Blue Writing
Mental health awareness is becoming increasingly critical, especially for those working or living with someone who may be experiencing mental health challenges.
Her next choice was the 2-day Mental Health First Aid workshop.A bonus was that she didn’t need to do any preparation but to just turn up. And so she did, along with nine other participants. She was blown away by all the knowledge in the room, mostly the trainer himself but also from those in all types of job roles. As the program unfolded, she learned that one in five Australians suffer from some form of mental illness every year, equating to 3.2 million adults in Australia. The sound bite that made her really sit up and pay attention was that so many with mental health problems go undiagnosed and that only about a third receive professional help. Suddenly, she realised that her mother was one of them. All those mood swings! A light bulb came on.
Mike, Corrina’s manager, had recruited a second person to work with her on the help desk because the organisation’s profile and level of community engagement had increased. He appointed her as supervisor, gave her a raise and complimented her on the noticeable improvement of her ‘soft skills’ – he even used that term although she preferred the term ‘power skills’. Unbelievable! But wait, there was more. He asked her to do more Lifeline training. Now that her new colleague, Becky, was able to cover for her, she was able to attend more workshops. Corrina suspected that many of the clients who came to the help desk had mental health problems, not that she could or would do anything about that, but it did occur to her that developing a certain mental health literacy would be an advantage.
I loved this training. It was informative and very relevant. I have done Mental Health First Aid before and this was by far the best course I have attended.
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