Lessons from 5 years of running Mental Health First Aid Training for the industry
Bare Feat’s founder Chloe Hooper reflects on the key themes she has found from speaking to the industry about mental health.
This article discusses mental health issues. If you or someone you care about needs support, please contact Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. In an emergency, call 000.
Five years ago I reached out to Mumbrella saying I wanted to train people in Mental Health First Aid. This was driven by a trip back to the UK to care for my mum who had just experienced a mental breakdown. It was incredibly difficult to discuss my mums’ illness when I got back to the office. It also made me realise how hard it must be for people who were suffering. Since then, I have trained over 2000 people in the industry to become Mental Health First Aiders, built my own mental health training and even shared my story as part of many workplace MH initiatives. It’s been quite a journey.
Sadly, five years later I found myself at the airport on my way back from another trip caring for mum. Although we have had some good years, this time she was worse than ever. It was emotionally draining for me to watch. I can only imagine how awful it must be for her.
Through my exhaustion, I had a little voice inside my head saying ‘you turned this into something positive last time, do the same again’. For now, I want to share some key themes from speaking to so many people in the industry about mental health.
