Category: Health and Wellbeing

Scottish Mental Health First Aider Training

***NEW TRAINING COURSE – SCOTLAND’S MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AIDER TRAINING***

Places are now available on this training course for mental health first aiders.

This training is being delivered by Borders Care Voice and will take place over two days on Thursday 6th June and Monday 10th June from 9.30am-5pm at Council HQ in Newtown. You will need to attend both days.

Please book your place through the course catalogue on Business World.

Why take the course?

This course is designed for everyone. It is interesting and varied and most participants tell us that they enjoyed it very much.

Five good reasons to attend SMHFA:

  1. Most people don’t know what to do in a mental health crisis. Take the course and you will be one of the few who knows what to do and is confident about putting that knowledge into action.
  2. You will learn how to recognise when a person might need help and the best way to approach them.
  3. You could save a life by learning basic suicide intervention skills.
  4. You will learn what protects your own and other people’s mental health.
  5. You will learn new skills that are useful in every part of your life

Mental Health problems are not as frightening as most people think. When a person has a mental health problem what they need most is someone who can:

• listen calmly to their feelings and fears

• give some simple information

• tell them where to get appropriate help

It doesn’t sound too difficult does it?

This course is for everyone and participants use the skills they learn in all settings.

What will I learn on the course?

• How to apply the 5 steps of SMHFA

• How to respond if you believe someone is at risk of suicide.

• How to give immediate help until professional help is available.

• What to say and do in a crisis

• The importance of good listening skills

• Practice listening and responding

• Understanding recovery from mental health problems

• Understanding the connection between mental health problems and alcohol and drugs

• Understanding the connection between mental health problems and discrimination

• Some basic information about common mental health problems

• Self help information

What happens on a SMHFA course?

The course takes 12 hours and is run on two separate days. It is an interesting course that includes different activities, films, discussions and even some fun and laughter.

You will get a certificate of attendance and a colourful and interesting manual to take away with you at the end so that you can remind yourself of what you’ve learned.

The aims of SMHFA are:

• to preserve life

• to provide initial help

• to prevent the problem getting worse

• to promote recovery of good mental health

• to provide comfort

The course will give you the knowledge to apply these aims in a real life situation.

hwb

Fully funded places available on Open University Microcredentials

The OU in Scotland is currently offering some fully funded places on our Microcredential courses starting in June/July 2024. These courses run from 10 – 12 weeks and are designed for people looking to gain new skills to help advance their careers. The courses are delivered online via distance learning which allows you to fit in time for learning alongside work and life commitments. They can give you and your staff practical skills that can be immediately utilised in the workplace. Offered at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, the courses will also give you the chance to learn alongside people in a wide range of sectors and roles and share knowledge and experience.

The courses on offer are:

  • Agile Leadership and Management
  • Business Management: Marketing Principles and Practice
  • Business Management: Improving Organisational Practice
  • Business Management: People Management and Leadership
  • Business Management: Project Management
  • Business Management: Fundamentals of Management Accounting
  • Business Management: Financial Accounting for Non-Financial Roles
  • Climate Change: Transforming Your Organisation for Sustainability
  • Cyber Security Operations
  • Mental Health: Working with Children and Young People
  • Mentoring and Coaching in Professional Learning
  • Python Programming
  • Teacher Development: Embedding Mental Health in the Curriculum

More information about the courses and the application form can be found at https://www.open.ac.uk/courses/choose/scotland-micro. The deadline for applications is 19th May 2024.

SHINE Newsletter January 2024

Please find below the January 2024 edition of the SHINE newsletter. Please click on the link to read the newsletter:

https://createsend.com/t/d-89D5FCBA5D723A582540EF23F30FEDED

which includes:

  • Register for SHINE Webinar 11. Tues 19th Mar 2024 16.00 -17.00pm : “What Works in Responding to School Non-attendance: Examples from 2 Scottish local authorities”
  • Save the date!Thurs 2nd May 2024 SHINE National Network Conference 2024
  • New video resources on vaping and unhealthy food marketing co-produced with young people: ” Make Good Choices”
  • New resource for members now available : Sharing SHINE MH data with young people
  • Invitation to participate in SHINE affiliated research projects
    • Crowdsourcing for Adolescent Health (new)
    • AMBIENT-Teens sleep study
    • Clock off! – reducing night-time use of interactive electronic devices
    • National evaluation of the Equally Safe at School programme
  • Other events and research opportunities for school communities:
    • SOCITS: Socially Situated Systems approach to adolescent mental health
    • Purrble: an intervention for LGBTQi+ young people over 16 yrs experiencing emotional distress
    • Key stakeholders’ perceptions & attitudes of resistance training in Scottish secondary schools

The SHINE Team

Online Coaching for Wellbeing for Education Practitioners

Provided by the Scottish Government and delivered by Know You More. (Education Practitioners includes all staff that work in schools, CLD and ELC in Scotland)

This online coaching programme has been designed to support you with any of the challenges you are facing right now and focussing on your wellbeing. We have heard you and understand that work and life are not separate, so we are offering this space to talk about personal as well as professional challenges.

Read more about this opportunity and sign up following the link below:

This is open to all education practitioners with 2 x 1hours of coaching and is also open to anyone who has already benefitted from this offer previously.

Yvonne Wilson

ASN and Wellbeing Support Officer (Schools) | Mental Health First Aider

Yvonne.Wilson@scotborders.gov.uk

Health and Wellbeing Professional Learning Network – ELC and Primary – February 2024

This national network is for practitioners in early years and primary with a remit or interest in Health and Wellbeing. The network will meet virtually, with dates agreed and allocated in advance. Members will have opportunities to co-create agendas for each session based on current themes / challenges.

The network will:

  • provide opportunities to network / discuss current themes and challenges
  • share interesting and relevant practice
  • build a community of practice
  • hear about up-to-date policy and guidance
  • provide information on the work from other HWB networks (PSE, HE, PE)

Target audience

Please be aware that the target audience for this event is professionals within the education sector in Scotland. To register, please enter either a school, establishment, local authority or Glow email address. If you work in Scottish education and would like to attend but do not have a Glow or work email address, please email esevents@educationscotland.gov.scot with the name of your setting or service, to request a place.

Please follow this link to book a place:

https://education.gov.scot/events/health-and-wellbeing-professional-learning-network-elc-and-primary-february-2024/

 

Yvonne Wilson

ASN and Wellbeing Support Officer (Schools) | Mental Health First Aider

Yvonne.Wilson@scotborders.gov.uk