Hundreds of South Londoners trained in mental health first aid
Hundreds of South Londoners have been trained in mental health first aid as part of an NHS push to raise awareness and challenge stigma.
South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust celebrated a milestone in its mental health awareness programme, having trained 200 people in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) courses.
Mental Health First Aid is an internationally recognised training course delivered by MHFA England and is designed to teach people how to identify, understand, and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue on a first-aid basis.
The achievement was marked with a training session for staff working for Members of Parliament at Springfield Hospital in Tooting.
Saoirse McGrory-Greene, senior case worker in Paul Kohler MP’s office said: “I’m delighted to have completed this training course.
“In our team we can often find ourselves acting as a first point of contact for constituents experiencing mental ill heath, and today has been invaluable in giving me the knowledge and the confidence to be able to hold a supportive conversation and signpost to local support.”
Through the training sessions, the trust aims to raise mental health awareness, challenge stigma, improve mental health literacy and support community engagement.
Trust chief executive, Vanessa Ford, said: “Across South West London, supporting each other to look after our mental health and having the knowledge and confidence to intervene and signpost to support early on is so important.
“This can be crucial in enabling someone to recover or manage symptoms, and can prevent mental ill health going unchecked and unmanaged.”
Key support available for signposting in South West London includes the Trust’s 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Line, walk-in Recovery Cafes (or Crisis Cafes) which provide a safe space out-of-hours, community services like NHS Talking Therapies, and where appropriate, self-help tools provided through resources like the NHS’s Every Mind Matters campaign.
Find out more about the programme
Pictured top: The achievement was marked with a training session for staff working for Members of Parliament at Springfield Hospital in Tooting (Picture: South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust)
