Free · Certificate included
Mental Health First Aid for Volunteers
Recognize emotional distress, ask about suicide with confidence, and warmly connect people to professional help — for the people you serve and your own team.
What you’ll learn
- Understand how common mental-health challenges are and why volunteers are well placed to notice and help
- Recognize the signs of emotional distress and of a mental-health or suicide crisis
- Use a simple, help-first approach (ALGEE and QPR) to support someone in the moment
- Ask directly and calmly about suicide — and understand why asking helps rather than harms
- Warmly connect people to the 988 Lifeline, 911, and professional help
- Hold healthy boundaries and confidentiality without ever acting as a clinician
- Protect your own wellbeing and manage secondary (vicarious) stress
- Put it all together with real supportive-response scenarios
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Create a free account →Course outline
- 1
Why this matters — and what this course is (and isn’t)
How common mental-health challenges are, why volunteers are well placed to help, and the firm line between awareness and clinical care.
6 min Quiz Interactive - 2
Recognizing emotional distress and a crisis
How to tell everyday stress from concerning distress, and the warning signs that signal a mental-health or suicide crisis.
6 min Quiz Written + interactive - 3
A help-first approach: ALGEE and QPR
Two simple, memorable frameworks — ALGEE and QPR — for supporting someone in the moment and steering them to help.
7 min Quiz Written + interactive - 4
Asking directly about suicide
Why asking about suicide helps rather than harms, and how to ask the question clearly and calmly.
6 min Quiz Interactive - 5
Referring and connecting to help — 988 and 911
Where to turn — the 988 Lifeline, 911, and the #BeThe1To steps — and how to make a warm handoff to professional help.
7 min Video Quiz Interactive - 6
Confidentiality, boundaries & your role
How to honor trust while keeping safe boundaries, and why you are a caring bridge — never the counselor.
5 min Quiz Written + interactive - 7
Caring for yourself — secondary stress
Why supporting others takes a toll, and how to protect your own wellbeing so you can keep helping.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 8
Putting it together: supportive-response practice
Real scenarios that combine recognizing, asking, referring, and caring for yourself into one confident response.
6 min Quiz Interactive
Sources & further reading
- SAMHSA (U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988
- SAMHSA — Warning Signs of Suicide
- National Council for Mental Wellbeing (Mental Health First Aid) — Using the 5-Step MHFA Action Plan (ALGEE)
- QPR Institute — About QPR — Question, Persuade, Refer
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (#BeThe1To) — The 5 action steps: Ask, Keep Them Safe, Be There, Help Them Connect, Follow Up
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) & NAMI — Mental illness prevalence statistics (2022 NSDUH) and Mental Health By the Numbers
VolunteerBadge Academy courses are provided free for general educational and informational purposes only. Every course is researched from reputable, authoritative sources (cited on the course), but VolunteerBadge and ScreenForge Labs, LLC make no representations or warranties of any kind — express or implied — as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness, reliability, or suitability of the content for any purpose. Content may contain errors or omissions and may become outdated, and laws, regulations, standards, and best practices vary by jurisdiction and change over time. This material is not legal, medical, mental-health, clinical, financial, safety-certification, or other professional advice, and completing a course or earning a certificate creates no professional relationship, license, accreditation, or endorsement and is not a substitute for training, certification, supervision, or policies required by law, your organization, your insurer, or a licensing body. Always follow your organization's own policies and applicable law, use your own judgment, and consult a qualified professional (such as an attorney, licensed clinician, or medical provider) about your specific situation. In an emergency, call 911 (or, for a mental-health crisis, 988). To the fullest extent permitted by law, VolunteerBadge and ScreenForge Labs, LLC disclaim all liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content or participation in any course.