Mental Health First Aid: Human Resources

Home
Well-being
Well-being Programs
Mental Health First Aid

Mental Health First Aid

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an evidence-based training created by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing designed to provide participants with the skills to identify, destigmatize, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorder, enabling those trained to offer immediate, concrete support.

MHFA has shown to be effective internationally. Peer-reviewed studies show that individuals trained in the program:

Grow their knowledge of signs, symptoms, and risk factors of mental illnesses and addictions.
Can identify multiple types of professional and self-help resources for individuals with a mental illness or addiction.
Increase their confidence in and likelihood to help an individual in distress.
Show increased mental wellness themselves.

MHFA is not designed to replace the work of mental health professionals. Those who successfully complete the MHFA training will become a certified Mental Health First Aider. Mental Health First Aiders’ professional roles and responsibilities will not change as a result of this training. They are also under no obligation to publicly disclose that they have been trained in MHFA.

Program Information

Learn about the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training.

Length

Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour training.

Pre-work

2.5 hours of self-paced online pre-work is required before attending the training.

Cost

There is no cost to the participant.
The training is funded by the Office of Human Resources.

Capacity

The maximum capacity per training is 25.

Expectations

If participating in a virtual training, participants are expected to have their cameras turned on for the majority of the training.
Participants will attend the training in its entirety and actively participate.
If special accommodations are needed, contact wellbeing@northwestern.edu.

Certification

After attending the training and completing a pre and post test and evaluation, you will receive access to download your Mental Health First Aid certificate.
Certification must be renewed every 3 years.

Instructors

15+ Northwestern staff members are certified Mental Health First Aid Instructors.
There are a minimum of two instructors present at each training.

Register

Mental Health First Aid is offered to faculty and staff.

Registration information
Date	Time	Location	Register
Tuesday, September 17	Noon - 1:30 p.m.	Virtual	Closed*
Friday, December 13	9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.	Evanston	Closed
Wednesday, March 26 & Thursday, March 27	9 a.m. - 1 p.m.	Virtual	Forthcoming
Spring 2025	9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.	Chicago	Forthcoming
Summer 2025	9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.	Evanston	Forthcoming

*90-minute overview session and MHFA certification is not provided.