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"People ask which course is best. The better question is: what moment are your staff most likely to face, and which training was built for that moment?" Audrey Bevan, CEO, CALM Suicide Programs |
Psychological First Aid (PFA) helps people support others in the hours and days after a distressing or traumatic event. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) teaches how to recognise and support someone developing a mental health problem. Suicide intervention training builds the specific skill of asking directly about suicide and responding safely. Each does a different job, and many organisations need more than one.
Psychological First Aid is a humane, supportive response to someone who is suffering after a crisis, disaster or critical incident. The WHO field guide organises it around three principles: look for safety and needs, listen to the person, and link them to practical support and information.
PFA is not counselling and does not ask people to talk through what happened. It focuses on comfort, safety, practical needs and connection. It suits organisations where staff respond to critical incidents, emergencies or traumatic events, and teams that need to support each other after a difficult event at work.
Mental Health First Aid was developed in Australia and teaches people to recognise the signs of a range of mental health problems and crises, offer initial support, and guide the person towards appropriate professional help. It covers a broad spectrum of conditions, from depression and anxiety to psychosis and substance use problems, with suicidal thoughts as one of several crisis situations.
It is a good fit for building general mental health literacy across a workforce.
Suicide intervention training focuses on one thing in depth: what to do when someone may be thinking about suicide. Participants learn to recognise distress, ask directly about suicide, stay with an uncomfortable conversation, and connect the person to safety and support. The best programs include practice and rehearsal, because the skill only becomes usable when people have tried it.
It suits roles where conversations about suicide are realistic: frontline community and health workers, case managers, refuge and housing staff, youth workers and people leaders in high-risk settings.
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Psychological First Aid |
Mental Health First Aid |
Suicide intervention training |
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|---|---|---|---|
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Main focus |
Support after a distressing or traumatic event |
Recognising and supporting mental health problems |
Responding safely to suicidal thoughts |
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Typical moment |
After a critical incident, disaster or crisis |
Noticing someone is struggling over time |
Someone may be thinking about suicide |
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Core skills |
Look, listen, link; comfort and practical support |
Recognise signs, offer support, guide to help |
Ask directly, listen, keep safe, connect |
|
Best for |
Emergency, critical incident and peer support roles |
Broad workforce mental health literacy |
Frontline and high-contact roles |
Start with the moments your staff are most likely to face:
Also check accreditation. For suicide-specific programs, Suicide Prevention Australia's Standards for Quality Improvement are the national benchmark.
Yes, and for most community and health organisations, that is the best approach. A common pattern is PFA or MHFA as a broad foundation, with accredited suicide intervention training for frontline roles. CALM offers Psychological First Aid and accredited suicide intervention programs that can be stacked by role under one methodology.
Psychological First Aid supports people in the aftermath of a distressing or traumatic event, using a look, listen and link approach. Mental Health First Aid teaches how to recognise and support someone developing a mental health problem and guide them to professional help.
It includes suicidal thoughts as one of several crisis situations. Dedicated suicide intervention training covers this in more depth, with more time spent practising the conversation.
Most frontline community workers benefit from accredited suicide intervention training, often combined with a broader foundation such as Psychological First Aid or Accidental Counsellor training.
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