First Aid for Mental Health (Wespath)

First aid training for mental health is a two-part live, virtual webinar. Leading the training is Chris White, an international UK government hostage and crisis negotiator and First Aid for Mental Health trainer. This training will teach you how to identify and understand mental health challenges with empathy, and without judgment.

According to White, “We all have our ‘window on the world’ and that window is in a room. The First Aid for Mental Health concept of empathy is listening without judgment to earn the right to enter another person’s room and look at the world through their window.” First Aid for Mental Health teaches you how to be invited (or welcomed) into someone else’s room, see the world through their window and get them the help they need. It also teaches you how to accept and understand your own mental health needs, without embarrassment or shame.

All UMC clergy and their spouses, Church leaders, staff and congregation members can attend–at no cost. Spots are limited, register today.

Session 1 – The Basics
Duration: 60 minutes

The first session teaches the foundational concepts of mental health, the ability to identify when you or someone else may have mental health needs that require assistance and the skills to start a conversation and get them the help they need. Session 1 includes topics on:

• Current mental health challenges and statistics
• Influences, stress, vulnerability and self-awareness
• Stigma, discrimination and promoting inclusion
• Identifying and coping with stress; exploring our own ‘stress signatures’
• First Aid for Mental Health: principles to approaching and helping others

Session 2 – A Deeper Dive
Duration: 60 minutes

The second session dives deeper into external influences, stress, vulnerability and ways in which our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are impacted every day. It provides practical methods for how to manage ourselves and others in crisis. Session 2 topics include:

• Personal resilience and staying well
• Understanding ways in which we can become unwell
• An introduction to depression, substance abuse, anxiety and self-harm—risk factors and First Aid for Mental Health interventions
• Suicide and First Aid for Mental Health for suicidal crisis
• Connecting with others, active listening and understanding common personal barriers to having an effective conversation

Please register for both sessions. Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email.

Session 1: The Basics
Thursday, March 10, 2022

10:00 a.m. Central time
2:00 p.m. Central time
7:00 p.m. Central time

Session 2: A Deeper Dive
Thursday, March 24, 2022

10:00 a.m. Central time
2:00 p.m. Central time
7:00 p.m. Central time