Psychological first aid training should be made freely available to teach Kiwis how to help themselves and others with the emotional distress caused by Covid-19, the National Party says.
"As mental and emotional distress increases as a result of self-isolation or the coming economic downturn, it’s important that we are all prepared to support our friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues," National's Mental Health spokesperson, Matt Doocey said in a statement.
New Zealanders are worried about new arrivals into the country and how the nation will shift to Level 3. (Source: Other)
He said while psychological first aid training - which teaches people how to identify and respond to distress - is currently being delivered face-to-face by St John and the Red Cross, it could be easily adapted online.
It launched new tools today to help kiwis look after their mental health during lockdown. (Source: Other)
"National committed to funding more psychological first aid training in our Health Discussion Document. The consequences of Covid-19 make it even more necessary and the Government should be looking to implement it as soon as possible.
“This has the potential to be an important first line of defence in addressing the growing mental and emotional distress in New Zealand as a result of the impacts of Covid-19.”
Mr Doocey told 1 NEWS while the Government announced free online mental health apps earlier this week, the apps are "more about very motivated people going online to look at ways to look at self-help to support their own mental distress."
Mentemia, developed by Sir John Kirwan is one of three new apps. (Source: Other)
"Psychological first aid training, we think of what normal, physical first aid training provides. It’s an ability for someone to be able to identify the signs and symptoms of someone with emotional distress, but also know how to support that person in a time of need, and where to link them in to further help," Mr Doocey said.
By making the resources for the training "self-paced and open sourced online," there "wouldn't be a big cost," he said.
"The more that we can get the public confident of identifying psychological and emotional distress, but also more confident in supporting their family, friends and colleagues, the better we will be in supporting ourselves."
Sir John was initially going to sell the app to corporates, but decided to offer it free to all New Zealanders instead. (Source: Other)
In a statement, a Ministry of Health spokesperson told 1 NEWS they already offer "a range of support to people to help maintain their mental health and wellbeing," including support through phone or video conferencing, which has since been ramped up in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
They added that the Health Ministry already funds Mental Health and Addictions 101, which has moved online, and has delivered a total of 46 workshops to 814 participants. "These provide an equivalent type of training to psychological first aid," the spokesperson said.
Today the Government announced a $40 million investment in mental health and addiction services with Health Minister David Clark saying: "The Government has always been committed to taking mental health seriously."
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