Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) - Standard 2-Days (In-person Class)

Mental Health First Aid Standard, 2-Day

Register at:

https://whatmattrs.com/products/3-2-day-mental-health-first-aid-standard-in-person-saturday-may-4-to-sunday-may-5-2024-9am-to-2pm-et

Use Code: EARLYBIRD by March 31 for $60 off each registration ($220 instead of $280, flat-rate, no additional charges, tax, fees, etc..). If unable to attend, a credit will be issued for any future virtual or in-person MHFA class taught by What MattRs.

https://openingminds.org/facilitator/?uid=772

Location: Oshawa, Ontario (**Location will be sent out to registrants closer to the date**)

Date: Saturday May 4 to Sunday, May 5, 2024

Time: 9am to 2pm Eastern Time (includes 30-minute lunch and 2 breaks)

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.

What to expect

This is a certificate course provided by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). The certificate does not expire. This course is divided into 3 modules, the first module being self-guided that participants complete on their own time, and the other 2 modules are either done over the course of 1 or 2 days depending on what they registered for.

After registering for this course, an e-mail will be sent to you containing instructions for module 1, and your digital material including reference guide. Closer to the course date, reminders will be sent out about completing module 1 and the instructions to login to the Zoom course on the registered date.

Contact: mssrmco@gmail.com

About the instructor:

Matthew Rico, RN, CPMHN(C), Psychotherapist

https://openingminds.org/facilitator/?uid=772

Matthew has over 11+ years of experience in mental health and is a person with lived experience. He has worked with various populations and mental health disorders at many different settings. This includes young adolescents to older adults, receiving care as an inpatient, in crisis, or in forensics. He has been involved with many activities and projects such as research, quality/accreditation, and education. Matthew is a Registered Nurse (RN) by trade, specialized in mental health, and has attained knowledge and training in psychotherapy, teaching, and leadership.

Matthew has been teaching non-violent crisis intervention for 8+ years, delivered Mental Health First Aid to 2000+ Canadians since 2018, and is one of the first Canadians certified to provide Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) training from the Zero Suicide Institute. His experience with education also includes creating workshops, presentations, and educational material. For instance, co-developing and delivering mindfulness education for hospital staff, co-creating a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) microcredential at Ontario Shores in collaboration with Ontario Tech, and teaching on culture and mental health bi-annually for nurses preparing to take their CNA exam. Additionally, he trained many private groups over the years, both in-person and virtually. These were on specific mental health topics that the groups requested and ranged from 1 to 4 hours long with as many as 47 people in the audience.

Why is this experience relevant? Matthew brings his courses to life using both his personality, passion, and years of experience to capture attention. He translates the information, using presentation skills, examples, and stories that add context to the material.

Expect additional tips/strategies that compliment the MHFA content drawn from his service in mental health care. Participants are always invited to stay connected with him as an ongoing resource for questions/support related to mental health. Expect Matthew to stay back for open discussion once the class is done. Participants can use this time to ask questions on mental health topics or present personal cases/scenarios. Coping tools, other mental health disorders, and additional conversation strategies are popular requests.

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Standard

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 support
• Assist in a mental health or substance use crisis
• Use MHFA actions to maintain one’s own mental well-being

Topics

Module 1: Self-Directed (Online)

• Introduction to the course
• Introduction to MHFA actions

Module 2: In-person Classroom

• Practice applying MHFA actions to situations of declining mental well-being
• Guidelines for MHFA conversations with people from diverse cultures and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community

Module 3: In-person Classroom

• Discussion on using MHFA actions for self-care
• Practice using MHFA actions in crisis situations

**Module 1 must be completed before participating in Module 2 and 3 in-class!

Learn more - https://openingminds.org/training/mhfa/standard/