Mental health first aid

[2] The first mental health first aid training program was developed in Australia in 2001 by a research team led by Betty Kitchener and Anthony Jorm.

[3] The program was created to teach members of the general public how to provide initial support to people experiencing mental health problems, as well as to connect them with appropriate professional help and community resources.

[9] A few bills of law have been proposed by politicians in countries such as Australia[10] and the United Kingdom[11] to make mental health first aid training compulsory in schools and other organizations.

The curriculum for mental health first aid training typically includes the following topics: Using the knowledge from those topics, participants are trained on a step-by-step action plan for providing mental health first aid, including how to:[12] Depending on the program, there may be additional modules that target specific populations, such as children and adolescents, the elderly, or veterans.

[15] At follow-up, there were slight improvements in the amount of assistance provided to a person with a mental health problem, but the nature of the change in the offered behaviors was unclear.