Greater Manchester North County are offering leaders the chance to attend an official MHFA England - Youth Mental Health First Aid Course at a substantially reduced rate, subsidised by County. This is not part of The Scouts official training scheme, but is a course the County Team and County Exec believe to be highly beneficial to any leaders working with our young people. 

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an internationally recognised training course, designed to teach people how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill health in young people and provide help on a first aid basis. The MHFA Youth course is aimed at people working with children aged 8 years to 18 years, but would also be beneficial for people working with younger age groups. Each and every MHFA course is delivered by a quality assured, accredited instructor. In GMN our courses will be delivered by Rob Partington (Paddy), who regularly delivers MHFA courses professionally. 

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Completing a two day course qualifies you as a Youth Mental Health First Aider. Youth Mental Health First Aiders have:

• An in depth understanding of young people’s mental health and factors that affect wellbeing

• Practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues

• Confidence to reassure and support a young person in distress

• Enhanced interpersonal skills such as non-judgemental listening

• Knowledge to help a young person recover their health by guiding them to further support whether that’s through self-help sites, their place of learning, the NHS, or a mix

• Ability to support a young person with a long term mental health issue or disability to thrive

• Tools to look after your own mental wellbeing

The course is delivered in four manageable chunks over two days:

• About mental health

• Depression and anxiety

• Suicide and psychosis

• Self-harm and eating disorders

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The course also focuses on the issues faced by young people today, such as cyber bullying and substance misuse, and teaches how to promote protective mental health factors.

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This course commercially usually retails at around £300 per person. We are offering this course to GMN Scouters at £25 per person. This covers the cost of training materials, manuals, workbooks, registration and certification from MHFA England. Places are not considered confirmed until payment has been made (details of payment will be sent by email once course booking form has been completed). As places are limited, refunds cannot be given unless the place can be 'sold on' to another participant, so should you book on the course and subsequently not be able to attend, please let us know as soon as possible then we can attempt to 'sell on' your place. Attendance on both days is mandatory for successful completion of the course.   

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