Psychological First Aid

 

Early this month I attended a full day (9am to 3+pm) Psychological First Aid (PFA) course conducted by Red Cross Singapore so that I could become a trained PFAider and help affected persons. Although I attended a similar course and learnt some relevant concepts (like Look, Listen and Link) last year to be a peer supporter at work, I found this PFA course pretty useful and insightful. It was at a Quiet Room in YWCA (near Fort Canning).

The learner's guide included concepts and ideas covered in professional training for medical support teams (which were activated during crises) by international governmental organisations (like WHO, UN and the likes). The instructor was quite knowledgeable and had been doing this for several years and he shared that normally there would be 2 trainers but since our class of 9 was smaller compared to other runs, we had him only.

He shared about how health is incomplete without mental health and how stress can be good and necessary just that too much of it can be overwhelming and cause distress. Unfortunately, the course did not cover how to react when there were complex reactions as that would be covered in the advanced course (which I probably missed out on the chance to attend).  

This video by the British Red Cross comes with an interesting hands-on activity where we were supposedly required to sketch out the emotions, stressors and coping mechanisms that we have in our lives. The set-up faced some issues but I managed to find the video online here. There is also a well-being toolkit and some easy to remember frameworks to learn and apply including C.A.L.M.E.R.

The last 2 hours after lunch was the most exciting as we had to try and apply the things we have learnt in a 3-way roleplay activity (one observer, one affected person and one PFA Provider). I had to act out a scenario where I was a troubled commuter and another participant had to approach me and attempt to console me and make me calmer. I did not want to inject any additional extra problems as it was already a difficult setting. For me, another participant who worked in Boys Town acted like a long-time friend who was facing wife/girlfriend troubles but he escalated it by asking me to come and join him to 'whack the fella'. I had to play the 'bro' card and suggest a distractor to calm my old friend down so that we can have a proper chat after. I think the 'injects' make the roleplay tougher but more realistic and thus more helpful especially when I go back to schools and may need to handle some of these matters.

The course ended quite nicely with a little reflection and de-roling activity which I found meaningful and important. I believe I can apply some of what I have learnt as the Mental and Emotional Wellness Lead at my workplace now and also as a colleague to my teams be it now or in the future.