Explore MHFA England's history from 2007-2019. Mental Health First Aid training came to England in 2007. The Department of Health developed and launched the programme as part of a national approach to improve public mental health. Today we are a social enterprise that has provided expert consultancy and training to over 20,000 workplaces.
Looking back
We have an exciting 12 year history. This year we are celebrating ten years of being a community interest company! Let’s take a look back at our big moments –
2007
2008
2009
2010
2012
We wrote the Youth MHFA Two Day course with help from an expert reference group. It included young people, Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services and paediatric psychiatrists.
We became a community interest company to be more sustainable. We had one product – the Adult MHFA Two Day course – which was then called the Standard MHFA course. Mark Napier became Chair of the Board.
MHFA came to England and was launched under the Department of Health.
In December, we held our first instructor conference. It was at the Queen Elizabeth conference centre in London. Over 100 newly trained instructors came along. Dame Carol Black spoke, there were workshops and talks about lived experience.
Our first awards ceremony took place in the House of Lords. Lord Kamlesh Patel OBE, Patron of MHFA England, hosted it. Lord Patel and Dame Carol Black
In January, the first 14 National Trainers were trained by MHFA Scotland. This was a five day residential course. In September, the first Instructor Training programme
took place. They used photocopied manuals because the new ones weren’t printed yet!
2016
2015
2014
2013
2017
The Fortuna 50 named us as one of the UK’s fastest growing women-led small businesses. We had an entirely female executive board and attended No. 10 Downing Street to celebrate. On World Mental Health Day (10th October) an Early Day Motion was taken to Parliament. It called for Mental Health First Aid to be included in the regulations that all employers must follow under the Health and Safety at Work Act. We refreshed our brand. Our logo was designed to show the meeting of minds. It was abstracted to avoid association with gender or age. The two minds join to form an M which represents mental health and the connecting of a community. We provided consultancy support for MHFA Ireland to set up their workplace function.
We were included on the inaugural Financial Times 1000 special report. This is a list to recognise the innovative and fast-growing companies that are the driving force of the European economy.
We supported the launch of MHFA in Bangladesh. We trained the first cohort of 16 National Trainers in Adult MHFA.
We worked with the Uganda People’s Defence Force to train personnel in Armed Forces MHFA Two Day. The British High Commission requested this training. 76 people were trained, and the course was translated into Swahili. Professor Mark Watson-Gandy took over as Chair of the Board.
We received government funding to train up to 200 Armed Forces MHFA instructors. The Instructor Members went on to train over 6,000 people in the Armed Forces MHFA Two Day course which was written to support the armed forces community, including serving personnel and veterans. Combat Stress, The Royal British Legion and SSAFA, The Armed Forces Charity, supported the design and roll out of this course. The impact of the training was evaluated by the University of Gloucestershire.
We launched the government funded Youth MHFA in Schools programme.
We launched the Higher Education MHFA One Day course, together with charity Student Minds. On World Mental Health Day, our then CEO Poppy Jaman was invited to deliver a briefing to the Cabinet at No.10 Downing Street. In November we celebrated the tenth anniversary of MHFA in England at the National Conference Centre in Birmingham.
2018
2019
Poppy Jaman received an OBE in recognition of her services to people with mental health issues. Poppy Jaman moved on from her post and Simon Blake was appointed as our new Chief Executive. We supported the release of the UK’s biggest ever stress survey. This was in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation. It revealed a generation gap in howwe deal with mental health. The ground-breaking Thrive LDN Youth MHFA in London Schools programme was launched. An Open Letter to the Prime Minister was signed by more than 50 leaders of some of Britain’s biggest employers. It called on the Government to prioritise its manifesto pledge to amend health and safety legislation to put mental and physical first aid on an equal footing. The Health and Safety Executive updated their first aid guidance on mental health.
MPs had a cross-party debate on mental health first aid in the workplace. The Backbench Business Committee in the House of Commons Chamber granted the debate. We moved to our new office space in the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ premises. It gives us a more flexible working and meeting space for our growing organisation. We launched best-practice guidance for employers. It details how to embed MHFA England training
in the workplace. We also launched guidance on the role of the Mental Health First Aider. We developed Strategy 2025 and refined our vision and mission for the next six years.
Poppy Jaman OBE
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