Mental Health First Aid North East - 1st Mental Health First Aid England Conference

I jumped on the 6.30 am train to London and found a seat, passing the time by finishing off a book I had been reading whilst in Grimsby. When the train passed Stevenage I decided to hav a look at the infomation that I had received about the conference to plan my tube journey. At this point the lady sitting next to me noticed the map I was holding and said that that was where she was going. She turned out to be a fellow Mental Health First Aid instructor who works as a freelance trainer for Middlesbrough MIND and was travelling down with two of their full time instructors.

This was very handy as we decided to share a taxi to the Conference venue, the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, opposite Westminster Abbey. It was great to see the MHFA England flag, literally, flying within view of Parliament.

The day seemed to go very fast. I met several of the instructors I trained with as well as the Community Links crowd from Leeds. I had a chance to talk to Dave Belshaw, the programme lead, for a few moments, and best of all met Marian, one of the stars of he DVD we use on the course.

We had speakers including Jonathan Naess, of Stands2 Reason and Dame Carol Black and in the afternoon the instructors were invited to workshops designed to help the course evolve and improve.

It was a long day but more than worth the journey and I returned with a goody bag stuffed with MHFA pads, pens and even stress balls. It really feels like we are now properly on the map.

If you would like to know more about Mental Health First Aid and MHFA courses then please visit my website at www.mentalhealthfirstaidnortheast.co.uk