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CMHA Vancouver-Fraser

Education

Living Life to the Full

Want to know how to feel happier, more confident and worry less right now? Would you like to learn new ways of dealing with what life throws at you?  Living Life to the Full offers you enjoyable and interactive courses that will help you understand your feelings, thoughts and behaviors, and what to do about them!

In 8 fun, friendly 90-minute sessions, Living Life to the Full helps people make a difference in their lives. Each session is moderated by a trained facilitator and includes a booklet, handouts, exercises and discussions.

This CMHA flagship program is available in many communities across Canada through your Canadian Mental Health Association branches or through our partner organizations.

Living Life to the Full was developed by Dr. Chris Williams, UK psychiatrist, and CMHA BC Division holds the exclusive licence to the program in Canada.

The course can be offered in public or private setting. Our public courses run when the number of people on the wait list reaches our minimum number.

For more information or to include your name on our wait list, please email courses.vf@cmha.bc.ca

Mental Health First Aid

Mental Health First Aid is the help provided to a person developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis.  Just like physical first aid is provided until medical treatment can be obtained, MHFA is given until appropriate support is found or until the crisis is resolved.

Why choose take MHFA through Canadian Mental Health Association Vancouver-Fraser?

Our Master MHFA Trainers bring you the top quality training to you in a comfortable and safe training space.

How MHFA helps

  • Preserves life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others.
  • Provides help to prevent the mental health problem from developing into a more serious state.
  • Promotes the recovery of good mental health.
  • Provides comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem.

Upcoming Courses

May 11 & 18, 2018 – Basic in Vancouver     Register

May 16 & 17, 2018 – Basic in New Westminster     Register

May 30 & 31, 2018 – Youth in New Westminster     Register

June 5 & 6, 2018 – Basic in New Westminster     Register

June 14 & 15, 2018 – Basic in Vancouver     Register

June 16 & 23, 2018 – Senior in Vancouver     Register

July 4 & 5, 2018 – Basic in New Westminster     Register

July 17 & 18 – Senior in New Westminster    Register

July 21 & 22, 2018 – Youth in Vancouver     Register

July 24 & 25, 2018 – Basic in Vancouver     Register

MHFA Basic

MHFA Basic is intended for adults interacting with adults (18 years and older). This courses focuses on the four most common mental health disorders including substance related, mood related, anxiety and trauma related, and psychotic disorders. Participants who take this course are well prepared to interact confidently about mental health with their family, friends, communities, and workplaces.

MHFA Adults Who Interact with Youth

MHFA Adults who Interact with Youth is intended for an adult audience whose primary focus is youth (aged 14-25). In addition to the four most common disorders discussed in MHFA BASIC, this course includes instruction about eating disorders and deliberate self-injury. Participants who take this course are well prepared to interact confidently about mental health with the young people in their lives, including at schools, extra-curricular activities, social services, family, friends, and communities.

NEW!  MHFA Seniors

Canada has an aging population. As of July 1, 2015, there were more people aged 65 years and older in Canada than children under the age of 15 years. The likelihood of experiencing a mental health problem or illness in a given year increases as of age 69 and currently, men aged 80 and older have the highest suicide rates in Canada.

MHFA Seniors is an adaptation of the MHFA Basic course that is intended to increase the capacity of seniors, families (informal caregivers), friends, staff in care settings and communities to promote mental health in seniors, prevent mental illness and suicide wherever possible in seniors and intervene early when problems first emerge.

The course content and resource materials are based on best available evidence and practice guidelines and were developed in consultation with Canadian experts in the field of geriatric psychiatry. The curriculum was developed for the Mental Health Commission of Canada at Trillium Health Partners, a healthcare organizations which priorities seniors’ health and wellness.

 

To learn more about bringing Mental Health First Aid training to your community or workplace, please contact Steve Baik at 604-516-8080 ext 324 or courses.vf@cmha.bc.ca.

Cancellation Policy

Suicide Prevention Training

Community_Gatekeeper-1

Helping people at risk of suicide

Community Gatekeeper Training is designed to help make BC communities safer – and help save lives – by preparing key members of every community with skills to help people who are at risk of suicide. Community Gatekeepers are people who have been trained to recognize when someone could be at risk of suicide, talk with them, help keep them safe, and connect them to community supports and resources. They are trusted community members who often hold a position of responsibility in the community such as first responders, HR professionals, community service providers, Elders and spiritual leaders, coaches, teachers and others, and have regular contact with many adults or older adults. Community Gatekeeper training follows curriculum shown to be effective at increasing knowledge, skill and willingness to intervene, as well as helping reduce the risk of suicide. Two levels of training are available:

  • safeTALK – a basic half-day workshop for anyone to help recognize a person who might be at risk and help connect them to life-saving community supports and resources
  • ASIST – a two-day practice-focused workshop in suicide intervention and personal safety planning

Community Gatekeeper training is being offered across BC on a fee-for-service basis. To learn more about bringing Community Gatekeeper training to your community or workplace, please contact Sherry Waters at 604-516-8080 ext 325 or courses.vf@cmha.bc.ca.

 

Cancellation Policy

Learn more:

LivingWorks Community Gatekeeper training follows curriculum developed by LivingWorks Education. Funding provided by the BC Ministry of Health.

Workplace – Responding with Respect

Responding with Respect (RWR) workshops provide participants with a basic understanding of mental illness and mental health, whether it is their own or that of a colleague, client, patron, community member, friend or family member. Based on the action tool-kit, four ‘R’s – Recognize, Respond, Refer, Reconnect – participants will learn to identify signs and symptoms associated with a mental health problem and will acquire effective and communication strategies to respond and assist people whose behavior suggests they are struggling with a mental health problem. The purpose of the training is to increase mental health literacy, reduce stigma, increase confidence in participants’ ability to respond, and promote mental wellness.

These popular workshops can be modified to focus on specific workplace requests.

Responding With Respect: On the Frontline 

3 hours

This training provides an understanding of the impacts of mental illness and what this may look like in a member of the public.  Through the four ‘R’ toolkit, participants will review how to recognize signs and symptoms, but focus on the behaviors associated with someone living with a mental health problem, and how to effectively, safely and appropriately respond.  It is an ideal program for those working directly with the public.

Responding With Respect: Mental Health Problems 

3 hours

This workshop will provide management and supervisors with the tools to identify and recognize early signs and symptoms, and behaviors associated with a mental health problem. Using the four ‘R’ toolkit, management will learn how to appropriately and safely respond to a staff member who may be struggling using effective communication skills. The training will increase confidence in management to take action in a timely manner, reduce stigma related to mental illness, and will facilitate access to community and workplace resources. The workshop will conclude with a piece on individual wellness, and will focus on how to manage stress, increase resilience, and incorporate wellness into every day.  Note:  There is a general version for non-supervisory staff.

Responding With Respect: Mental Health Basics – Help and Hope

8 hours

Learn how to help and offer hope by gaining insight into how mental illness may impact a person’s life. Using the four ‘R’ toolkit, you will acquire simple, yet effective communication skills to recognize and assist when someone may be struggling with a mental illness, in addition to discovering how to recognize the warning signs of a mental health crisis. This workshop is perfect for people who regularly interact with the public or who want to be able to offer some support to friends or colleagues struggling with their mental health.