MHFA Trained Staff in Medical Sciences

Across MSD your mental wellbeing is a top priority, and we are proud to have mental Health First Aid trained staff across our division.

Mental Health First Aid Training

The Mental health First Aid course teaches people to spot the signs of mental health issues and guide a person towards support. It does not teach people to be therapists or counsellors, but does teach people how to support their peers in the workplace through supportive conversations.

Mental Health First Aiders aim to have:

an in-depth understanding of mental health and the factors that can affect well-being
practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of a range of mental health issues
confidence to reassure and support a person in distress using the Mental Health First Aid action plan
enhanced interpersonal skills such as non-judgemental listening
knowledge to help someone recover their health by guiding them to further support - whether through self-help resources, internal support, or external sources such as their GP
confidential conversations as appropriate

Below you can find links to the various departmental wellbeing pages or MHFA pages where local departmental MHFA’s are listed

Existing MHFA trained staff

There is an informal teams group where MHFA trained staff can talk and seek support and advice, share resources and interesting articles. You can join this here: UoO MHFA Peer Support Network

You can ask here for advice and support if you need to signpost someone to something, or to share resources.

We also have a digest of Mental Health links that may be useful as a reference document for MHFA trained staff – you can download this here: Mental Health Wellbeing services and resources