LEARNING TO support loved ones, friends and colleagues experiencing mental health difficulties was the theme of Community Minds Mental Health First Aid training which took place over two days in Wexford town recently.

Street by street, estate by estate, club by club, business by business and community by community, the Community Minds movement aims to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health difficulties and give members of the community the skills to help others.

Many businesses, companies, schools, colleges and sports clubs have designated First Aiders trained to support someone who becomes physically injured or ill to keep them safe until they can receive more advanced medical treatment if required.

The CommunityMinds initiative, established by local positive mental health advocates Leonard Kelly, Vincent Byrne, Alan Doolan and Bernadette Doolan, has undertaken to apply a similar process for mental health support.

The charity facilitated the training of 20 individuals within the local community recently, to equip them with the skills, knowledge and language to be able to assist a person who is developing or enduring a mental health challenge or crisis until appropriate professional treatment can be received.

The occasion marked the first time members of a local community in Ireland participated in mental health first aid traning.

Mental Health First Aid training is backed by substantial evidence and has been found to be effective in increasing reducing stigma, increasing helping behaviours, improving the confidence of participants to engage with people experiencing mental health difficulties and improving participants’ own mental health.

Read more in the Wexford Echo.