Why You Should Take A Psychological First Aid Course (And Where To Take It For Free)
Within the last month of COVID-19 ravaging the world, two people I know have tried to commit suicide. One of them has recently succeeded.
Why should you learn to do a Psychological First Aid Course?
In the last decade, there has been an increasing attention placed on mental health all over the world. Despite this, there have been various studies that show that the funding it’s receiving is still not enough with global development related assistance dedicated to mental health between 2006 and 2016 accounting for just 0.3%.
It’s expected that 15–25% of those directly effected by a crisis will need mental health services. Public health, especially mental health, is grossly underfunded in many parts of the world and even the more developed countries are not always equipped for the surge of people that will need immediate intervention during a crisis.
“PFA aims to reduce stress symptoms and assist in a healthy recovery following a traumatic event, natural disaster, public health emergency, or even a personal crisis.” (Source)
In an effort to be able to arm myself with knowledge on how to be better equipped to help anyone who might be experiencing an upheaval in their mental stability due to recent events, I decided to take a course on Psychological First Aid from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (via Coursera).
Who is teaching the class?
Taught by George S. Everly Jr. who is a world renowned American psychologist whose work has greatly shaped the fields of psychological crisis intervention and human resilience, the course teaches you about the world’s first evidence-based psychological first aid model, RAPID (Reflective listening, Assessment of needs, Prioritisation, Intervention, and Disposition).
Found to be effective in promoting personal and community resilience, it uses the RAPID model which is necessary for large scale crisis like the current pandemic. Many people from all walks of life are experiencing everything from benign to sever reactions from the lack of stability and ability to foresee the future post-corona virus.
How does the course work?
The Psychological First Aid course is composed of both lecture-type discussions, short quizzes to test your understanding and video examples of good & bad practices. At the end of the course, the last thing it discusses is how to practice self-care, which is necessary for your own mental stability.
At the heart of it, the most necessary skill we all need to learn is effective listening.
Psychological crisis intervention has been shown to be more effective than multisession psychotherapy post-disaster. While it doesn’t take the place of psychotherapy, having more people trained in it can help alleviate the strain on our healthcare systems. The course will discuss how to prioritise (triage) the crisis reactions, intervening when possible and recognising signs for when people need the next level of care.
Where can you take it?
If you have extra time, I encourage you to take a Psychological First Aid course online via Coursera. For a limited time, it also includes a free certification. While it’s tempting to say that I hope you never have to use these skills on someone you know, it’s always good to be prepared.
