Distance Learning & Web-based Course details

We’re now delivering some of our First Aid for Mental Health (FA4MH) courses via a mixture of home learning, webinar & support – they’re the same great OfQual regulated courses – delivered differently for these different times!

This post details how the courses will run as an over view – and then has specific guidance (& links) for each course.

All Courses

There’s nothing better than Face-to-Face training when it comes to Mental Health – there’s so much nuance and body language to understand – but in times of national lockdown and travel restrictions we appreciate that not everyone can get to one of our physical courses – so we’ve put a lot of effort into designing our online courses to be as personal as possible. Whilst there are shorter and cheaper online courses – none deliver the amount of ‘live’ tutor support ours do – whilst also allowing you to learn at home at your own pace.

All of our online courses are delivered by a mix of…

  • home-learning (independent study) – we send you all the course materials and some guidance of what to study & learning resources to visit (videos, articles etc)
  • 24hr turn-around email support – for the duration of your course we’ll answer any questions, concerns or simply chat through syllabus items with you within 24hrs
  • 2 x Webinars – a ‘live’ zoom meeting with subject introduction, presentation, review & Q&A
  • Assessment (where applicable, we’ve now made these optional, see below) – carried out via private 1:1 video call
Regulated qualification or not?

We appreciate that after an incredibly tough year for many of our clients costs are important – so we’re now offering all of our courses as either:

  • Attendance Based – Exactly the same course – but no assessment. Most courses provided in the UK are in fact based on attendance – and are not an actual qualification (i.e. there’s no final check of participant knowledge and understanding. This option saves you the cost of the regulated qualification certificate fee (we’ll send you an official email confirmation of attendance) and the time of the 1:1 assessment.
  • Regulated Qualification – Upon successful completion of the assessment you’ll receive a formal OfQual regulated Qualification that is valid for 3 years and a certificate to prove it. Add this option at checkout to ANY course.

 

So what’s involved in each course?

Awareness of First Aid for Mental Health (Level 1)

This is the course we recommend everyone in an organisation takes – it provides a solid level of background knowledge together with the basics of knowing how to help someone in a crisis.

The course has a nominal total learning time of 5hours, of which a minimum of 2 hours must be contact time with the tutor. We simply don’t think that’s enough – so our Awareness course has 3 hours of tutor contact time and includes an open Q&A session as feedback from our participants stressed this was one of the most valuable parts of the course.

Course structure is:

  • Opening Session, this is the course start date. A 2 hr zoom meeting (allowing 2-way dialogue) – which introduces and explains the concept of First Aid for Mental Health, looks at identifying mental health conditions (risk factors, early warning signs etc) and how to provide advice and start a supportive conversation. The session closes with an explanation of the home learning modules and resources supplied.
  • Home learning time. Nominally the average learner needs to do 2-3 hrs of reading, research and video watching. We provide our own information materials and guidance on both what and where to look for additional knowledge.
  • Final 1 hr zoom session. Typically 5 days later to allow you to study at your own pace. This takes the form of a brief review of the home learning and then a Q&A session. For those not undertaking the optional Qualification module this is the course completion.
  • Qualification module. This will be a 1:1 session up to a maximum of 20minutes in duration (most learners require less). It will usually follow on at an agreed time (allocated by choice based on order of booking) after the final zoom session – but can be at another time to suit the learner up to a maximum of 2 weeks after the course start date. This will be the qualification date.

 

First Aid for Mental Health (Level 2)

This is our most popular course – for a reason. We recommend this course for anyone who has responsibility for others – so managers, mountain leaders, teachers and existing first aiders.

The course has a nominal total learning time of 7hours, of which a minimum of 3 hours must be contact time with the tutor. Again we simply don’t think that’s enough – so our level 2 course has 4 hours of tutor contact time and includes an open Q&A session as feedback from our participants stressed this was one of the most valuable parts of the course.

Course structure is:

  • Opening Session, this is the course start date. A 2 hr zoom meeting (allowing 2-way dialogue) – which introduces and explains the concept of First Aid for Mental Health, looks at identifying mental health conditions (risk factors, early warning signs etc) and how to provide advice and start a supportive conversation. The session closes with an explanation of the home learning modules and resources supplied (This is the same session as the Awareness course).
  • Home learning time. Nominally the average learner needs to do 3-4 hrs of reading, research and video watching. We provide our own information materials and guidance on both what and where to look for additional knowledge.
  • Final 2 hr zoom session. Typically 5 days later to allow you to study at your own pace. We’ll have a quick review of the home learning and then we will do some role play work to give you the practical skills to start a supportive conversation with someone. All participants on the course take part as this is a vital skill – it also forms part of the qualification assessment. We’ll also make sure there’s time for a Q&A session. For those not undertaking the optional Qualification module this is the course completion.
  • Qualification module. This will be a 1:1 session up to a maximum of 30minutes in duration (most learners require less). It will usually follow on at an agreed time (allocated by choice based on order of booking) after the final zoom session – but can be at another time to suit the learner up to a maximum of 3 weeks after the course start date. This will be the qualification date.
Supervising First Aid for Mental Health (Level 3)

This course has been designed for organisational leads and those with responsibility for policy making, it has a strong legislative and cultural content.

The course has a nominal total learning time of 14 hours, of which a minimum of 6 hours must be contact time with the tutor. Again we simply don’t think that’s enough – so our level 3 course has  8 hours of tutor contact time and includes three  Q&A sessions as well as 1:1 organisation/role specific discussions as feedback from our participants stressed these were the most valuable parts of the course.

Course structure is:

  • Opening Session, this is the course start date. A 2 hr zoom meeting (allowing 2-way dialogue) – which introduces and explains the concept of First Aid for Mental Health, looks at identifying mental health conditions (risk factors, early warning signs etc) and how to provide advice and start a supportive conversation. The session closes with an explanation of the home learning modules and resources supplied (This is the same session as the Awareness course).
  • Home learning time. Nominally the average learner needs to do 8-10 hrs of reading, research and video watching. We provide our own information materials and guidance on both what and where to look for additional knowledge and we encourage and support participants to make this learning relevant to their own organisation.
  • 2 hr zoom session. Typically 5 days later to allow you to study at your own pace. We’ll have a quick review of the home learning and then we will do some role play work to give you the practical skills to start a supportive conversation with someone. All participants on the course take part as this is a vital skill – it also forms part of the qualification assessment.  Level 3 participants are still required to undertake the role play training and evaluation.
  • 4 hr zoom session. We’ll cover how to provide and develop a positive mental health culture in the workplace, how to integrate mental health and wellness into existing policies and how to support individuals as an organisation.  This is intended to be a very interactive session and will draw on the research done by participants.
  • Qualification module. This will be a 1:1 session up to a maximum of 40minutes in duration (most learners require less). It will usually follow on at an agreed time (allocated by choice based on order of booking) after the final zoom session – but can be at another time to suit the learner up to a maximum of 6 weeks after the course start date. This will be the qualification date.
All courses

Whilst the support material that go with our courses are excellent we appreciate that everyone learns differently – and we want to support all of our participants to achieve – so anyone on any of our courses gets our support promise – if you’ve a question email us and we’ll reply within 24hrs – if a call or a video call are necessary we can also arrange that.

 

 

If you’ve still got questions then we’re happy to help – use the contact us form or give us a call,