Many staff in safeguarding roles come into contact with people who are in mental health crisis. However, many of these staff receive little formal training on how to deal with people in mental health crisis. This training could make a real difference to their practice and the outcomes they achieve.
Recognising a Mental Health Crisis
Safeguarding work involves people in mental health crisis. As a result of the right Mental Health Training staff are able to recognise early warning signs of mental health problems such as changes in behaviour, withdrawal from social contact, increase in distress.
Sharper Risk Assessment
Early Warning Signs: Recognising a Mental Health Crisis and the Sharper Risk Assessment – The appropriate training for Safeguarding staff will enable them to consider mental health factors when assessing risk, enabling them to think more clearly about capacity, self-neglect, and the degree to which an individual may be vulnerable to subsequent exploitation.
Duty of Care and Information Sharing
When staff are trained in safeguarding and mental health they are able to understand how safeguarding duties relate to mental health and therefore are able to work out the boundaries around confidentiality and information sharing. They are able to understand when a mental health disclosure will change the safeguarding duties and who needs to be told.
More on Mental Health Training Courses Milton Keynes can be found at www.tidaltraining.co.uk/mental-health-training-courses/milton-keynes/.
Handling Disclosures Calmly
A disclosure of mental health concerns can be severely affected by a poorly handled response. Participants will learn how to remain calm and address the concerned individual in the best possible way. What to say and not say is also covered in detail. Furthermore, accurate recording of the disclosure will be addressed to ensure nothing important is lost en route to the next person in the process.
Building a Team-Wide Response
There can also be a difficulty if the team rely on a single designated mental health lead as they are often away on leave, courses or other commitments. It is also better for all team members to have received the same mental health training so they can all respond in the same way. A team that trains together responds together and that consistency is what the people you work with will notice most. A simple search for ‘Mental Health Training Courses Milton Keynes’ will find suitable local providers and courses that are familiar with local services, clinicians, emergency procedures and other relevant referral pathways.
A team that trains together responds together and that consistency is what others will come to recognise and rely upon.
