Mental Health First Aid Kit Essentials: Your Guide to Emotional Well-Being
Mental health first aid kit: a practical workplace guide
Bring your workplace contacts and resources together. Start with our free editable checklist and contact sheet.
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A useful workplace mental health first aid kit puts support information within reach: who colleagues can contact, when those people are available, where approved procedures live and which resources to use.
It can be a shared digital folder, a clearly labelled printed pack, or both. This guide helps you build one, with a free editable checklist and contact sheet to get started.
Here, “kit” means a set of workplace support resources. It is separate from a physical first aid box and does not replace mental health first aid training, clinical care or your organisation’s agreed procedures.
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A checklist and a contact sheet
Two A4 pages to help you organise your workplace’s existing support arrangements.
- Page 1: an eight-point readiness checklist, a named owner and review dates.
- Page 2: two workplace contacts, availability and the location of approved resources.
Free PDF · 2 pages · 14 text fields and 8 checkboxes · No email required
Save the PDF, complete it in a PDF reader, then save your own copy. You can also print it and write by hand. Check the saved file before sharing or printing, particularly any longer contact details or links.
Use work contact information and resource locations. Do not put people’s diagnoses, disclosures or conversation notes in this shared pack. Agree what belongs in it with the person responsible for your workplace’s support arrangements.
What is a mental health first aid kit?
For a workplace, think of it as a small, organised resource library. A colleague should be able to find a named contact without searching an old email, and a trained first aider should be able to locate their relevant course resources and workplace procedures.
The kit supports the arrangements you already have. It does not appoint first aiders, define their responsibilities or create a new confidentiality policy. Those decisions need to be agreed by your organisation and reflected accurately in the pack.
The phrase is also used for a personal wellbeing or comfort kit. That is a different idea: items or reminders an individual chooses for themselves. This downloadable pack is designed for workplace information and contacts.
What should a workplace mental health first aid kit contain?
Start with the information people will actually need. Keep the pack short enough to navigate, and use links to fuller documents where appropriate.
Agreed roles and boundaries
Include the workplace’s role description for mental health contacts. Explain what support they offer, what falls outside their role and where further help can be found. Use a “mental health first aider” title only where it reflects the person’s training and agreed responsibilities.
Names, contact routes and availability
List work contact details and the times each person is available. Check the details with them and include an alternative route when they are away. Think about colleagues on other shifts or working remotely.
Approved workplace procedures
Point to the current escalation and urgent-help procedures, and the organisation’s guidance on handling information. The pack should help people find those instructions, rather than introduce a separate set of rules.
Relevant learning resources
Keep the course resources or action plan that matches the training completed. Check the provider and version. Avoid mixing different programmes’ instructions or assuming another provider’s branded materials are included with your course.
A checked support directory
Use a short list of relevant, current resources. Check who each service is for, the area it covers and how it is accessed before sharing it. Link to the provider’s current page so people can check the latest details.
Employer support
Add the appropriate HR contact and details of an employee assistance programme or occupational health service if your employer offers them. Record how staff access that support, without assuming every colleague has the same eligibility.
A location people can find
Choose a shared folder, intranet page or printed location that staff can access. A workplace contact poster can point colleagues towards the people and resources in the kit.
An owner and review date
Name the person who keeps the pack current. Set a review date and update it when contacts, working patterns or resources change. Replace old printed copies as well as the digital version.
For the manager’s role, HSE’s advice for managers discusses supportive conversations, workplace adjustments and routes such as occupational health or an employee assistance programme. A resource kit can make those existing routes easier to find.
How to set up and maintain the kit
- Agree its purpose. Decide who the pack is for, who maintains it and which approved workplace documents it should point to.
- Confirm the details. Ask named contacts to check their role, work contact information and availability. Confirm the relevant support and escalation routes with your organisation.
- Complete the two-page template. Use the checklist to identify gaps, then add the contact and resource locations. An unchecked box is a task to follow up, not evidence that your workplace has failed a formal assessment.
- Try finding something. Ask a colleague to locate a contact and an approved procedure using the pack. Check that links open and that the information is accessible to the people who need it.
- Share and review. Tell colleagues where the kit is kept. Review it on the date you set and whenever important details change.
For an individual support conversation, a separate tool may be more appropriate. Mind’s Wellness Action Plans offer guides for workplace, remote and hybrid staff, plus guidance for managers. Those personal plans serve a different purpose from a shared contact directory.
What should stay out of a shared kit?
Keep the pack focused on resources and agreed routes to support. Do not turn it into a shared record of who has asked for help, a list of suspected conditions or a collection of private conversation notes.
A workplace kit should not contain instructions for diagnosing people, recommending medication or providing treatment. It should also avoid promises that a named contact is always available or that every conversation can be kept confidential in all circumstances.
Record the location of your organisation’s information-handling and urgent-help procedures instead. This helps staff find the agreed arrangements without this template creating new policy on your behalf.
Put training behind the resources
A contact sheet makes support easier to find, but it does not teach the skills involved in a mental health first aid role.
Our Level 3 Mental Health First Aid course is delivered live online with an instructor over two days. Public courses have a maximum of eight learners. The Qualsafe Level 3 qualification is awarded on successful assessment.
Explore the course to understand its learning outcomes and entry requirements, then agree how the role will work in your own organisation.
Questions about mental health first aid kits
Does a mental health first aid kit need to be a physical box?
No. For the workplace resource pack described here, a clearly organised digital folder or printed pack can do the job. Choose a format colleagues can access and keep the current version easy to identify. It is separate from your physical first aid supplies.
Can I use the checklist without being a trained first aider?
You can use it to organise resource information with your employer. Completing the checklist does not qualify you as a mental health first aider or authorise you to take on that role. Use role titles and responsibilities agreed by your organisation.
Is the PDF a mental health first aid action plan?
No. It is a resource checklist and contact sheet. Use the relevant action plan and learning materials from the training you completed, alongside your organisation’s approved procedures.
Can I add a personal comfort or wellbeing kit?
A person may choose their own comforting items or wellbeing reminders, but that is separate from this shared workplace resource pack. Do not present personal items as treatment or require colleagues to disclose private information to use them.
How often should the workplace kit be checked?
Give it an owner and a review date that suits your workplace. Check it again whenever a listed contact, support service, working pattern or relevant procedure changes. Make sure old printed copies are replaced.
Can we share the completed PDF with colleagues?
Yes. Complete it with agreed work contact details and resource locations, then save, print or share your copy. Check it contains no personal health information and that named contacts are happy to be listed.