Learn how to talk to people

Your brot­her witnessed a terri­ble car acci­dent and has been very jumpy and irri­ta­ble ever since. He has stop­ped driving and now works from home when­ever he can. Your colle­ague is beco­ming more and more with­drawn, often making cyni­cal comm­ents, no longer meeting dead­lines and often arri­ving late, even though she used to be very relia­ble. Your team-mate seems constantly exhaus­ted in basket­ball trai­ning lately. He is worried about all kinds of things that might happen to him and his family, and smells of alco­hol more and more often. What would you do in these situa­tions? Would you talk to people close to you about your obser­va­tions and their well-being? If so, when, where and in what words? And how do you know if there is any cause for concern or if they are just going through a diffi­cult period and ever­y­thing will sort itself out?

Most of us would like to help if someone we know is not doing great. But many do not know how. What we need to do when someone is lying uncon­scious on the street, when a colle­ague is in danger of choking at lunch or when a neigh­bour has cut them­sel­ves with a saw and is blee­ding heavily – that’s what most of us have learnt in the first aid course. The reco­very posi­tion, the traf­fic light system, and ABCD-type approa­ches: Anyone in Switz­er­land who wants to drive a car prac­ti­ses CPR to the beat of ‘Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive!’. Over 20 years ago, Austra­lian psycho­logy profes­sor Tony Jorm and nurse Betty Kitche­ner, who hers­elf suffe­red from severe depres­sion for a long time, reali­sed that it is urgen­tly neces­sary and actually quite a common­place idea to offer first aid cour­ses for mental health problems. They then foun­ded the Mental Health First Aid programme, which has since spread from Austra­lia to the whole world and is available in more than 30 countries.

In Switz­er­land since 2019

Since 2019, the program has also been available in Switz­er­land and is known here as ensa. The Pro Mente Sana Foun­da­tion obtai­ned the licence for the globally reco­g­nised programme and was able to launch the cour­ses with the gene­rous support of the Beis­heim Foun­da­tion, which is still heavily invol­ved in the programme to this day. The ensa course and the well-known physi­cal first aid course not only share the idea that ever­y­day people learn to help. The format is also simi­lar: The course is based on prac­ti­cal exer­ci­ses – in this case, these are not arti­fi­cial respi­ra­tion or apply­ing tour­ni­quets, but role plays and commu­ni­ca­tion exer­ci­ses in which conver­sa­ti­ons are prac­ti­sed concre­tely in situa­tions such as the ones mentio­ned at the beginning.

ROGER

In the ensa course, simple and clear recom­men­da­ti­ons for action based on a schema for ever­y­day people also have an equi­va­lent: The abbre­via­tion ROGER can be used to remem­ber which aspects should be included in a mental health first aid inter­ac­tion – although the order is irrele­vant, except for the first letter. The follo­wing examp­les offer a brief insight into the opti­ons and focu­ses of the first aid inter­ac­tion, as taught in the ensa course:

React: approach, assess, support

Reac­ting at all, approa­ching someone and addres­sing them in a vali­da­ting way is proba­bly the most diffi­cult step of all – but it’s also the most important. Conside­ra­tion should be given to the appro­priate time and place, and the confi­den­tia­lity of the matter should be respec­ted. Once you have tried to talk to someone as a first aider, you often notice that the person affec­ted is plea­sed to be able to talk about what is going on.

Open and non-judge­men­tal listening and communication

Mental illness still carries a great stigma. That’s why it’s important above all to commu­ni­cate in a neutral way. Think your brot­her should pull hims­elf toge­ther and start leaving the house again? That your team-mate is an alco­ho­lic who is letting hims­elf go? Think about your own atti­tude before you talk to someone. Diffi­cul­ties with mental health have nothing to do with weak­ness or lazi­ness and must be taken very seriously. If you deal with the other person and their situa­tion as non-judge­men­tally as possi­ble, you can listen much better.

Give support and information

Mental health condi­ti­ons are just as common as physi­cal illnesses and are not a margi­nal pheno­me­non. One in two people in Switz­er­land will suffer from a mental health issue at some point in their life. These are treata­ble and often cura­ble. They have nothing to do with weak­ness of will. Explain these facts to the person you are spea­king to – they have an enligh­tening, de-stig­ma­ti­sing and encou­ra­ging effect.

Encou­ra­ging profes­sio­nal help

Explain to the person what opti­ons and help are available. In addi­tion to psycho­the­rapy, this also includes acces­si­ble points of cont­act such as GPs and anony­mous tele­phone coun­sel­ling. Peers, experts from their own expe­ri­ence with psycho­lo­gi­cal uphe­aval, can also be of great help.

Reac­ti­vate resources

‘What does you good, where or with whom do you rech­arge your batte­ries?’ The answers to these ques­ti­ons are as indi­vi­dual as they are helpful. In diffi­cult times, proven stra­te­gies help to break down­ward spirals and better over­come challenges.

You too can learn how to approach loved ones if they are not doing great. Ever­yone, as part of society, can contri­bute to redu­cing suffe­ring and saving lives. Further infor­ma­tion can be found at www.ensa.swiss

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Dalit Jäckel-Lang is head of the Swiss nati­on­wide ensa Mental Health First Aid Programme and a member of the Execu­tive Board of the Swiss foun­da­tion Pro Mente Sana. She studied social and econo­mic psycho­logy in Basel and Stras­bourg and comple­ted her docto­rate on profes­sio­nal and family tran­si­ti­ons. Pro Mente Sana is an inde­pen­dent orga­ni­sa­tion for mental health in Switz­er­land. It is the point of cont­act for people with mental health condi­ti­ons, their rela­ti­ves, and professionals. 

The ensa program ‘Mental Health First Aid’ is the Swiss version of the Austra­lian programme ‘Mental Health First Aid,’ which was deve­lo­ped back in 2000. The ensa programme was laun­ched in Switz­er­land in 2019 by the Pro Mente Sana foun­da­tion with support from the Beis­heim Foun­da­tion. Indi­vi­du­als who complete these cour­ses are mental health first aiders. Today, ensa cour­ses have over 20,000 parti­ci­pants.
You can find cour­ses for private indi­vi­du­als here. The ensa program also offers services for orga­ni­sa­ti­ons.