Mental health has moved from the edge of HR practice to the centre of it. The numbers aren’t subtle: stress, depression, and anxiety account for more working days lost in the UK than any other cause. The Health and Safety Executive’s 2023/24 data recorded around 776,000 workers affected by work-related stress, depression, or anxiety — roughly 16.4 million working days lost in a single year.
For HR managers and compliance professionals, that’s not just a wellbeing problem. It’s a legal exposure, a productivity drain, and increasingly a factor in whether people stay or leave. Organisations that don’t take it seriously tend to find out the hard way — through rising absence, tribunal claims, or losing good people to employers who handle it better.
Mental Health First Aid training is one of the most practical things you can put in place. Here’s what it involves, why it’s gaining traction, and what you need to know about implementing it.
The Legal and Business Context
The Equality Act 2010 protects employees whose mental health conditions have a substantial and long-term effect on day-to-day activities — a test that clinical depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and many other conditions will meet. Employers who fail to make reasonable adjustments, or who allow a mentally unwell employee to be poorly managed, face discrimination claims.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places a general duty on employers to protect employees’ health — mental health included — so far as reasonably practicable. The HSE’s management standards for work-related stress provide a framework that employers are expected to apply.
Beyond the legal duties, the cost argument is straightforward. Early intervention significantly reduces the duration of absence and the risk of long-term incapacity. The cost of training a team of Mental Health First Aiders is modest compared to even a few months of long-term sickness absence, an employment tribunal, or the loss of a valued employee.
What Mental Health First Aid Actually Is
Mental Health First Aid equips people to recognise the signs of mental health difficulties, provide initial support to someone who may be in crisis or struggling, and help connect them to appropriate professional help.
A Mental Health First Aider isn’t a therapist or diagnostician. The role is closer to physical first aid: initial response and referral, not treatment. They’re a trained colleague who can spot the early warning signs, have a supportive and non-judgemental conversation, and know where to point someone. That distinction matters practically and legally — MHFA training doesn’t create a clinical role, and it shouldn’t be presented as one.
What the Courses Cover
National Compliance Training offers Mental Health First Aid training at two levels.
Level 1 Mental Health Awareness is a shorter course building foundational understanding across the workforce. It covers what mental health is, the factors that affect it, how to recognise when a colleague may be struggling, and how to reduce stigma. Not everyone needs to be a First Aider, but general awareness across the team makes a real difference to whether people seek help early.
👉 View the Level 1 Mental Health Awareness course
Level 2 Mental Health First Aid is the standard MHFA qualification. It covers:
- Mental health conditions in depth — depression, anxiety disorders, psychosis, eating disorders, personality disorders — including symptoms and workplace impact
- The ALGEE action plan: Approach, Listen, Give reassurance, Encourage professional help, Encourage self-help strategies
- Crisis situations — suicidal thoughts, self-harm, panic attacks, psychotic episodes
- How to have a supportive mental health conversation without overstepping
- Boundaries and self-care for First Aiders themselves
- How to signpost effectively to internal and external support
It’s available online or face-to-face.
👉 View the Level 2 Mental Health First Aid course
👉 View all Mental Health First Aid courses
How Many First Aiders Do You Need?
There’s currently no statutory requirement to appoint Mental Health First Aiders, though it’s been the subject of government consultation and may change. What there is: active recommendations from the CIPD, HSE, and ACAS to include MHFA provision as part of a comprehensive approach to wellbeing and duty of care.
A commonly used benchmark is one First Aider per 50 employees, though the right ratio depends on your workforce profile, shift patterns, remote working arrangements, and sector. High-demand roles in emergency services, healthcare, logistics, or financial services may warrant more. The same principle that applies to physical first aid applies here — provision needs to be available whenever people are working.
Making It More Than a Training Exercise
MHFA training is most effective when it’s part of a genuine organisational commitment to mental health, not a standalone exercise. The programmes that work tend to have a few things in common.
Senior leaders communicate openly about mental health — including their own experiences — and actively champion the programme. That signals to the workforce that seeking support is normal and accepted. A broader cohort is trained, not just designated First Aiders, so mental health literacy becomes part of the culture. First Aiders know what resources exist and how to use them — EAPs, occupational health, NHS services, charity support. And the organisation is working on prevention as well as response: applying the HSE’s Management Standards to assess and reduce the work factors that create psychological risk in the first place.
Getting Started
National Compliance Training delivers Mental Health First Aid training online for flexibility, or face-to-face where peer learning and group discussion add particular value.
👉 View the Level 2 Mental Health First Aid (Online)
👉 View the Mental Health First Aid course
👉 View all Mental Health First Aid options
Qualified Mental Health First Aiders are one of the more impactful investments an organisation can make — not because the training is expensive, but because the problems it helps address are.
