Mental Health Training

Chris Rollings

Chris was a senior police officer for over 30 years and has extensive experience in managing people in often pressurised situations. As a senior leader he had a number of roles including being in charge of customer service, the call centre, and operational delivery. During his time in the police he also became a national lead in respect of missing persons and was involved in developing joint working with mental health services. With local providers he improved awareness and knowledge around mental health issues.

After a spell as a Head of Service for a social housing provider in the East Midlands Chris started providing resilience and confidence training to organisations and individuals. Chris is now an experienced Adult, Youth and Higher Education MHFA Instructor and in the last four years has delivered the two, one day and half day courses to organisations, industry, schools, colleges and youth workers across the country. As well as being an Associate trainer with MHFA England he is also an Associate trainer with Student Minds, delivering the Higher Education Course in Universities.

As a current crisis volunteer with SHOUT, the new national crisis text service, Chris supports those in crisis. He deals with a wide range of mental health issues and provides support to people at a time when they most need it.  With a degree in psychology Chris has a passion to understand and help others. He is a very enthusiastic trainer with excellent feedback:

Delegate comments

I cannot recommend this course and its instructor, Chris Rollings, highly enough! The course itself is an excellent foundation to be able to help those experiencing a mental health crisis or mh-related difficulties…….. Chris was excellent – professional but friendly, relaxed and calm which helped when discussing heavy and serious issues. He led the group really well and was the best trainer I’ve come across in many years!10/10 for both the course and the course leader!

‘Excellent – exceeded expectations. A very personable instructor.  Thank you.’

 ‘The instructor’s content, pace and rate were excellent.’

 ‘Chris is an excellent facilitator’

How have you taken care of your own mental health and wellbeing since the start of the Covid 19 Coronavirus pandemic?

I recognised that many of my usual self-care activities would no longer be available. However, I was able to spend much more time walking my dogs and exploring local paths and routes. This coupled with making an effort to keep in touch with family, friends and colleagues really helped.

My usual face to face training was on hold, however, and I wanted to continue to support others in whatever way I could. I therefore decided to train as a volunteer with ‘SHOUT’ the national textline that supports those in crisis or experiencing mental health issues. A number of intensive weeks of learning later I was qualified and starting my first shift! I find volunteering with ‘SHOUT’ to be very rewarding especially when I receive direct feedback from the texter thanking me for taking them from a crisis point to feeling much better.

When summer arrived I started delivering much more on-line training and some other self-care activities have resumed, such as the gym sessions I really enjoy.

How do you want to change the world?

I would like us all to have a little more empathy and understanding. One of the big issues in preventing help for those experiencing poor mental health remains stigma and if people had more empathy I’m sure this would help

I guess we need to start in early years with increased knowledge and then ensure everyone has a greater understanding. By empathy I mean perspective taking, our ability to identify and understand other people’s emotions. We can develop empathy in a number of ways but for me it’s really helpful during conversations to focus your full attention and time on listening and then doing whatever you can to ensure the person feels understood. Often checking your understanding back with the person really helps.

Qualified to deliver:

Adult MHFA Two Day online / classroom

– Adult MHFA One Day classroom

– Adult MHFA Half Day online / classroom

– Adult MHFA Half Day Refresher online /classroom

– Youth MHFA Two Day online / classroom

– Youth MHFA One Day classroom

– Youth MHFA Half Day online / classroom

– Higher Education One Day classroom

 

 

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