Mental Health training courses

Mental Health training courses offer Mental Health First Aid, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training and Safe Talk sessions and are available to everyone over the age of 16. Participants need to attend each session and are encouraged to engage with all elements of the courses.

Courses are provided by fully trained and accredited trainers, using presentations, discussions, and audio visual aids.
Manuals / work books and certificates are included in the cost.
Concessions are available for certain groups; e.g. health and social care, charities, unemployed, students, etc.

Click on the headings below for course details.

Duration: 3.5 hours

Course delivery: This is on an online course (face-to-face maybe available on request).

Course content:

Know more about wellbeing.
Know more about emotions and how to share them.
Understand levels of distress.
Understanding wellbeing and how to build our resilience.
Appreciate the importance of looking after yourself recognise positive ways to cope.
Design a personal plan to build your wellbeing and resilience.
Know about safety planning and staying safe to help you get through tough times.

Free fully funded concessions are available in Torbay and Devon. Delivered by Devon-wide trainers.

Accredited by 4 Mental Health.

Duration: 3.5 hours

Course delivery: This is on an online course (face-to-face maybe available on request).

Course content: “Everyone can play a part in suicide prevention.”

Be more aware of the myths, stigma and barriers around suicide and how we can challenge these.
Understand the barriers to talking about suicide and the benefits of seeking help.
Know more about suicide prevention and ‘doing something to help’.
Understand the importance of compassion and a non-judgemental response to someone experiencing distress.
‘Compassion can ignite Hope’.
Be more confident about talking and responding to someone in distress and or in suicidal crisis.
Know where to find help and support for someone in suicidal crisis.
Be able to make your own Safety Plan.

Free fully funded concessions are available in Torbay and Devon. Delivered by Devon-wide trainers.

Accredited by 4 Mental Health.

Duration: 2 days

Course content: This intensive, interactive and practical two-day course provides information, tools and techniques to enable you to support someone who may be experiencing mental or emotional distress.

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is for everyone 16 or older, regardless of prior experience, who wants to be able to provide suicide first aid. Shown by major studies to significantly reduce suicidality, the ASIST model teaches effective intervention skills while helping to build suicide prevention networks in the community.

Like Physical First Aid, ASIST provides knowledge and skills at a level for any adult member of the public who wishes to give initial first aid or assistance.

ASIST is a resource for the whole community. It helps people apply suicide first-aid in many settings: with family, friends, co-workers, and teammates, as well as formal caregiving roles. Many organisations have incorporated ASIST into professional development for their employees.

Skills you will learn:

An understanding of how life experience and events can result in someone becoming emotionally distressed.
Confidence to start a conversation with a person who maybe experiencing distress.
To listen non-judgementally, reassure and respond, even in a crisis – and even potentially stop a crisis from happening.
Understand how stigma about Mental Health and Suicide can be a barrier to accessing support.
Give people practical skills to support people to keep themselves safe and guide them to access appropriate support when it’s needed.

The two-day course is delivered by 2 fully accredited trainers, using presentations, discussions, audio visual aids, and individual workbooks. Participants must attend the 2 full consecutive days. No formal assessment is required. Participants are encouraged to engage with all elements of the course.

Developed and Accredited by LivingWorks Education.

Duration: 3.5 hours

Course content: Suicide alertness and safety connection skills for everyone
safeTALK is a half-day (3.5 hours) suicide prevention training course that can help you make a difference. Know what to do if someone’s having thoughts of suicide by following the easy to remember TALK steps – Tell, Ask, Listen and Keep-safe. These practical steps offer immediate help to someone having thoughts of suicide and helps you both move forward to connect with more specialised support.

safeTALK is for everyone 15 or older, regardless of prior experience, who wants to be able to identify people thinking of suicide.

