Mental Health First Aid Skills

Mental health first aid (MHFA) is provided to someone who is developing a mental illness, having a mental crisis or someone with worsening of an existing mental illness. The skills required to provide are basic and easy enough for anyone in society to learn and be of help.

5 Key elements of Mental Health First Aid

The basic skills required to provide Mental Health First Aid are summarised in the action plan of the programs, which is ALGEE. ALGEE consists of 5 key elements that were found consistent across many different guidelines.

Step 1: Approach the person, assess and assist with any crisis

The first step in the action plan is to approach the person, find if there is any crisis they are experiencing and identify what the crisis is and help them deal with it. The skills needed for this step of Mental Health First Aid are:

• First to make sure the person is safe and comfortable to speak.

• To be aware of the signs and symptoms of common mental illness and mental health crisis such as suicide and self-harm.

• Questioning the person to identify the crisis without invading their privacy.
• If the person does not say anything, aider has to initiate a conversation.

Step 2: Listen non-judgmentally

Most of the time, it is seen that people suffering from mental illness want to be heard. Listening may sound like a small thing to do, but in many cases, it can have a tremendous effect. Even for a person without any mental health issue, under a stressful situation, being heard can give the kind of relief that an intervention would give. Skills needed:

• Verbal and non-verbal gestures of listening are needed. When the person is telling you about their difficulty, the aider has to give verbal cues (such as “hmm” “yes” “ok”) and non-verbal cues (such as nodding, leaning forward) that shows the aider is paying attention.
• Listening empathetically and not judgementally. While listening the aider has to keep aside any kind of judgments about the person or their situation. They must instead listen empathetically, putting oneself in the place of the other, trying to understand their pain through their eyes.

Step 3: Give support and information

Once the person feels heard, they feel safe and comfortable. Now they would be in a better position to accept any kind of support given.

• The aider has to provide emotional support. They can do this by empathizing, giving them hope that they would be fine and making them feel that they are not alone.
• Providing practical help. Here the aider has to be equipped with basic exercises that can help, such as if a person is having a panic attack, the aider can bring them in a quiet place and coach them to breathe slowly. Also, the aider has to always be equipped with a list of places and professionals the person in need can approach.

Step 4: Encourage the person to get appropriate professional help

Here the aider can elaborate on the professional help available for their condition. Many times the person in need hesitate to get a professional help due to the stigma attached. The aider has to communicate the importance of this professional help and also about the outcomes if they ignore professional help.

• The aider has to be aware of the professional help available for the specific condition that the person is suffering.
• They should also be aware of how these professional treatments would help the person and communicate the same to the person.

Step 5: Encourage other supports

Educate them on the self-help strategies they can use to help themselves. Encourage them to involve their family and friends and get support from them. Also, educate them on how communicating with other people who have similar issues can be of great help to them.

Learn more about mental health services

If you need more information about Mental Health First Aid Skills or have any queries, do send it to us at info@cadabamshospitals.com. Or visit Cadabam’s Hospitals. Alternatively, you reach us on our 24/7 helpline number- +91 97414 76476.