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Mental Health First Aid (In-Person)

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Learning Objectives

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is the support provided to a person who may be experiencing a decline in their mental well-being or a mental health crisis.

Course participants will learn how to recognize signs that a person may be experiencing a decline in their mental well-being or a mental health crisis and encourage that person to:

  • Talk about declines in their mental well-being

  • Discuss professional and other supports that could help with recovery to improved mental well-being

  • Reach out to these supports

  • Assist in a mental health or substance use crisis

  • Use MHFA actions to maintain one’s own mental well-being

Course Outline

Section 1: Mental Health & Mental Health Problems

  • What is First Aid and MHFA?

  • Key terms, language, and concepts

  • The five basic actions of MHFA – ALGEES

  • How common are mental health problems?

  • Mental health problems and specific populations

  • Mental health problems and recovery

Section 2: Substance-Related Disorders

  • What is a substance-related disorder?

  • Concurrent disorders and types of substance-related disorders

  • Risk factors

  • MHFA for substance-related problems

Section 3: Mood-Related Disorders

  • What is a mood-related disorder?

  • Types of mood-related disorders

  • Risk factors

  • Substance use and mood disorders

  • Suicide in Canada

  • MHFA for mood-related problems

  • Treatment and resources

Section 4: Anxiety and Trauma-Related Disorders

  • What are anxiety and trauma-related disorders?

  • Types of anxiety and trauma-related disorders

  • Risk factors

  • Trauma-related disorders

  • Substance use and anxiety disorders

  • MHFA for anxiety and trauma-related problems

  • Crisis first aid for panic attacks

  • Treatment and resources

Section 5: Psychotic Disorders

  • What is a psychotic disorder?

  • Types of psychotic disorders

  • Risk factors

  • Substance use and psychotic disorders

  • Crisis first aid for psychotic episodes

Please email hello@oaksmentalhealth.ca for assistance with group registrations, or if you wish to use an alternative payment method. Group discounts and student discounts are available on a case-by-case basis. 

NOTE: This course involves a significant amount of group work. If you are apprehensive about the idea of group work due to social anxiety or any other concern, please notify us. We would be happy to accommodate you as best we can.

Cara Taylor, BSW, MSW, RSW.

Cara Taylor (she/her), founder of Oaks Mental Health, is a mental health educator with over a decade of social work experience in the mental health field. Her professional and personal experiences—including living with mental illness and surviving suicide loss—inform her compassionate, person-centered approach. Cara’s trainings foster empathy, reduce stigma, and blend clinical insight with lived experience to promote collective care.

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