This article was written by Abby Roberts -Assistant Editor at AIHA for Synergist and Synergist NOW. It was originally published online at the AIHA Synergist Blog (An Introduction to Mental Health First Aid | AIHA). This post is to promote to the American Industrial Hygiene Association members and affiliates the upcoming AIHA Connect summit in Kansas City, Missouri. They are featuring Mental Health First Aid as a learning opportunity for attendees! 

An Introduction to Mental Health First Aid

Imagine you have a colleague who is typically responsible and reliable, but lately, they’ve seemed uncharacteristically tired, forgetful, or distracted. They previously arrived at work on time, but now they’re often late. They don’t dress as sharply as they used to. You know they’re under heightened stress due to factors in their professional or personal life, and you’re worried these pressures are affecting their mental health. If you’re certified in first aid, you would know how to help a physically ill or injured colleague until emergency services arrive. But you may not know how to help a colleague facing a mental health challenge, such as depression, anxiety, or a substance use disorder.

In situations such as this, you may benefit from training in mental health first aid. According to Megan Hammes, a certified mental health first aid instructor, this training helps “any adult or caring citizen to learn how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of a mental health challenge or a substance use challenge,” similar to how traditional first aid training helps people respond to physical health emergencies.

Although mental health lies outside the traditional scope of occupational and environmental health and safety, the importance of mental health in the workplace is becoming more apparent. Mental Health America found that 23 percent of U.S. adults experienced a mental illness in 2022. The World Health Organization estimates that anxiety and depression cost 12 billion workdays and one trillion U.S. dollars in lost productivity worldwide per year. And given that mental health is closely linked to physical health, it’s critical that OEHS professionals develop basic mental health interventions. Mental health first aid training provides a framework that can help them do so.

Mental Health Training for Non-Therapists

Hammes, now a workplace well-being consultant and trainer, previously developed, implemented, and evaluated wellness programs for more than 20,000 staff members at the University of Iowa, which operates a large hospital system. “In my role in the workplace, I saw firsthand how mental health challenges often got in the way of people attaining their personal health goals or their professional goals,” she said. “But supervisors and even many healthcare professionals, like doctors and nurses, are underequipped with how to address some of these mental health challenges.”

She overheard people making unsupportive assumptions and noticed a lack of privacy and confidentiality around discussions related to mental health. “And those things all perpetuate the stigma for people with mental health challenges,” she added.

People in corporate roles were offered even less training on mental health challenges, Hammes noticed. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, “I was seeing company leadership, like CEOs, safety directors, and human resource officers, being tagged with workplace mental health strategy without any proper, evidence-based training or knowledge themselves.”

Hammes left her role at UI partly to focus more on activities enhancing her own mental health, such as spending time with her children and working on her family’s homestead. But she still felt drawn to help people dealing with mental health challenges. “I think there's a space for me here,” she recalled thinking. “I'm not a therapist. I'm not a counselor. But I see that there's a need.” For her, this need was solved by becoming certified in mental health first aid.

Mental health first aid training is designed to equip people who aren’t therapists, counselors, or psychiatrists to assist those experiencing mental health or substance use challenges until they can receive professional treatment. It’s analogous to traditional first aid, in which people who aren’t doctors or nurses learn basic practices for helping those who are physically ill or injured until they receive medical care. Many people are trained in performing CPR or administering an automated external defibrillator (AED), even though they aren’t physicians. Likewise, mental health first aid and similar programs, such as psychological first aid and question, persuade, and refer, enable laypeople to make basic but potentially lifesaving interventions for people in psychological distress.

In addition to giving trainees the knowledge and confidence to provide initial mental health support, mental health first aid also aims to detect and prevent mental health and substance use challenges before they worsen, “very much like we do with our physical health,” Hammes explained. “We have a pretty good grasp on this with our physical health—early detection and screening—but for our mental health, not so much.”

She pointed out everyone has mental health, just as they have physical health: “We all have mental health because we all have a brain inside of our body.” Just as we want to care for our bodies through healthy habits, “we want to take care of our brain,” she continued. “We all have good days and bad days.”

The ALGEE Framework

In the United States, mental health first aid certification is provided by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. The eight-hour course includes an action plan, abbreviated as ALGEE, which participants can follow when assisting people with mental health challenges.

The “A” in ALGEE stands for “approach.” For OEHS professionals, this step corresponds to the “assess” stage in the familiar ARECC framework. If you’ve noticed a worrying change in someone’s appearance, behavior, or work patterns, you may consider keeping a closer eye on them. Hammes acknowledged that not every variation in a person’s habits merits an intervention. Instead, the mental health first aid trainee’s role is to take these changes into account with what they know about the other person’s circumstances. “We're connecting some dots and looking at the context of this person, and we might say, ‘You know, I might really try to pull that person aside in a private setting and just check in,’” she explained.

Hammes stressed that this conversation must be heartfelt and more than a cursory exchange of platitudes. Whether it happens virtually or in person, the discussion must be private and allow the person going through mental health challenges the freedom to be vulnerable. “If they have something going on, and if they're willing to share it with me, I am allowing the space and time for that to happen,” Hammes said.

This connects to the “L” in ALGEE, which stands for “listen nonjudgmentally.” Many people experiencing challenges want to be heard out, and the mental health first aid trainee should listen to them without interrupting.

“G” stands for “give reassurance and information.” The first “E” stands for “encourage appropriate professional help,” as early treatment improves patients’ chances of recovery. The second “E” stands for “encourage self-help and other support strategies,” which includes identifying supportive community networks and programs. A goal of the program is “to train mental health first aiders to connect and refer individuals to appropriate help, and that might be professional help,” Hammes said. “We talk about resources available nationally, if it's a workplace training, and then locally, if it's a group that's confined to one area.”

But although the framework connects people experiencing mental health challenges to outside help, Hammes emphasized the importance of conversations within the workplace. “The way I was raised, if you notice a change in someone's behavior, you don't talk about that. That's their outside-of-work business,” she said. “And that is not true anymore. People are actually hoping and expecting people bring it up and talk about those changes. The individual might not even be aware of those changes themselves.”

She hopes that mental health first aid trainees leave the program with greater knowledge, confidence, and ability to check in on people they’re concerned about. “With that comes an increased empathy for ourselves, but also for other people, when we're experiencing mental health challenges,” she said. “And increased empathy, hopefully, brings increased support.”

Learn More About Mental Health First Aid

If you’re curious about mental health interventions, Hammes will provide an introduction to mental health first aid in an educational session at AIHA Connect 2025, “Mental Health First Aid as a Workplace Safety, Well-Being, and Cultural Strategy,” from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Central time on Tuesday, May 20. If you’re interested in mental health first aid certification, you will have an opportunity to become certified during Hammes’ professional development course, “Mental Health First Aid Certification Training,” from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 22. The PDC requires participants to complete two hours of pre-course work, and outcomes include a three-year certification in mental health first aid.

“Learning about mental health can help society because you never know when you may need to help a family member, friend, neighbor, or colleague,” Hammes said. “While we're talking about it in a work setting, these are people skills. These are life skills.”

AIHA Connect 2025 will be held May 19–21 in person at the Kansas City Convention Center, Kansas City, Missouri, and virtually. To learn more about the keynote sessions, view the conference agenda, or register, visit the conference website.