14 Hours (across 2 days) Face-to-face training in Preston – Carers need to attend both days to complete the course.

Date: Friday 20 February AND Friday 27 February 2026

Time: 9:00am to 5:00pm – Morning Tea and Lunch provided

Location:  VACCA (Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency) 340 Bell Street, Preston VIC 3072 

Open to carers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

This course has been developed with extensive First Nation consultation and research by Mental Health First Aid Australia and will be facilitated by the award-winning AJ Williams-Tchen (Wiradjuri) Mental Health Social Worker, Nurse and Youth Worker.  For the past 30 years, AJ has been working at providing awareness of mental illness within the Aboriginal community and increasing mental health literacy among all Australians.

Course participants will yarn about First Nation youth issues, signs and symptoms of the common mental health problems in young people (anxiety, depression and substance use), where and how to get help when a young person is developing a mental illness, what sort of help has been shown by research to be effective, and how to provide first aid in a crisis situation, including suicidal ideation and non-suicidal self-injury.

A certificate of participation can be issued or carers who successfully complete the course can choose to undertake the 3-year Accreditation process, that involves a short online multiple-choice activity. This will be discussed in more detail at the workshop.

The session is designed for kinship, foster and permanent carers.

The course content and discussions may cause some distress and discomfort and significant triggers warning will be in place within the course.