Mental health first aid course being taught in St. John's

A new training course is being offered in St. John's to help educate people how they can help someone dealing with a mental health crisis.

The course is designed to teach people how to recognize when someone is having a mental health crisis, as well as spot subtle signs that someone might be having a difficult time.

• St. John Ambulance starts mental health first aid course in Nova Scotia

The program is offered by Caregivers, and instructor Chad Perrin says the workshop is open to anyone.

According to Perrin, the course is ideal for teaching people the basics about helping someone with mental health issues as well as raising awareness about the nature of mental illness.

"The idea of the mental health first aid workshop is to increase an understanding of mental health and how everyone has mental health, just like everyone has physical health, and the importance of looking after your own mental health," said Perrin.

Perrin said the course took inspiration from the principles in emergency CPR first aid, but targets mental health.

"If you are in a park and you see somebody having a heart attack, most people have some understanding of what you need to do to try to help out, but if you saw someone having a panic attack you might not have the same skill set to be able to help."

Anyone is able to take part in the course, and Perrin said he's hoping average people will take an interest — since they are the most likely person someone will talk to in a mental health crisis situation.

"The most prominent person people will talk to when they're experiencing trouble isn't a professional, it's not their boss. They'll talk to their family members and they'll talk to their friends," he said.

"If you have no understanding of what they're talking about or frame of reference, it can be daunting — extremely nerve-racking. So I think this workshop will give everyone that skill set so if your son, if your daughter, if your friend, if your family member, walk up to you and describe that they're having difficulty."

Perrin said the program also offers an opportunity to overcome the stigma around mental health, and make it a more public topic.