Closed petition Mental Health First Aid

Closed on 30 March 2015

It is a legal requirement that employers have first aid facilities and this requirement is regulated by the Health and Safety Executive.
We want to see that requirement developed to include provision for mental health first aid.
We propose that any first aider in the workplace and the voluntary sector, e.g. the Red Cross and St Johns Ambulance should be required to have training in mental health first aid.
Reducing the stigma attached to mental illness and developing a wider understanding of the mental health problems that we all might face in our lives would be a much needed and desirable effect of having this important area of health raised to the status it deserves in terms of first aid in the workplace.
How reassuring would it be to know that the person(s) who can apply a plaster to your cut finger could also offer discrete and confidential advice about an anxiety or depression issue or be able to help in a mental health emergency?