Course aims and training outcomes:

Identify people thinking of suicide.
Overcome barriers in talking about suicide.
Identify reasons we may miss, dismiss or avoid suicide.
Practice using the 4-step model of suicide alertness. Apply the TALK steps (Tell, Ask, Listen and Keep-safe) to connect a person thinking about suicide to a suicide intervention resource
Connect people at risk of suicide with further appropriate help.
As a safeTALK-trained suicide alert helper, you will be better able to: Move beyond common tendencies to miss, dismiss or avoid suicide.

The session combines various teaching methods, including: video clips; discussion; practice. The half day course is delivered by a fully trained and accredited trainer, using presentations, discussions, audio visual aids, and individual workbooks. No formal assessment is required. Participants are encouraged to engage with all elements of the course.

Developed and Accredited by LivingWorks Education.

Duration: 90-minute to half-day session

Course content: An exploration in suicide awareness; become more aware of suicide prevention opportunities
This course invites interested community members to become more aware of suicide prevention opportunities in their community.

Dealing openly with the stigma around suicide, this exploration focuses upon the question, “Should we talk about suicide?”

As a suicideTALK-informed session member, you will be better able to:

Understand how personal and community beliefs about suicide affect suicide stigma and safety.
Appreciate how the steps taught in suicideTALK can be used to help prevent suicide.
Choose among ways to help protect, preserve and promote life in a suicide-safer community.

suicideTALK can be customized for any community and group. Intriguing questions and a number of handouts stimulate learning. Discover commitments that you want to make.

Developed and Accredited by LivingWorks Education.

Cost: £325 RRP

Course delivery: Online or face-to-face.

Course content: “Our vision is to normalise society’s attitudes and behaviours around mental health.”
Train as a Mental Health First Aider (MHFAider®) and and gain the benefit of joining England’s largest community of trained MHFAiders®. receive three years of ongoing learning support and benefits.

This course is open to all (16 years and above) and is ideal for those who would like to become an MHFAider® to:

Encourage self-care, giving you the tools to look after your own and others’ mental health.
Gain the knowledge and skills to spot signs of people experiencing poor mental health.
Be confident starting a conversation and signpost a person to appropriate support.
Promotes early intervention and faster recovery, which can prevent an individual’s mental health deteriorating.
Awareness of how mental health impacts the workplace; skills to empower people to thrive in the workplace.

New: Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training doesn’t stop when the course comes to an end. MHFA England couirses offers continuous support for Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAiders®), well beyond your initial certification, to ensure you can lead impactful MHFA interventions.

As an MHFAider® you will get automatic 24/7 digital support through the MHFAider Support App®. From there, you’ll find exclusive resources, ongoing learning opportunities to grow your confidence; range from guides and films to top tips and webinars.

Like Physical First Aid, MHFA provides knowledge and skills at a level for any adult member of the public who wishes to give initial first aid or assistance. These skills can also come in useful to look after your own wellbeing.

Accredited by Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA England).

Duration: 4 hours

Course delivery: This is on an online course (face-to-face maybe available on request).

Course content: “Our vision is to normalise society’s attitudes and behaviours around mental health.”

This refresher course will enable any Mental Health First Aiders, (MHFAiders®, to refresh their skills in the same way physical first aiders do. Investing time into this Refresher course will give you the confidence boost you need to continue to support others safely and effectively. If a learner attended the Adult MHFA Two Day course more than 2 and a half years ago, they should complete the MHFA Refresher course.

You will:

Update your knowledge of mental health supports. Renew your skills.
Have the chance to practice applying the Mental Health First Aid Action Plan.
Learning will be through a mix of group discussions, workshop activities and presentations.

Completion of the MHFA Refresher will now give you access to MHFAider® support and benefits for three years. Your training doesn’t stop when your course comes to an end. MHFAiders® will receive emails every month for three years pointing them to additional learning and online events. This content will typically sit on the MHFAider Support App®, but it may also sit on the Online Learning Hub. The location of any new content will be made clear in the email. Support tools will range from guides and films to top tips and webinars.

Accredited by Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA England). Accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health.