Mental Health First Aid courses and webinars

Because everyone should be a certified mental health first aider!

Best practices of health and safety at work do not concern only physical health, but also employee's mental health. FindYourWay Coaching, as official partner of leading advocate foundation for mental health in Switzerland, Pro Mente Sana, offers official certifications in mental health first aid.

This international certification teaches participants the best tools to recognize signs of mental distress in others, knowing when to help them, how to talk and where to signpost people to get further professional help. Every organization should have this type of mental health ambassador.

We offer this both as a company internal course as well as a public course (webinar or in person in Zurich). The course meets the Swiss quality standards for higher education, and it is endorsed by EDUQUA certification.

The course shows best practices of prevention, early intervention and communication skills. It is very interactive and educational. Think of a first aid course for physical health: you don't need to be a doctor to help someone in need during an emergency moment or to prevent people from making unhealthy choices. You can have an impact!

Through the course we discover:

What is mental health, the impact of mental illness and we learn the major mental illnesses.
How to recognize the signs of people's mental distress and changes in their behavior.
How to respond and approach people if they show signs of mental distress. At the workplace and outside of it.
How to start a meaningful conversation with them and point them to professional help.
All the resources in Switzerland and globally for mental health support.
The course is conducted live and the students receive the appropriate study material, such as manual and workbook. During the course there are videos, case studies, roleplays and a lot of interaction expected with other international students. At the end of the course, an easy multiple choice test is done in order to become certified.

Facilitated by Alessandra Patti,
Founder & mental health first aid trainer

A professional trainer, also wellbeing and communication consultant and university guest lecturer, Alessandra became specialized in mental health first aid in 2018 and has certified over 1,000 of the 10,000 first aiders now present in Switzerland. She is well known for her very specific methodology of prevention for the workplace: combining mental health training and coaching with communication and leadership upskilling trainings, to provide companies with full interpersonal competences that have an impact on prevention.

One of her first mental health first aid courses in Zurich was featured on the famous Swiss 20 Minuten magazine

Get more info about first aid

In the course we cover

What is mental health and what is mental illness

In order to help others, it is important to learn the basics of mental health and what mental illness is. We learn about depression, anxiety, psychosis, substance use disorder and burnout. But we do not become counsellors: we learn how to provide first aid. Just as you would do a course for physical first aid, then you can do one for the mind.

We learn to break stigma and taboos around mental health and we increase our own self-reflection and mental health literacy.

How to spot signs of mental distress in others

We learn how to spot the main signs of distress, how to apply first aid and then encourage people to seek help of a mental health professional in the case of deeper crisis.

We use real case studies and examples of real situations to know how to behave comfortably. Very interactive webinars with international atmosphere!

Webinar or face to face Format

If you are based in Switzerland, we can lead face to face courses for you/your company. It will consist of 4 sessions of 3,5 hours each.

If you prefer an online format, it consists of 7 sessions of 2 hours each, and after that you will receive a final test which will take you 10 minutes to do. Once you pass, you are immediately a certified mental health first aider! You will join a global community of people passionate about mental health!

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OUR CUSTOMERS WITH IN-HOUSE MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AIDERS

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TESTIMONIALS

"The first aid for mental health training is a necessary educational step"

Student, Novartis

Do I have to be an expert in psychology or medicine to participate?

No, not at all. This course is designed for laypeople who do not have necessarily gone through a mental health training.
I want to have this course in my company. Does this mean that the participants become responsible for the other colleagues' mental health?

Not at all. The participants become first responders, which means that they are the ones who might become more "experts" in spotting early signs of mental distress at work, act and therefore prevent more distress. Which is a good thing! But this should not mean that they have formal responsibility like counsellors.
What if I miss one of the sessions?

You can catch-up during a session on another webinar and still become a mental health first aider! For the entire duration of the course, if you participate fully, you are also allowed to skip maximum one hour of the entire course.
Can I be reimbursed by my employer if I come to one of the courses?

If your employer does not have the course in their health and safety catalogue, we'd be more than happy to provide guidance on how to do so. Furthermore, if you need a recommendation letter explaining the validity of this course for learning and development purposes, we are more than happy to write one for you. Just contact us at info@findyourway.company
What about confidentiality? Are the courses recorded?

Confidentiality is paramount for us, so we do not record anything. Participants are invited to share as much as they feel to. We always take care of their mental health in a safe space, because the course instructors are aiders in the first place.
Which language can I have the course in?

English, Italian, French and German.