Psychological first aid makes mental health talkable

Most people are familiar with first aid linked to cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but have you heard of psychological first aid? With training in psychological first aid, you learn to recognize and respond to mental illness at different levels. Both in yourself and in others – and includes everything from mild mental health to an acute crisis reaction.

"It's partly about saving lives, but also about people feeling better in general. That you should enjoy your work better, enjoy each other and know that you can both give and receive support between colleagues," says Anna Wickberg, specialist psychologist at Falck.  

In her role as a specialist psychologist, Anna Wickberg meets employees who, for various reasons, have sought counselling. Some feel anxious about the world around them and the future, many have stress-related illness while others have mental health problems. At the same time, there are many who hesitate to seek support and carry much of their poor well-being within themselves. In such cases, knowledge of psychological first aid in the workplace can play an important role.

Learning to recognize mental illness

If you learn to recognize mental illness, you can be a support for others, but you can also gain insights about yourself and your own well-being. It is not uncommon for a person to have felt bad for a long time and the bad feeling has turned into a kind of normal state. Psychological first aid can help a person realize that they do not need to feel this way, that there are tools to use to reverse their well-being and that there is help available along the way.

"You may need help to recognise signs of ill health and identify your feelings. What you've been feeling for a long time, these sleeping difficulties, the worry or the easy irritation, it may be because you're not feeling so well," says Anna Wickberg.

Some psychological first aid is also about talking about mental illness and removing the stigma that still exists. Although there is generally more talk about it today compared to just a few years ago, there are many who associate mental illness with something shameful.

"It's both about normalizing periods of poorer mental health, something that most people experience during their lifetime, but also about how important it is to know when to seek support and professional help. With more knowledge about our mental health, we learn to take care of ourselves and those around us, and we know when it is time to seek support.

Adddressing someone who is feeling bad

If you notice that a colleague does not seem to be feeling well, it is important not to be afraid to ask. Anna points out that you don't have to go into it with the idea that you should have answers or come up with tips and advice. Listening goes a long way.

"If you have tips and advice, you can instead ask, do you want my input on this?" Want to hear what I think? Meet your colleague with curiosity, humility and respect. You can't do much wrong.

Part of psychological first aid is also about crisis management. But the approach to how to treat a person in crisis and who is mentally ill is quite similar. The most important support is the one that is close to the affected person; colleagues, family and friends. Supporting a person in crisis is very much about being there, just like with other mental illness.

"I would like to see knowledge of psychological first aid spread to many more people. That we talk more often about how we can support each other in the workplace and what we do together to create a good work environment. These are very important issues that workplaces generally raise a little too rarely, I think," says Anna Wickberg.