Mental Health First Aid training: reactions of community social service providers

The present study evaluates the effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) standardized training that follows a specific curriculum of best practices in the Los Angeles County. It will provide social service providers with tools to assist individuals when in a psychological crisis. This study used a pre and post test to test the ability of the social service providers before and after the 8-hour MHFA training. It will demonstrate whether the training increased social service provider's mental health knowledge as well confidence on how to manage a crisis. Social Service providers demonstrated a significant overall improvement (M= 4.10, SD = .324) to post-test ( M = 4.51 , SD = .384 ), t ( -4.031), p .002 (two tailed). The mean increase in post-test scores .41 with a confidence interval ranging from -.641 to -.191. Results show social service providers participating in the MHFA training are better informed and confident when to assess for risk of suicide, how to encourage self-help, encourage professional help, and listen without judgement.