Psychological First Aid
What post-disaster relief has taught us.
“Every year, millions of people are affected by natural and human-induced disasters that lead to loss of lives and homes and physical injuries. After identifying a safe place, providing immediate psychosocial support is an integrated part of disaster assistance that is considered to facilitate the resilience of individuals, families, and communities in recovery. A wide range of programs have been developed to provide acute psychosocial support, and one such intervention is psychological first aid.” (Timothy Sim et al, 2021)
“Rates of mental health problems usually doubled after a calamity. But few people needed a psychiatrist. Most got better with simple, appropriate help that anyone could provide. Known as psychological first aid, it is something that can be taught in a matter of hours.” (The Economist, 2019)
“Research evidence of reasonable quality demonstrates that Psychological First Aid training significantly improves knowledge of appropriate psychosocial response and psychological first aid skills in supporting people in acute distress, thereby enhancing self-efficacy and promoting resilience.” (Lin Wang et al, 2021)
Is a key step in making Canberra Suicide-Free getting X amount of people to undergo psychological first aid training?
My partner Judy & I just completed a great 2-day mental health first aid training course. It was great in covering a lot of different angles on mental health - anxiety, depression, substance use, schizophrenia, Bipolar disorders etc. It provided common sense ways to engage others, support them effectively & refer them to the appropriate support. I’d highly recommend it.
It’s another dimension to first aid and triage which in this day and age is an important foundation skill for all
I think all people need to learn basic psychology principles full stop, which can then be applied to help people as needed.