Has your school achieved a 10% staff ratio of trained MHFAiders?

Placing staff on an accredited Mental Health First Aid course has many benefits to both the individual attending and the wider school. MHFA England’s training provides the MHFAider evidenced based techniques to recognise signs of poor mental health and provide first level support.

With 1 in 4 adults experiencing poor mental health each year and an estimated five children in a classroom of 30 likely to be experiencing poor mental health, there is a growing need for a whole school support system based around proactive early intervention and accessing professional support.

With many schools starting to invest in Mental Health training we asked our in house MHFA Instructor Trainer, Natasha Godden, why the 10% metric is an important objective to set.

‘The first thing to say is training any number of staff, even just one, in Mental Health First Aid is always going to be better than training no one, so a big thank you to those schools who are already prioritising mental health within your school.

The 10% ratio is a goal set by Mental Health First Aid England. There are a number of benefits to having 10% of your workforce trained and the first one is availability. Talking to someone about your mental health is a hard thing to do so if you pluck up the courage to do it, someone needs to be available to listen. Imagine if you are an individual struggling and you decide to reach out to the only MHFAider available in your school. What would happen if that MHFAider is busy teaching, with a pupil, overworked and stressed themselves or someone you simply don’t want to talk to?  Would you still ask for help? The honest answer is probably no. Having more than one MHFAider ensures there are plenty of people available to listen and empowers staff members to choose who they want to speak to. My top tip is consider who your MHFAiders are. Ensure they cover a broad range of roles, backgrounds, lived experiences and demographics.

The second benefit is with more MHFAiders you will spot signs and symptoms of poor mental health quicker. Early intervention supports a quicker recovery and can sometimes prevent professional support being required. Therefore, the more MHFAiders you have available to provide first level support, the better.

Finally, the third benefit, and in my opinion the most important reason to invest in a 10% ratio of MHFAiders, is to support your MHFAiders. The MHFAider role is a rewarding one but it can be exhausting.You will often hear, see and support situations that are distressing and therefore it is vital you offer a network of support to your MHFAider. The 10% ratio means you can create a peer support group where your MHFAiders can confidentially discuss, debrief and seek support for the conversations they are having.’

StaffCare Services are immensely proud of the MHFA training we deliver to schools and the fantastic feedback we receive from learners. If you would like to join us on a future course email wellbeing@staffcareservices.org.uk