help someone who is having a mental health problem till the person finds professional help.

The aims of mental health first aid are to:

Mental health first aid is only a basic course and is not meant to teach people to be therapists. It helps the individual trained in MHFA skills to recognize mental health problems, provide initial help, and guide the person towards appropriate professional help.

 

Background of MHFA Program

The 12-hour MHFA course was originally developed by Betty Kitchener and Professor Anthony Jorm (Australia, University of Melbourne) in 2000, with intention of raising mental health literacy in the Australian community. Since then, the MHFA Training and Research Program has been developed, evaluated and disseminated nationally and internationally.

The philosophy behind the 12-hour course is that mental-health crisis can be avoided through early intervention and treatment. If mental health crisis do occur, then the public can take practical steps to minimise harm as well as to get the person to appropriate professional help.

The website www.mhfa.com.au has further information on the development and latest updates of the program.

 

Development of MHFA Program in Singapore

The program was introduced in Singapore in 2006. A group of 7 instructors from NUS and community agencies were trained as instructors to provide the MHFA training. The program had received favourable feedback and with the increase in requests for the course, there was a need to establish a local program, MHFA (Singapore) to make the training more applicable and readily available to the larger community in Singapore.

In July 2007, a memorandum of understanding was signed by MHFA Australia and CGH. The purpose of the MOU is to improve mental health literacy among Singaporeans based on the following:

With this MOU, CGH is given permission to use copyrighted MHFA materials to be incorporated into the Singapore version of MHFA and has undertaken the responsibility to:

 

Development of MHFA OP

In order to cater to the needs of the ageing opulation in Singapore, Mental Health First Aid Singapore has been revised to cater to the need of this population - Mental Health First Aid Singapore (Older Person). MHFA (Older person is necessary as it is recognised that mental health issues in older persons are often managed differently compared to mental health issues in the general adult population. MHFA (Older Person) also includes a module on confusion in older persons, such as dementia, delirium, psychosis, and other organic brain syndromes. MHFA (Older Person) also uses video clips which are specific to the older population.

This course is targeted at those without prior knowledge of mental health issues. However, it is also relevant to those who are working with clients wit mental health problems as the practicl first aid steps provide a basic and systematic framework from which they can assist someone in acute mental health crisis.

 

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