An offer for you ...

I'm just back from my Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training, so I wanted you to be the first to know that I am now a certified Mental Health First Aider.  

The MHFA workbook and my lanyard

It was an intensive two days and we explored a wide range of topics such as:

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Self-harm

• Substance use

• Eating disorders

• Psychosis

• Suicide

We learned how to:

• Recognise signs of distress

• Start supportive conversations

• Use the MHFA Action Plan to offer support and guidance 

Three things I'd like to share with you:

Firstly, I want to encourage you to look into taking this training, too, as it's so important to remove the stigma and treat mental health first aid as seriously as physical health first aid.

It will most certainly make it easier for people to reach out if and when they could do with some help.

Secondly, I'm offering you a MHFA conversation if you'd like to address anything that's bothering you. 

This isn't counselling - although I have foundation training in counselling (COSCA) - and it's not a TRE session, either. 

It's a confidential space where I offer a listening ear and can signpost you towards further support.

If you feel this could be beneficial for you, I'm here for you and you are more than welcome to get in touch with me.     

Thirdly, I want to be clear, though: 

I’m not stepping away from my somatic work.

I deeply value TRE (Tension and Trauma Release Exercises) as a preventative and retrospective practice that helps regulate the nervous system and supports long-term health and well-being.

MHFA sits alongside it, offering something complementary:

Practical tools for immediate situations when someone is in crisis and needs connection in the moment.

As I said, if you feel this could be beneficial for you - or anybody you know and are concerned about - I'm here for you and anybody who'd like to have a listening ear and you are more than welcome to get in touch with me.     

Sylvia

PS:

Here are some statistics why Mental Health First Aid is so important: 

• 1 in 6 working-age adults have symptoms associated with poor mental health

• 1 in 4 people experience poor mental health each year

• Poor mental health is responsible for 72 million working days lost and costs UK employers £45 billion (!) each year

• In Great Britain, during 2020, 1,752 people died in road traffic collisions and 6,749 died by suicide

  
  

Source:MHFA workbook, 2023