Robert Gordon University (RGU) will run a two-day mental health care training short course aimed at offshore medics which is the first of its kind for the oil and gas industry.
Dr Steve Smith, Enterprise Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Mental Health and Wellbeing, will run the course at the university’s Faculty of Health and Social Care in March and April.
The two-day course, which will run on Monday, March 28 and Tuesday, March 29 as well as Monday, April 25 and Tuesday, April 26, aims to provide offshore medics and related professionals with skill-based training to engage and support people in distress.
The skills development programme has been created in response to a perceived lack of training for those who work with people experiencing mental distress included as part of standard remote medic qualifications.
Statistics show that within the context of falling oil prices and future uncertainty, there is an increased need for mental health support by those working offshore.
Dr Smith, who has more than twenty years’ experience working in brief mental health interventions, said that there is a pressing need for all care professionals to gain a better understanding on how to help employees to begin to build meaningful solutions to challenges they are facing.
He said: “It is important for all of us to realise that mental distress is an emerging issue amongst many working within the energy industry, while the majority of offshore medics have only limited experience or training in working directly with employees affected by it.
“The course will provide a theoretical basis and a step by step guidance in how to deliver support to those who need help as well as an opportunity to practice these skills in a safe environment.”
The workshops are priced at £475, including lunch and coffee, and a course certificate will be issued at the end of the sessions.
The number of spaces will be limited and online registration for the course is accessible via: www.rgu.ac.uk/remote-medics-short-course