East Belfast Community Development Agency

Members of the Ballyoran Centre have just completed a 12-hour training course on Mental Health First Aid delivered by East Belfast Community Development Agency’s Health Development and Connections Programme.  The course is designed to give important skills to participants to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. The training, which teaches participants to be ‘first aiders’, is specifically targeted at those working with individuals at risk of developing mental health problems. Mental health problems are very common affecting about a quarter of the population with most common problems being anxiety and depression affecting around 1 in 10 people and can be severe impacting on a person’s ability to get on with life.  And between 1 and 2 people in every 100 experience a severe mental illness.  Census surveys or OPCS estimate that of the quarter of people affected around 230 will visit a GP, 102 of these will be diagnosed as having a problem, 24 will be referred to a specialist psychiatric service and 6 will become inpatients in psychiatric hospitals. The aims of MHFA are to preserve life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others, to provide help to prevent the mental health problem developing into a more serious state, and to offer comfort and promote recovery from a mental health problem.  For more information contact: Alan Houston tel. 90451512 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it