'Don't Avoid It!' Mental Health Awareness

Myself and Tom Magee are launching the ‘Don’t Avoid It!’ Mental Health Workshop on February 5th.

‘Don’t Avoid It!’ Mental Health Awareness workshop.

The workshop is ideal for employers, teaching staff, students, public service workers, parents, guardians, sports coaches, athletes and youth workers. The workshop provides you with awareness to identify potential illnesses or crisis and instils a sense of responsibility to enable you to refer your concerns to the appropriate support. This workshop is supplemented with our 'Don't Avoid It!' referral poster.

It is a step back from the Mental Health First Aid programme and features a poster with a flow of actions. The poster will be provided to attendees of the workshop.

What is it?

A step back from Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)

MHFA does not appeal to everyone and we should not be pressuring people to take on this role.

Having said that, friends, family, teachers, youth workers, teammates etc. can be the first point of contact for many people suffering mental ill-health.

‘Don’t Avoid It’ is a bottom-up approach and about giving you the skills to observe, assess and refer i.e. taking responsibility and signposting those who need support to the appropriate person and/or service.

What Will I Learn?

By the end of this workshop you will be able to identify:

1. Stigma in relation to Mental Health
2. Preventative Strategies
3. Potential risk indicators and;
   • 10 Basic Questions to ask yourself
   • How and who to refer concerns