Mental Health Advocate Certification: Frequently Asked Questions

Someone trained in practical skills to recognise and offer support to someone in distress. Participants learn emotional first aid, which is the emotional equivalent of physical first aid. You learn to notice when a person is struggling, approach them without judgment, listen, help them steady themselves, and connect them to the right support.

A counsellor works with someone over time to understand and treat what is going on. An advocate holds a supportive conversation, helps the person feel steadier, and connects them to a counsellor or other professional. Advocates do not diagnose, treat or take on a case.

The core framework of the day. Observe, Approach, Stabilise, Identify support, Stay connected. It gives you a simple structure for a first supportive conversation so you are not improvising in a difficult moment.

You will learn how to respond to overwhelm, shutdown and disclosure of risk to self, including how to ask directly about suicide. You are not being trained as a crisis professional. You are being trained to stay calm, keep the person safe, and get them to professional help quickly.

Managers, HR teams, educators, healthcare workers, social sector professionals, coaches and facilitators, frontline responders, founders, students and youth leaders. Anyone who wants to respond better when someone around them is struggling.

No, and nothing is assumed. Most participants have never studied psychology.

The people best placed to notice someone struggling are rarely clinicians. They are the manager who sees the work slipping, the teacher who notices a student going quiet or the colleague who sits next to them every day. This training is built for them.

Yes, 15 and above.

Yes. This is a practical life skill. Many people take it for family, friends and community rather than a workplace role.

Yes. We run closed cohorts for organisations and institutions, online or in person. Write to us at programs@theschoolofyou.in and we will discuss dates, group size and what you need.

MHA is a system to promote mental health and wellbeing in the organization. When run in a closed cohort, we tailor the stressors and scenarios to your context which also allows for open conversations about challenges. We can also guide you to set up the referral pathways around the role. Write to us at programs@theschoolofyou.in.

The program covers this directly. Advocates are taught to support the person and help them find a safe route to raise a concern, without investigating, mediating or pressuring anyone to complain.

Yes. It runs on Zoom in a single day, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm IST. For organisations we also run in-person cohorts.

Visit our Workshops page for details and registration.

Because seeing one another changes the quality of an online room. It brings energy into the session, makes it easier and safer for people to participate, and helps everyone stay fully present with one another. It also helps us practise something central to being a Mental Health Advocate: engaging with another person with attention, interest and responsiveness. Since much of the programme depends on conversation, reflection and practice, cameras staying on is part of how we create the learning environment together.

Full presence. Join on time, stay for the whole day, keep your video on, take part in the exercises and breakout rooms, and give the session your attention. If you are unable to do this, we recommend joining the next available batch.

Two things. Present and engaged participation across the full day, and passing a 50-question multiple choice assessment.

No. Registering for the programme does not automatically make you eligible for the assessment. Eligibility is based on your presence and participation through the day, and is determined by the facilitator.

If you miss parts of the session, keep your camera off, or do not participate in the practice exercises, you will not receive the assessment link.

This matters because the programme prepares you to support people who may be in distress. That capability is built through active participation and practice. The assessment is therefore offered to participants who have engaged fully in the learning process.

45 out of 50.

We send eligible participants a link after the workshop. You have one week. It takes about 30 minutes and must be done in a single sitting.

Mental health concepts, crisis response awareness, communication and listening, ethical practice, and applying techniques to real situations.

Write to us and we will talk about a retake.

The certificate is issued by The School of You on completion of the workshop and assessment. It is not a clinical qualification or a licence to practise, and it does not replace counselling training. It is evidence that you have been trained in a defined supportive role and assessed on it.

There is no expiry date. That said, these are practice skills and they fade. We recommend staying connected to the topic and attending other workshops that build on the skills learnt.