Mental Health First Aid Training

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:20 pm on 21 September 2021.

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Photo of Laura Anne Jones Laura Anne Jones Conservative 2:20, 21 September 2021

Thank you, First Minister. The importance of mental health, of course, has raised its profile significantly during this pandemic. Due to its importance, I'm thrilled to have recently been made an ambassador for the Where's Your Head At? UK campaign, which has been very successful. This campaign has culminated in a Bill currently going through the UK Parliament to ensure that, within first aid training, mental health first aid training is incorporated, recognising both mental and physical first aid as equally important. I hope that we can emulate this in Wales, First Minister, and, even, better it, by ensuring that mental health first aid training forms an integral part of all first aid training within businesses, but also within our communities. I'm delighted that life-saving first aid will form a part of the new curriculum in schools, but do you agree with me that we should ensure that mental health first aid training forms an integral part of these life-saving skills that are going to go through our educational settings, and also that mental health ambassadors should be in all schools, with comprehensive mental health first aid training? And perhaps it should be incorporated in teacher training itself, so that our children and young people have someone to turn to who can signpost them correctly or even ask those simple, life-saving words, 'Are you okay?'