Level 3 Award in

Supervising First Aid

for Mental Health

Each year approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health condition and at least 1 in 6 employees experience common mental health problems in the workplace. Research has shown that work is the biggest cause of stress which can stop people performing at their best.

Mental health conditions are often hidden due to stigma and fear of discrimination and research has shown that a culture of fear and silence around mental health is costly to employers.

This 12-hour qualification provides learners with the knowledge to recognise a wide range of mental health conditions and learn about the support/therapy provided by professional healthcare providers. They will know how to start a supportive conversation and when and how to signpost a person to seek appropriate professional help. Learners will recognise and manage stress and understand the impact of substance abuse.

Learners will learn about the first aid action plan for mental health, be able to put it in place and understand how to implement a positive mental health culture in the workplace.

Learners will not diagnose or treat mental health conditions as this can only be carried out by healthcare professionals but will gain the knowledge to identify when a person may have a condition and know where they can go to get help.

Syllabus

A range of First Aid for Mental Health related subjects are covered including:

• What is First Aid for Mental Health? • Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Identifying mental health conditions • Self-harm
• Providing advice and starting a conversation • Suicide
• Stress • Eating disorders
• Mental health conditions • Personality disorders
• Drugs and alcohol • Bipolar disorder
• First Aid for Mental Health action plan • Psychosis
• First Aid for Mental Health in the workplace • Schizophrenia
• Depression • Anxiety

Entry requirements

The qualification is available to learners aged 16 or over. It is recommended that learners should hold a minimum of Level 1 in literacy or equivalent to undertake this qualification. It may be possible to allocate a reasonable adjustment to a learner who has a disability, medical condition or learning need; learners should contact their training provider to discuss. Any reasonable adjustments granted must be in line with the FAA Reasonable Adjustments Policy.

Qualification delivery

The qualification has 12 assigned guided learning hours (GLH) and 14 hours total qualification time (TQT). GLH indicates the number of classroom contact hours that the learner will undertake. TQT includes GLH but also takes into account any unsupervised learning and is an estimate of how long the average learner will take to complete the qualification.

The minimum classroom contact time of 12 hours can be spread over a maximum of 6 weeks. Each session must be a minimum of two hours.

The class ratio for the qualification is a maximum of 16 learners to 1 Trainer/Assessor.

Certification

The qualification is valid for three years from the date of achievement. It is strongly recommended that the learner attends annual refresher training. The learner will need to complete the full course again to requalify for a further three years.