Build confidence within trusted community networks
Help volunteers and community members feel better prepared when someone they know, support or see regularly may be experiencing mental health distress.
Programme information
About Scotland's Mental Health First Aid
Scotland's Mental Health First Aid (SMHFA) is an established 12-hour programme that must be delivered by a qualified SMHFA instructor. Programme quality is continuously monitored by Public Health Scotland.
This tailored version keeps the recognised SMHFA programme intact while making the discussion, examples and context more relevant to community settings. The core learning remains SMHFA; the tailoring sits in how that learning is facilitated and connected to the kinds of conversations people may encounter through volunteering, community activity and trusted local relationships.
Community groups are often places where people know one another over time. Someone may notice that a regular attendee seems different, hear something difficult during an ordinary conversation or become the person another member naturally turns to. This course helps people respond with greater confidence while keeping the limits of their role clear.
Overview
About this course
Mental health conversations do not only happen in workplaces or formal support services. They happen in community halls, sports clubs, charities, faith groups, local associations, activity groups and the many other places where people meet, volunteer and build relationships.
In those settings, support is often informal. A volunteer, organiser, coach or group member may notice that someone is struggling simply because they know them and see them regularly. They may become concerned about a change in behaviour, hear someone talk about feeling overwhelmed or find themselves in a conversation they were not expecting.
Caring about someone does not mean having to become their counsellor or take responsibility for their mental health. This tailored SMHFA course gives community groups a practical framework for recognising when someone may need support, approaching a conversation, listening without judgement and helping them towards appropriate further help. It also covers mental health crisis and suicide risk, while keeping clear boundaries around what a Mental Health First Aider can and cannot be expected to do.
Is this course right for your group?
Designed for
Community organisations, charities, voluntary groups, community hubs, sports and activity groups, faith groups, local associations, peer networks and grassroots organisations that want people to feel more confident when mental health becomes part of an everyday conversation.
Particularly useful if
- Volunteers or group members sometimes become the person others naturally talk to when things are difficult.
- People see the same members regularly and may be well placed to notice changes in mood, behaviour or participation.
- Your group wants more confidence starting a conversation when someone appears to be struggling.
- People care deeply about members of their community but are unsure where supportive involvement should begin and end.
- You want a recognised mental health training programme delivered in a way that reflects informal, community-based relationships rather than a conventional workplace structure.
