The Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) courses are for anyone who works with, lives with or supports young people aged 8-18. We train the adults in a young person’s life to have the skills and confidence to step in, offer first aid and guide them towards the support they need. In doing so, they can speed up a young person’s recovery, stop issues from developing into a crisis, and ultimately save lives.

But more than that, by giving these adults the information and skills to look after their own mental health, we want them to set an example for young people. We want adults to be able to show young people that mental ill health is a part of life in just the same way as physical ill health, that it’s OK to talk about and it’s OK to ask for help.

We hope that by giving people the tools to open up these conversations, we can empower them to create mentally healthy, supportive environments in their families, schools, youth groups and communities.

Let’s create a future where we all know how to look after our own mental wellbeing, so preventable issues don’t arise in the first place. A future where every young person has access to support if they need it.