WorkplaceAid - A trial on improving mental health and physical first aid skills in the workplace

Group 1: a 6-hour eLearning Mental Health First Aid course via online portal, which teaches an action plan for responding to disorders such as depression, anxiety, psychosis and substance misuse. The crises covered include suicidal thoughts and behaviours, non-suicidal self-injury, panic attacks, traumatic events, severe psychotic states, severe effects from alcohol misuse, severe effects from drug misuse, and aggressive behaviours. It has been tailored to incorporate information on policies, resources and help-seeking pathways of specific relevance to the Victorian public service. Participants will receive weekly emails for 6 weeks to pace them through the material. Weekly reports will be extracted to monitor course progress and flag completers. Group 2: as per 6-hour eLearning course above plus a 3.5 hour face-to-face session, which reviews the contents of the online course through quizzes, discussion, case studies and includes a manual. It also uses role plays to give participants more concrete experience in applying the MHFA Action Plan in different situations and settings. Group training will be delivered between week 7 to 10 (minimum of 12 participants per group to a maximum of 24).