Thank you for your Expression of Interest

MHFA for People with an Intellectual Disability is a training course that is set to be launched in 2020. It will teach people how to provide mental health first aid to a person who has an intellectual disability and may be experiencing mental health problems. The course will be delivered by Accredited MHFA Instructors who have knowledge and experience in the field of intellectual disability and mental health.

To support this course, we are developing a film that shows a person with an intellectual disability sharing their experiences with mental health problems and what support had a positive impact. The film may also show a carer of a person with and Intellectual Disability and mental health problems sharing their experiences. This film will only be shown during the MHFA for People with an Intellectual Disability course and will not be made publicly available, e.g. on Youtube.

Click here for further information about the film. Note - this course will not cover information relating specifically to autism spectrum disorder and we are therefore not seeking expressions of interest from people with autism.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

Film participants may be:
  • A person with an intellectual disability who has experienced mental health problems AND their carer
OR
  • A person with an intellectual disability who has experienced mental health problems
OR
  • A carer of a person with an intellectual disability and mental health problems.

It is important that participants are comfortable and well enough to be interviewed. This opportunity is only open to people over the age of 18. Please refer to the following eligibility criteria for details on who we are looking for:

PERSON WITH AN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY WHO HAS EXPERIENCED MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS:
A person with an intellectual disability who has experienced mental health problems, and is well enough to participate and discuss their mental health problems for the film. They have previously shared their experiences of mental health problems either formally or informally (e.g. support groups, informal meetings, on film, radio, written articles, public settings etc). We invite people who use all forms of communication (e.g. verbal communication, a communication aid, or a communication partner) to express their interest in taking part.

CARER/SUPPORT PERSON:
A person who has experience caring (unpaid) or providing day-to-day support to an adult or adolescent with an intellectual disability and mental health problems. They have supported the person they care for to seek help for their mental health problems. They have previously shared their experiences either formally or informally (e.g. support groups, informal meetings, on film, radio, written articles, public settings etc), and are well enough to discuss their experiences for the film.
PARTICIPANTS ARE REQUIRED TO:
  • Be able to reflect on what others did to help or could have done to help the person with an intellectual disability when they were experiencing mental health problems, and share what others did that was helpful
  • Are comfortable with the idea of potentially thousands of people seeing them talk about their experiences in a film shown during MHFA courses
  • Are located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, or Adelaide, or are able to travel to their closest capital city (at our expense) for filming

Full names will not be disclosed in the film and participants will be referred to by their first name only or a pseudonym (made up name), if preferred.

We are not able to extend this opportunity to current MHFA instructors, their partners or close family members or people that are planning to become MHFA instructors.

Please note that MHFA Australia will retain all copyright and intellectual property rights over this film. The film may be used by international organisations, which have been licensed by MHFA Australia to deliver MHFA training in their countries.

Individuals who are filmed for this project will receive a $500 gift card.

Information you provide will be kept confidential.

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