Mental Health First Aid vs Resilience First Aid: What Australian Workplaces Need to Know
- Jan 21
- 3 min read
Across Australia, and particularly in NSW, workplace mental health has become a critical priority. With new psychosocial risk regulations and growing awareness of burnout, many organisations have invested in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training.
Yet a common question remains:
“If we already have Mental Health First Aid in place, why are staff still overwhelmed or burning out?”
The answer isn’t that MHFA isn’t working. It’s that MHFA was never designed to do everything.
This is where Resilience First Aid (RFA) adds value for Australian workplaces.
Mental Health First Aid in Australian workplaces
Mental Health First Aid, delivered nationally by organisations such as Our Minds at Work (OMAW) is widely used across NSW and Australia to support:
Mental health crisis response at work
Early recognition of mental health problems
Safe conversations and referral pathways
Workplace duty of care and WHS obligations
MHFA is evidence-based, nationally recognised, and often recommended as part of a broader workplace mental health strategy.
MHFA answers the question:
“What do we do when an employee is experiencing significant mental distress?”
What MHFA doesn’t cover (by design)
MHFA is intentionally reactive .It is activated once distress is already visible or severe.
MHFA does not primarily focus on:
Burnout prevention in the workplace
Early signs of overload or fatigue
Psychological safety at work
Everyday wellbeing culture
In many NSW workplaces, this means:
Issues surface late
Conversations feel clinical or intimidating
MHFA officers become over-relied on
Wellbeing support feels crisis-driven
This is a design limitation, not a failure.
What is Resilience First Aid (RFA)?
Resilience First Aid (RFA) is a preventative workplace wellbeing approach designed for Australian organisations that want to support mental health before problems escalate.
RFA focuses on:
Early conversations about stress and load
Practical coping skills for everyday pressure
Building psychological safety at work
Shared responsibility for wellbeing across teams
RFA uses plain, non-clinical language, making it accessible for:
Managers
Frontline staff
Hybrid and remote teams
NSW councils, health, education, and community organisations
RFA answers the question:
“How do we support mental health at work before it becomes a crisis?”
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) | Resilience First Aid (RFA) |
Crisis response training | Prevention and early support |
Used across Australia & NSW | Designed for everyday work |
Clinical and structured | Human and practical |
Delivered to selected staff | Shared across teams |
Supports referral pathways | Reduces escalation |
Why NSW workplaces are using both MHFA and RFA
Leading NSW organisations are moving to a layered mental health approach:
🟢 Resilience First Aid (everyday layer)
Burnout prevention
Early support conversations
Psychological safety
Normalised help-seeking
🔵 Mental Health First Aid (safety-net layer)
Crisis response
Escalation and referral
WHS and psychosocial risk management
Why MHFA-only approaches feel heavy in Australian workplaces
When MHFA is the main mental health strategy:
Support often begins too late
Mental health feels medicalised
Staff hesitate to speak up early
Managers are unsure when to escalate
RFA fills this gap by making wellbeing:
Preventative
Normalised
Culturally embedded
Sustainable for busy teams
The key message for Australian leaders
Mental Health First Aid helps Australian workplaces respond to mental health crises. Resilience First Aid helps reduce the frequency of those crises.
This is not duplication. It’s completion.
Final takeaway for NSW & Australian organisations
Workplaces don’t need to choose between Mental Health First Aid or *Resilience First Aid.
They need:
MHFA for crisis response, governance, and compliance
RFA for burnout prevention, early support, and culture
Together, they create a
whole-of-workplace mental health system
that meets modern Australian workplace needs.
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