Northampton charity offering mental health first aid courses has trained hundreds of people in just six months

A charity set up to challenge the stigma of mental health in young people is delivering mental health first aid courses and has already reached hundreds of people.

The Grey Dog Trust, a Northampton based charity that was set up in 2017, offers two-day courses where delegates are taught how to initially deal with a mental health issue.

Paul Hanrahan, who founded the trust and his wife Laura, have become trained mental health first aid instructors, as supported by Mental Health First Aid England.

Since completing their training, the couple has been travelling around the country delivering the courses to a range of organisations and people since June last year.

Paul said: “It’s about reducing the need for in-patient care and putting in early intervention.

“There’s a mental health crisis and what people are saying is talk to someone.

“But when people do open up are the people they are talking to equipped? Do they have the skills needed to deal with a crisis?”

On the courses, Paul and Laura, talk to delegates about what mental health is, the different kinds of conditions and how to look after their own mental health.

Paul added: “We also talk about risk factors and then the first aid element itself.

“We teach them the skills to deal with a mental health crisis.

“It’s important to say that we’re not trying to teach anyone to be a therapist, it’s very much the same as a physical first aid course.

“Those first aiders are taught how to deal with a situation until a professional gets there.

“In these sessions we’re showing them how to sign post them to the professionals.”

The trust has delivered the fully certified and ‘robust’ course to schools including teachers and students across Northamptonshire, as well as further afield.

They have also taught scout groups in five counties, as well as working with youth leaders, sports coaches, businesses and organisations.

Paul added: “We’re pushing towards 400 people reached on the courses in the space of six months.

“Secondary schools are the ones we try to get the message across to.

“In a school, you have to have a certain number of physical first aiders but there are no legal requirements to have mental health first aiders.

“But they’re far more likely to come across mental health issues than cardiac arrest.

“We need to have people in these positions who know how to respond. If we do not, they could do more damage than good.”

Looking ahead, Paul hopes to increase the trust’s fundraising so they can get more of their volunteers trained as mental health first aid instructors.

The trust is also working on setting up a six to eight week curriculum course where they would go into schools and teach students what mental health is and how they can look out for it.

Paul says there is a lot of work still to be done to create this scheme, but they are hoping to get it up and running by September.

If you want to find out more about The Grey Dog Trust or book Paul and Laura to complete mental health first aid training at your organisation, visit their website here or email the team on [email protected].