Emergency services staff and volunteers operate in some of the most challenging workplace environments but often receive limited mental health support and face high levels of stigma.
In response to this, we've developed a range of tailored training sessions for blue light personnel. All our courses are evidence-based and developed to be specific to each emergency service. You can find the evaluations of our training courses here.
On this page you can find out more about the following courses:
Our training products will be delivered by an experienced Mind trainer from one of our local Minds. We have enabled 25 of our local Minds to deliver this training this year.
Please enquire about the training by contacting one of our local Minds.
We are delivering our training through partnership with our network of local Minds. 25 local Minds were given a license to offer all six of our training products in their local areas. Each local Mind is an independent charity run by local people, for local people.
Each local Mind has reached the standard set by our Mind Quality Mark, a baseline of good practice and legal compliance. Our local Mind trainers are highly experienced, and boast a wealth of local knowledge that will add value to the training.
The local Minds are as follows:
Please get in touch with your nearest local Mind for more information about booking a training course.
This course is for anyone in the emergency services who has a line management, team leader or pastoral role. It's tailored to the unique environments that the emergency services operate in and we can provide a version for ambulance, fire, police or search and rescue services.
Between 2015 and 2019, over 9,000 line managers, team leaders and pastoral staff were trained in managing mental health in the emergency services.
Key features:
What you'll gain:
Our evaluation found that, as a result of the training course:
"We have just finished the first training course. I just wanted to say how well it went down with our staff. We consider it to be a huge success and there is considerable appetite to run another session."
- past participant
Call handlers are increasingly expected to take on higher volumes of calls, against a backdrop of reduced staffing levels and strictly enforced targets. This can contribute to poor mental health and wellbeing, leading to high levels of staff sickness and poor retention.
Based on our research with call handlers and expert stakeholders from across the services, we developed a pilot course tailored specifically for call handlers, covering:
Key features:
What you'll gain:
Call handlers who took our course told us that they knew more about different mental health problems after the training, and their knowledge of personal resilience and looking after their own wellbeing had increased.
"You cannot overestimate just how positive this whole programme has been for our staff. If I could do it every six months, I know I would have the same response. It's just been amazing, amazing for staff."
– Manager, police service
Our research shows that new recruits can find life in the emergency services tougher than expected. They don't always feel prepared to deal with the difficult things they see and hear for the first time. From shift patterns to dealing with distressing situations – there is a lot to get used to.
That's why we made a pilot mental health training course just for new recruits, and tested how well it works. New recruits that received the training said they were more aware of how to take care of their mental health, and they'd be more likely to ask for help if they needed it. This training is available to all emergency services staff through 25 of our local mind network.
Key features:
What you'll gain:
If you're interested in booking this course for the newer members of your team, please email [email protected]org.uk.
"I first experienced mental health problems within my first year in the service. I'd attended a number of particularly horrendous fatal incidents, which ended up having quite an effect on me..."
– Firefighter, fire service
Our research shows that emergency services staff and volunteers are likely to seek mental health support from a colleague.
Our peer support training has been developed with this in mind, to help 999 teams better understand what peer support is, how it can help, and what they can do to support a colleague.
The principles of peer support have underpinned the work Mind have done to recruit and train blue light Champions. During the Blue Light Programme, nearly 3000 emergency service personnel across England and Wales signed up to support their colleagues, and change the way mental health is seen within the emergency services.
People who took our course told us they had more confidence in approaching a colleague who might be distressed or needed support.
Key features:
What you'll gain:
"The topics discussed were useful in the context of improving our own service and the wellbeing service in general."
- Call handler, Police Service
Our resilience course was developed and evaluated by the University of Oxford.
Our evaluation found:
If you would like to find out more about our evaluation please read our research summary here or you can read the full academic report from the University of Oxford.
Key features:
What you'll gain:
"I think it's really good to have some tools that I can use to help me, to let go of things if they got to me, or rationalise things…"
- Course participant
In the final year of the Blue Light Programme, 2018-19, we provided trauma-related support through our local Mind partners across England and Wales, who are experts in delivering frontline mental health support. This included a Trauma Awareness Workshop developed with the Tavistock Trauma Service at Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.
Key features:
What you'll gain:
"Most of the people in your life outside of work have never seen or been involved in a traumatic event, so this can lead to you feeling alone, different, or isolated from family and friends."
- Course participant, Fire service