UCI Wellness

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID

Mental Health First Aid

When someone is suffering from physical trauma, most people would know to call 9-1-1. But too few of us would know how to respond if we saw someone having a panic attack or if we were concerned that a friend or co-worker might be showing signs of depression or suicidal thoughts. Mental health complications are inconspicuous, and individuals experiencing mental health difficulties often do not receive the proper assistance they need.

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID

UCI Human Resources, in partnership with UCI Occupational Health, is proud to offer the evidence-based program Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) at no-cost to UCI and UCI Health employees. Having UCI employees trained under the MHFA curriculum will help achieve the goal of promoting employee mental health wellbeing through:

  • Decreasing stigma of mental health within the UCI community
  • Raising awareness of UCI mental health resources
  • Lowering stress, anxiety, and depression rates amongst the UCI community

When more people are equipped with the tools they need to start a dialogue, more people can get the help they need, and lives can be saved.

UCI and UCI Health certified instructors deliver the Mental Health First Aid course to co-workers so they can:

  • Recognize signs, symptoms, and risk factors of mental illnesses and addictions
  • Identify multiple types of professional and self-help resources for individuals with a mental illness or addiction
  • Help an individual in distress

ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID

Mental Health First Aid, governed by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, is an eight hour skills-based certification course that teaches participants how to identify, understand, and respond to mental health and substance-use disorders. The training gives you the skills you need to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis. MHFA takes the fear and hesitation out of starting conversations about mental health and substance-use problems by improving understanding and providing an action plan that teaches people to safely and responsibly identify and address a potential mental illness or substance-use disorder. To learn more about this life-saving training, please visit www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org.

HOW TO REGISTER AND BECOME CERTIFIED

  1. Pick an offering and date that works for your schedule and register in UCLC. Search “MHFA”
  2. After completing the registration form, you will be contacted with your enrollment information.

For Full Certification Training Course ONLY:

  1. Set up your Mental Health First Aid account using the instructions provided with your enrollment information.
  2. Complete the REQUIRED virtual pre-work consisting of pre-tests, instructional videos, and post-tests (approximately two hours that can be broken up.)

PLEASE NOTE: You must complete the pre-work in order to attend the Mental Health First Aid training.

  1. Attend scheduled instructor-led training with required materials.
  2. Upon completion of instructor-led training, complete REQUIRED virtual post-work consisting of the final exam and two post-evaluation surveys.