u. 1-Day Mental Health First Aid Standard (Online) - Friday, April 11, 2025, 9am to 5pm ET / 6am to 2pm PT

Mental Health First Aid Standard, 1-Day

https://openingminds.org/facilitator/?uid=772

Location: Virtual (ONLINE Via Zoom, anywhere in Canada)

Date: Friday, April 11, 2025

Time: 9am to 5pm Eastern Time / 6am to 2pm Pacific Time

**please verify your time zone**

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is the support provided to a person who may be experiencing a decline in their mental well-being or a mental health crisis. 

What to expect

This is a certificate course provided by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). The certificate does not expire. This course is divided into 3 modules, the first module being self-guided that participants complete on their own time, and the other 2 modules are either done over the course of 1 or 2 days depending on what they registered for.

After registering for this course, an e-mail will be sent to you containing instructions for module 1, and your digital material including reference guide. Closer to the course date, reminders will be sent out about completing module 1 and the instructions to login to the Zoom course on the registered date. 

Contact: ricom@whatmattrs.com

About the instructor:

Matthew Rico, RN, CPMHN(C), Psychotherapist
Clinician, Educator, Consultant

https://openingminds.org/facilitator/?uid=772

Matthew has over 12+ years of experience in mental health and is a person with lived experience. He has worked with various populations and mental health disorders in many different settings. This includes youth/adolescents to older adults receiving inpatient care. Matthew is a Registered Nurse (RN) by trade, specialized in mental health, psychotherapy, and education. He has been involved in research, quality/accreditation, and held various professional roles over his career.

Matthew has been teaching non-violent crisis intervention for 9+ years, delivered Mental Health First Aid to 2100+ Canadians since 2018, and is one of the first Canadians certified to provide Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) training from the Zero Suicide Institute. His experience with education also includes creating workshops, presentations, and educational material for hospitals, schools, and other organizations. For instance, co-developing and delivering mindfulness education for hospital staff, co-creating a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) microcredential at Ontario Shores in collaboration with Ontario Tech, and teaching on culture and mental health bi-annually for nurses preparing to take their CNA exam. 

Why is this experience relevant? Matthew brings his courses to life using his personality, passion, and years of experience to capture attention. He translates the information, adding context to the content through storytelling, metaphors, and offering expert insights.

Expect additional tips/strategies that compliment the MHFA content drawn from his service in mental health care. Participants are always invited to stay connected with him as an ongoing resource for questions/support related to mental health. Expect Matthew to stay back for open discussion once the class is done. Participants can use this time to ask questions on mental health topics or present personal cases/scenarios. Coping tools, other mental health disorders, and additional conversation strategies are popular requests. 

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Standard

Course participants will learn how to recognize signs that a person may be experiencing a decline in their mental well-being or a mental health crisis and encourage that person to:

• Talk about declines in their mental well-being
• Discuss professional and other supports that could help with recovery to improved mental well-being
• Reach out to these support
• Assist in a mental health or substance use crisis
• Use MHFA actions to maintain one’s own mental well-being

Topics

Module 1: Self-Directed (Online)

• Introduction to the course
• Introduction to MHFA actions

Module 2: Virtual Classroom

• Practice applying MHFA actions to situations of declining mental well-being
• Guidelines for MHFA conversations with people from diverse cultures and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community

Module 3: Virtual Classroom

• Discussion on using MHFA actions for self-care
• Practice using MHFA actions in crisis situations

**Module 1 must be completed before participating in Module 2 and 3 online!

Learn more - https://openingminds.org/training/mhfa/standard/