Communication is king!

Lately I’ve seen some harsh ‘calling out’ on social media.

The latest today was one of the worst I’ve seen in a while.

Someone proudly sharing they have become a mental health first aider and can now offer that support to their colleagues alongside their day job.

Called out by someone else because they are not ‘a mental health trained professional’. This person used capitals -indicating a shouty voice in what I felt was a bit of a fairly long rant.

🙁 No private direct message sharing their concerns and urging the person to prioritise their self-care.

Who likes to be berated in public in front of peers, managers etc?

None of us. Why should a virtual space be any different to a physical space?

I was an MHFA England® Instructor for over 10 years. Before becoming disillusioned a number of years ago and retraining to be a global i-act (for positive mental health and wellbeing) training. Mental Health Training.

My concerns with MHFA were employers seemed to think they were getting a trained first aider in mental health because of the title without:

👎 Any investigation into the level of empathy and resilience their prospective delegates would have to listen to the emotional pain they might hear.

👎 Any pre discussion with prospective delegates on what would be expected

👎 Any post course support – debriefing, networking, up skilling

👎 Changing the name from Mental Health First Aiders to Resilience Ambassadors or something similar.

I hear of growing numbers of employers with staff they have trained to be mental health first aiders – without considering the four points above – becoming overwhelmed and sometimes burned out – a possible ET waiting to happen.

We all have a right to an opinion.

Those who can stop and think of the impact they may have on others choose their words carefully and how they deliver their opinion are the better communicators by far.

Do you agree?