The Mental Health Awareness Programme is a collection of evidence-based in-person or online training programmes to ensure that an organisation is mental health aware at all levels.
Healthy organisations consider mental health at multiple levels, from the very top down. We pride ourselves on being the only mental health training providers are able to cater for these levels of need.
Rather than focussing on mental health awareness training and hoping that this will translate into mental health friendly practice and culture, we grow leaders who consider their style, values and attitudes to ensure they are mental health aware. Alongside this, we can then offer the specialist mental health first aid and universal mental health awareness training for the wider employee base.
This helps to ensure that an organisation is truly mental health aware.
Audience
Suitable for workplaces, SMEs, public sector, healthcare, education and third sector.
Components
There are four levels of the Mental Health Awareness Programme:
- Universal courses (e.g. Mental Health Awareness or Stress and personal resilience);
- Mental Health First Aid training;
- Mental Health Aware Leaders (or the National Educational Leaders in Mental Health);
- Mental Health Tick accreditation.
About Richard Daniel Curtis
Our Programme Director, and author of the courses, is expert Richard Daniel Curtis. Over the last 25 years he has worked in mental health wards, teaching, run units for children with challenging behaviour, worked for a local authority as an adviser consulted by mental health services, social workers and educators, in addition to forming The Root Of It.
He has been involved supporting Governmental departments, such as his involvement with the response to the Kids Company Closure and the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Most recently he has co-authored the guidance for every school in England on teaching mental wellbeing in the curriculum with the Department for Education. In addition, Richard has sat on All Party Parliamentary Groups, Greater London steering groups and is a member of the European Alliance for Apprenticeships.
Richard’s area of interest is the social and emotional skills that contribute towards mental health and wellbeing. He is a frequent contributor on television, radio and in the press for comments on social, emotional or mental health. Richard has written over 10 books on topics related to the subject, in addition to a psychological assessment of social and emotional skills—his work is said to have influenced the lives of over 10 million people.
Aside from leading this Programme, Richard founded The Mentoring School to establish standards in mentoring, and is the chair of both the Mental Health and Wellbeing Awards and also the National Special Educational Needs and Disability Awards.
Outside of work, Richard has two young children and lives in Southampton. He has an extensive history in volunteering, through St John Ambulance, amateur theatre and also helps run an annual brass and wind band course. His work supporting doctorate students at the University of Southampton has earned him multiple awards.
Richard believes that talking about the mental health spectrum should be normalised and by teaching people to be more professional with how they talk about mental health wellbeing and difficulties will fundamentally break stigmas surrounding the topic.