A brief history
Mental Health First Aid has come a long way since its conception in Australia by Betty Kitchener and her husband, Professor Tony Jorm. They developed the programme when they realised that there was no mental health equivalent to physical first aid.
An MHFA timeline - from Australia to England:
- 2003 - Betty Kitchener brought the course over to Scotland and trained a number of instructors who then piloted the course throughout Scotland. The Scottish Executive noted the enthusiastic response and agreed to fund a Scottish MHFA course
- 2004 - The Scottish materials were developed and the National Training Team (NTT) began to train instructors from all over Scotland. By 2005 they were also taking the course to England
- 2006 - Betty Kitchener visited England to train 11 MHFA Instructors. After subsequent training by the MHFA Scotland NTT, some of these instructors went on to form the NTT for MHFA England. These instructors helped to modify the MHFA programme for an English audience
- 2007 - MHFA England course launched, and instructor training commenced
- 2008 - MHFA Wales launched Mental Health First Aid (Wales) with the recruitment and training of the National Training Team (4 National Trainers, including one Welsh speaker)
- Dec 2008 - The seven-day MHFA England Instructor Course is accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health
- Sept 2009 - MHFA England achieved Community Interest Company status and moved into its own offices in London Bridge in March 2010
- Jul 2010 - The 12 members of the NTT have trained over 500 MHFA England Instructors. These instructors have delivered the MHFA England course to over 20,000 people.
- Jul 2010 - Youth MHFA is launched with 10 National Trainers rolling out the programme across England
April 2011 - the Trauma Stress Reaction (TSR) course is launched nationally.
