This section is all about how to use different techniques and methods to help people who may be already stressed or even distressed at work. As we have learned, a key aspect of Mental Health First Aid is early intervention to provide rapid relief to someone in distress. After all, we want to help them then and there if at all possible.

But also, we want to help prevent their continued distress from deteriorating into a more serious condition as in descending further down the mental health continuum.

For this reason, I like to think of mental health first aid as, in essence, skilled friendship in action. What I mean by that is that we use our training to provide not just some much-needed human contact or emotional connection, but also to apply some key knowledge and tools that will truly make a difference to our friend's situation and distress.