Rescheduled due to Covid-19 new dates 1st & 9th August 2020.

The course will equip you with the skills of what to say and not to say to young people about mental health. How to understand the journey and also how to communicate with parents, schools and professionals. What is normal stages of development and how to use the MHFA action plan in relation to the major mental health challenges that affect young people.

According to the World Health Organisation, 50% of mental health starts by the age of 14, 75% by the early twenties. Therefore schools have an important role to play in education about emotional and social wellbeing. Promoting positive lifestyles, healthy eating, exercise and sleep habits, As well as balance in their emotional and mental well being.

Youth Mental Health First Aid course (YMHFA) is for anyone who works with young people up to the age of 24. It is a 14 hours Internationally certified course. NIMH along with all other major mental health organisations around the world explain that “For both boys and girls, your brain doesn’t finish developing and maturing until your mid- to late-20s. The front part of the brain, called the prefrontal cortex, is one of the last brain regions to mature. It is the area responsible for planning, prioritizing and controlling impulses. All the big changes the brain is experiencing may explain why adolescence is the time when many mental disorders—such as schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and eating disorders—emerge.”

YMHFA focuses on adolescent development and what signs and symptoms to look out for early detection of mental health problems developing in young people up to the age of 24. As it is a time of growth of the body and mind, risk-taking and changes in behaviour.

The course covers anxiety, depression, eating disorders, psychosis, and substance misuse and looks at a number of crisis situations including suicidal thoughts, non-suicidal self-injury, panic attacks and others.

Participants learn the YMHFA Action Plan and how to use it when in contact with those under the age of 24, and to link them with appropriate services. Participants get a manual and a certificate. All 14 hours need to be completed. Participants must be 18 years or over to take part in the course,

Differences between the standard MHFA and YMHFA courses are; YMHFA focuses on adolescent development (up to age 24 as the brain is still developing), also contains the extra section on Eating Disorders. The standard MHFA course covers gambling in the substance misuse section and the YMHFA course does not. The participant needs to identify which client group that they would like to focus on and register for the most appropriate course. Both use the same Action plan

For further information please email [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ymhfahk

Two days training ( 1st & 9th August 2020 )From 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM  each day

Discount for group of 4 or more people, please contact for more info

Other short courses regarding suicidal thoughts and self-injury

Contact for discounts if booking YMHFA and other courses