Mental Health & Wellbeing

Youth MHFA – two day

Course Details
Audience: Any adults working with children and young people in any capacity
Date: Monday 9th June & Tuesday 10th June 2025
Time: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Venue: Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Cavendish Road, Bowdon, Altrincham, WA14 2NL
Cost: £340 per person
Facilitated by: Lisa Wisher
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Let’s start with the statistics. One in ten young people experience a mental health issue at any one time. For those aged 5-19 suicide is the second most common cause of death, and a record number of children contacted Childline with suicidal thoughts in 2016/17.

In an average group of 30 15 year olds:

  • Seven are likely to have been bullied
  • Six may be self-harming
  • One could have experienced the death of a parent

Record levels of young people are struggling. Academic pressure, social media, bullying, poverty, lack of availability of professional mental health support – all have been named as contributing to this epidemic of poor mental health in our young people.

It’s clear that young people are not getting the support they need. Key figures in a young person’s life – parents, family members, teachers, tutors, carers, youth workers – can often spot when a young person is struggling but may not know how best to help.

Our Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) courses are for anyone who works with, lives with or supports young people aged 8-18. We train the adults in a young person’s life to have the skills and confidence to step in, offer first aid and guide them towards the support they need. In doing so, they can speed up a young person’s recovery, stop issues from developing into a crisis, and ultimately save lives.

But more than that, by giving these adults the information and skills to look after their own mental health, we want them to set an example for young people. We want adults to be able to show young people that mental ill health is a part of life in just the same way as physical ill health, that it’s OK to talk about and it’s OK to ask for help.

We hope that by giving people the tools to open up these conversations, we can empower them to create mentally healthy, supportive environments in their families, schools, youth groups and communities.

Let’s create a future where we all know how to look after our own mental wellbeing, so preventable issues don’t arise in the first place. A future where every young person has access to support if they need it.

Audience  :  Any adults working with children and young people in any capacity

Overview

Our Youth MHFA 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 – engaging with parents, carers and external agencies where appropriate
  • Ability to support a young person with a long term mental health issue or disability to thrive
  • Tools to look after their own mental wellbeing

What does it involve?

Day 1

Session 1: Youth Mental Health First Aid

  • The Youth MHFA Action Plan
  • Definition of mental health
  • Adolescent development
  • Common youth mental disorders
  • Preventing mental health problems
  • Promoting wellbeing and protective factors

Session 2: Depression and Anxiety

  • What are depression and anxiety disorders?
  • Signs and symptoms
  • Possible causes
  • Action planning using MHFA Youth

Day 2

Session 3:  Suicide & Psychosis

  • The facts about suicide
  • Possible warning signs
  • Crisis first aid for suicidal behaviour
  • What is psychosis?
  • Signs of psychosis
  • Action planning using MHFA
  • Treatment and resources for psychosis

Session 4:  Self-harm and eating disorders

  • What are they?
  • Why are they important?
  • Possible causes
  • Signs and symptoms
  • Treatment and resources
  • Action planning using MHFA
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Feedback

“I most enjoyed the enthusiastic, relatable and engaging way in which Lisa delivered the sessions. Her experience made it so that we could all relate to the content, and everything had a real life context. The ALGEE acronym makes it easy to remember, and Lisa focused on each part in detail so that I now would feel confident in delivering first aid. She made us feel comfortable so that we could all ask questions and take part in role play activities etc. She used a range of videos to engage us and made a difficult subject lighter and engaging. I learnt a variety of new techniques for supporting young people with their mental health, and as a result of the course, I feel confident and well-equipped. I have also been personally inspired for some next steps in my career. Thank you, Lisa! You are an inspiration!” – Emma (2023)

“I learnt a lot from this and it was very engaging and really well run. I would recommend everyone does this course.” – Anon (2023)

“I enjoyed Lisa’s delivery of the course because although the subjects covered were challenging topics, she kept the session light hearted and ensured everyone felt comfortable throughout. This training has been the most informative, enjoyable and life changing training I have ever completed and I feel that this was mainly down to Lisa sharing her own experiences with us and creating a safe environment for the group to also share their experiences.” – Chelsea (2023)

“Lisa was a fantastic trainer, she made everything very interesting and engaging. Her knowledge and experience made the training much more enjoyable and I would go as far to say, one of the best courses I have been on. I learnt a huge amount in the 2 days I attended and will be able to put these strategies into practice with the young people I work with. Lisa was fantastic, I hope to attend more CPD courses that she runs.” – Jenna (2023) 

Bright Futures Training
Cavendish Road, Bowdon
Altrincham WA14 2NL
Proud to part of the Bright Futures Education Trust