New Psychological First Aid training for supporting children and young people affected by emergencies and crisis situations including the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, PHE launched a new psychological first aid (PFA) online training course to help support children and young people that have been affected by emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is available for all frontline workers such as teachers, health and social workers, charity and community volunteers and anyone who cares for or is regularly in contact with children and young people aged up to 25, including parents and caregivers.

Those completing the training will be equipped to better identify those children that are in distress and provide support to help them feel safe, connected and able to take steps to help themselves during the pandemic or other crisis situations.

The course is free, takes up to three hours to complete (that the learner can complete at their own pace) and no previous qualifications are required. PFA is a globally recognised training programme for emergency situations and PHE has developed this new course with input and advice from a range of experts, government and charitable organisations via an advisory group which includes NHS England, the Department for Education, British Red Cross and in partnership with FutureLearn.