29th April 2018
TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide, Anxiety, Depression
Welcome to Part 2 of my blog about the Mental Health Awareness Course that I have now attended and completed, making me a Mental Health First Aid (MFHA) Champion!
So how was the actual course? Overall, it was excellent. From an Autistic point of view, the group was fairly small being of eight people, in a room that could have been designed to cater for people with sensory issues and was quite relaxed. The subject matter of mental illness included subjects that were difficult to discuss, such as suicide, and it was made clear from the start that you could leave the room for a break at any time if you found the topics distressing or just needed five minutes.
As an Autistic I would welcome this at any time so I was pleased, although I didn’t leave. I did find some of the discussion a little upsetting though, but I think it hit me harder a few days later. The structure of the course was in two sessions and covered in more detail in the very well put together literature pack. The instructor used discussion, PowerPoint slides, videos and group activities (often in pairs) to teach. I know that some people would find the pairing activities difficult but concentrating on the tasks helped any social anxiety.
I found the content of the course excellent and it was carried out in two sessions. I was presented with many facts about mental health (and I love statistics!) to illustrate how it is perceived in society and in particularly in the workplace. For example, 1 in 6 workers will experience depression, anxiety or problems relating to stress at any one time. This was the first part of the course learning how mental health is perceived and treated by people. A big part of this session included stigma and discrimination.
Although the causes of this and how it occurs in the workplace was talked about in great detail, how to combat it was not really mentioned. This was the only disappointing aspect of the course as I would have liked to learn a set of skills/instructions to better help to break down stigma. The course explains that it is a key aspect of why people do not disclose that they are having problems, especially men, and so I was surprised more was not said on how to correct this.
The first session then talked about the early warning signs of mental ill health and how to recognise them in others. It then concluded with the common types of mental illness such as suicide, depression, anxiety, self harming, psychosis etc. It also talked about problems associated with drugs and alcohol, including caffeine which has a significant effect on anxiety sufferers. This was all very interesting. Sometimes as an Autistic, I can find it difficult to read signs in other people which is something common to those on the spectrum.
Therefore to be presented with a kind of checklist of symptoms to look out for is essential for me, otherwise I might miss key signs. I can apply these lists to anybody I come in contact with, almost as a set of instructions to decide if they are ok or not. Very useful. It was stated that often the close friends of people who are mentally unwell do not even realise they are ill, due to them masking their symptoms. I would hate to think that I was unable to help somebody close to me simply because I was unaware of what they were going through. Thanks to this course I now have a better understanding of this.
The second session covered the Mental Health First Aid Action Plan called ALGEE. This stands for Approach, Listen, Give, Encourage and Encourage. The plan is the guidance on how to offer mental first aid to somebody in distress when suffering from one of the conditions mentioned previously. I will not go into great detail into ALGEE here, other than to say “go attend the course” if you want to know more. The whole afternoon was spent on the this and each section was discussed and taught in great detail. A word of warning though they used suicide as an example as one of the more serious aspects of mental health. If you have trigger warnings for this then it might not be the best way to learn and I would suggest talking to St John Ambulance and MHFA before attending the course.
If you read part one of this blog then you know that the main objective of this course for me was to learn the skills to be able to help somebody in distress. The example I used is what would I say to somebody at work if I found them crying in the corner of the office? What would I say to them? How could I help? While the ALGEE action plan is the answer to these questions. It clearly instructs you what to do and how to help. Having learnt the plan I now feel confident on what to say and how to handle these kind of situations.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand there is a difference between knowing the theory and actually putting it into practice, but what the course has done for me is given me the strength to know that I could attempt to help. Last week I probably wouldn’t have, being scared that I would do or say the wrong thing. Therefore, for me this is an excellent move forward.
One thing that did get covered in the action plan was the use of body language and non verbal communication. This is something that an Autistic like myself can often struggle with. For example, it was said that making the correct and appropriate eye contact with the person is important. A lot of Autistics find eye contact impossible, painful and difficult. I asked the tutor about this, having being very open about being Autistic with the group from the start, and his response was to do what you can. He said that being Autistic, I should just follow the plan to the best I can, and if there are parts of it I was unable to do then it doesn’t matter. He said the key thing was to be yourself and establishing communication with the individual through whatever means you can.
The point is that the plan is a guide to help you improve someone’s situation (or even save a life!) at that moment in time and for the future. It wouldn’t matter if I made no eye contact if I was talking to them in a calm way. I thought his response was good and I felt reassured that the things I find difficult in communication should not hinder the ALGEE action plan should I ever need to put it into use.
Another point to mention, the course expressed several times the importance of looking after yourself in any situation and that you need care for yourself in order to be able to help others. For example, the section on psychosis talked about not putting yourself in ay physical danger if that person is having a severe episode. Mental first aid is similar to physical first aid in that aspect. You can always help in any situation but do not risk being harmed yourself in the process.
The course was concluded with ways to implement Mental Well Being into your own life, the lives of others and particularly in the actual workplace. I mentioned last week that my goal was to improve Mental Health Awareness within my own company and so this was invaluable information to me that I will be taking back to work.
So overall I found the whole experience to be very rewarding and a lot of the questions I had last week were answered in great detail. I would give the MHFA England and St John Ambulance 10 out of 10 for this as it will both help to save and improve the lives of those who are mentally unwell. I have suffered with anxiety and depression myself and can see both sides of the story now. I hope more people attend the course so that the stigmas can be broken down and we can all help each other to live happier lives.