Every factor of life, every experience, every interaction, regular occurrence and season can have its effect on our mental health, whether for its betterment or not. Recognising this can go a long way towards being able to recover from mental health problems, improving mental well-being and becoming more self-aware; capable of dealing with whatever the future throws your way.
Being aware of the way things can impact us and how they impact our mental health, being able to recognise the signs, both for ourselves and others, and knowing how to administer self-care and care of each other when we recognise signs, can help us deal with even the greatest stresses and difficulties that life brings. This ‘first response’ care can be administered on hand by anyone who is trained to be aware of mental health difficulties and the things that can have an impact on mental well-being, and can therefore be compared to the first aid that we so commonly apply to physical support and aid.
Mental health first aid at work is therefore one aspect of care that should be considered by every organisation, every company and all management if they want their organisations goals, aims and objectives to be reached even on the basic levels. Learning how to manage signs of mental health issues using these first aid methods can have a huge positive impact on the overall morale of your staff, and not just on the individual receiving care. For example, during a pandemic, local health service staff are strained beyond their usual levels of physical and mental fatigue. Dealing with the severe symptoms of one patient, while that patient has other supportive connections readily available is one thing, and has itself an impact on those that witness it, whether the nursing staff have been working in intensive care units all of their lives, or have only just started in that profession. But when several people are all simultaneously relying on health staff, not only to save them from their ailments, but as their only means of support and care, the strain can be tremendous. The success, therefore, of this kind of operation, lies in the ability to care for the health staff as well as the patients who are physically ill. By having a support network, that keeps reinforcing and supporting the structure that’s in place to deal with any crisis, the chances of success are far greater.
Think, if a good practise of mental health first aid can bring about this kind of positive outcome, what could it do on a more basic level? When people allow the daily strains and stresses of life to mount up, without dealing with them productively and effectively, then mental health problems can become just as severe as it would do around the strains mentioned in the previous paragraph. Mental health first aid training really can be a good training for anyone to aquire in all walks of life.
For more information on a mental health first aid course for you or for a body of staff, please contact Action Plus First Aid today.
