1 July 2026

How to choose a mental health first aid course for your workplace

If you’ve been asked to “sort out mental health first aid training” for your organisation, you’ve probably discovered the problem within ten minutes of searching: every provider describes only their own courses, most don’t publish prices, and the names all sound alike. Here’s the decision framework we use, with no bias towards any provider.

Step 1: Decide what the training is for

Almost every workplace enquiry falls into one of four buckets:

Designated first aiders. You want named people colleagues can turn to, mirroring your physical first aid provision. This needs the full qualification — a two-day course.
Manager capability. You want line managers to spot problems early and hold supportive conversations well. A one-day course fits.
Whole-team awareness. You want shared language and less stigma across everyone. Half-day awareness sessions do this affordably.
Supporting young people. Schools, colleges, clubs and youth services need the youth-specific variants.

Mixing these up is the most common (and expensive) mistake — sending twenty people on a two-day course when you needed four first aiders and a half-day session for everyone else can double your budget for less benefit.

Step 2: Check your nation

Mental health first aid is organised nation by nation. In England and Wales, MHFA England courses are the most widely recognised, with Ofqual-regulated FAA awards as a credible alternative. Scotland has its own programme, SMHFA, developed for NHS Health Scotland. If you have sites across the UK, you can either train to each nation’s programme locally or standardise on live online courses for consistency — both are defensible; just decide deliberately.

Step 3: Choose your format honestly

Certification is the same online or in person, so choose based on what your people will actually attend and engage with. In-person suits teams training together and generates richer discussion. Live online (typically four half-day sessions for two-day courses) fits shift patterns and distributed teams far better. Blended options exist too.

Step 4: Open course or private group?

The arithmetic is simple: from around eight people, a private course delivered just for you usually costs less per head than open-course places — and you control the date, the venue and the emphasis. Below eight, book open-course places. Our pricing guide publishes the typical ranges for both.

Step 5: Vet the trainer, not just the course

The certificate comes from the awarding body, but the experience comes from the instructor. Ask how long they’ve been delivering, what sectors they know, and what their participants say. A good instructor makes difficult material safe and practical; that matters more than a marginal price difference.

The short version

Match course length to the role (2 days for first aiders, 1 day for managers, half a day for awareness)
Use your nation’s recognised programme, or standardise online across nations
Pick the format people will genuinely attend
Go private from ~8 people
Choose the instructor as carefully as the course

If you’d like a recommendation for your specific situation, tell us what you need — we’ll suggest the best fit, with prices, within a working day.