Practical Mental Health Skills for Outdoor Leaders

Name: Practical Mental Health Skills for Outdoor Leaders
Start: 2026-03-08T09:30:00+00:00
End: 2026-03-08T17:00:00+00:00
Location: Askham & District Community Centre, Askham, Penrith, CA10 2PL

Schedule

Sun Mar 08 2026 at 09:30 am to 05:00 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

Askham & District Community Centre, Askham, Penrith, CA10 2PL | Penrith, EN

As an outdoor professional, you know that supporting the mental and emotional wellbeing of the people you lead is essential.
This CPD course gives you the vital knowledge and practical skills to confidently manage situations where clients experience emotional distress, anxiety, fear and panic. You’ll gain:
⭐ The ability to monitor for signs of distress, prevent escalation, and support clients who experience emotional overwhelm, anxiety, or panic during an activity.
⭐ A clear understanding of the brain and nervous system's stress response, and why it varies from person to person.
⭐ The confidence to use a range of quick, non-intrusive techniques to calm distressed participants, adapted for use in a dynamic outdoor environment.
⭐ Two digital handouts plus a Certificate of Completion: the full course slide deck and a signposting guide for sources of professional help.
Participants consistently praise this specialised training as engaging, practical, and clear.
It’s a suitable complement to standard Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training, which focuses identifying mental health conditions and supportive conversation. Practical Mental Health Skills for Outdoor Leaders, by contrast, is squarely centred on proactive crisis management in dynamic outdoor settings.
All outdoor leaders are welcome, from forest school leaders and Scouts permit holders to Winter Mountaineering Course Instructors and paddlesports leaders. The course confers 1 CPD credit for members of MTA, AMI, and BAIML (Core).
Please click the link for full details & booking 🤩
Brought to you in collaboration with Stuart Smith, BAIML rep for the Lakes/North West region, and Tracks&Dales, a community interest group based between the Lakes and Yorkshire Dales that people struggling with their mental health by taking them into rural environments to engage in activities that foster team building, confidence, self-esteem, and improved communication.