Mental Health First Aider Accreditation

What is the MHFAider Accreditation Program?

A Mental Health First Aider (MHFAider) is a person who has completed a Standard Mental Health First Aid (SMHFA) course delivered by an accredited MHFA Instructor. As an MHFAider you have the opportunity to complete an online Accreditation Assessment in order to become an accredited MHFAider for 3 years. *

If you pass the assessment, you will be issued a digital PDF Certificate of Accreditation by MHFA India. If you do not pass the assessment, you may attempt the test once again and if you still do not pass, you will not receive the accreditation. In this case, we recommend that you complete the full MHFA course again in the future and re-attempt the Accreditation Assessment. In this way, we can ensure all MHFAiders have demonstrated their competency before going on to do a shorter Refresher MHFA Course in 3 years’ time.

 

What does it mean to be 'accredited'?

To be an 'accredited' MHFAider means a MHFA course participant who passes the Accreditation Assessment is accredited against the MHFA International guidelines.

 

Is there a cost to get accredited as an MHFAider?

There is no additional fee attached to taking the online Accreditation Assessment or receiving the digital Certificate.

 

What are the benefits of being an accredited MHFAider?

  • You can attest to having successfully passed a standardised assessment assessing your mental health first aid knowledge and skills.
  • You are eligible to be appointed as Mental Health First Aid Officer in the workplace.
  • You will not need to complete a full MHFA course again in 3 years' time, rather a shorter Refresher MHFA course.
  • You will receive automatic reminders in 3 years’ time when you are due to complete a Refresher MHFA course.
  • You will be able to access MHFA India e-Newsletters with resources designed to reinforce your mental health first aid knowledge and skills.

 

How can I become an accredited MHFAider?

To become an accredited MHFAider, you will need to pass an online Accreditation Assessment. This assessment is only administered online - an MHFA Instructor cannot administer it at the end of a course. You are eligible to attempt the online Accreditation Assessment, if you:

  • Have completed an eligible MHFA course within the last 3 years
  • Have an email address where you can receive the link to undertake the Accreditation Assessment.

After the completion of the course, you will need to:

  • Open the automated email sent from courses@mhfaindia.com, which will have the link to the online Accreditation Assessment.
  • Click the button to choose to access the online Accreditation Assessment.

Note: The link emailed to you to access the online feedback form and Accreditation Exam is unique and should not be shared with another course participant.

 

What does completing the Accreditation Assessment involve?

The online Accreditation Assessment has 15 questions, including 10 multiple-choice questions based on a couple of scenarios and 5 true-or-false questions. You can have your MHFA manual with you at the time you complete the Accreditation Assessment. The questions are not difficult for someone who has attended an MHFA course. You will be offered a second attempt on any incorrectly answered questions and the pass mark is 70%.

 

What if I don't have an email address or don’t want to share my personal details?

Unfortunately, the Accreditation Assessment is only administered online, so you would not be able to complete the assessment without sharing an email address.

If you would like to sit for the Accreditation Assessment, you could set up an email address. There are many websites where you can do this in just a few minutes. Usually the only information you will need to enter in your first name and last name (it can be a pseudonym), gender, date of birth (for age verification) and a phone number in case you lose access to your account.

Some sites you could try include Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo.

Once you have created an email address, you will need to share this, along with a first name and last name to your MHFA Instructor so that they can enter this into the MHFA India website.

 

What will MHFA do with my email address?

MHFA India will use MHFAiders' email addresses to:

  • Email MHFAiders their unique link to attempt the optional online Accreditation Assessment.
  • Email MHFAiders their Certificates of Accreditation after successful completion of the Accreditation Assessment.
  • Remind MHFAiders to complete a Refresher MHFA Course when their MHFAider Accreditation is due to expire after 3 years.
  • Provide them with any relevant resources that help to reinforce their MHFA knowledge and skills.
  • Invite them to sign up to our website for MHFA India Newsletter.

MHFA India will not distribute or sell MHFAiders’ email addresses, nor use for any other purposes. Please see our full privacy policy.

 

What will MHFAider feedback data be used for?

All MHFAider course feedback entered online will be de-identified. MHFA India will collect and store MHFAider feedback to allow:

  1. Instructors to view collated feedback for their own courses.
  2. Instructors to view participant feedback averages across all their courses.
  3. MHFA Instructor Engagement Coordinators to review participant feedback and provide appropriate support and mentoring to Instructors, if needed.
  4. Other quality control purposes.

MHFA India will not use this data for other research purposes unless we have obtained the explicit permission of Instructors and course participants to do so.