Mental Health First Aid is provided through Richmond Foundation’s Training Institute. The institute provides accessible, high-quality mental health training that empowers communities, organizations, and individuals to recognize, understand, and address mental health challenges, fostering a culture of support, resilience, and well-being.
Richmond Training Institute
About Richmond
Richmond Foundation is a non-governmental and non-profit making organisation (VO/0017) in terms of the laws of Malta. It is a leading local NGO in the provision of community services for persons with mental health difficulties, in the promotion of mental health and the prevention of mental illness amongst the public. It strives to combat stigma and increase awareness on the subject through the local media.
Richmond Foundation is a member of the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks–Europe (GAMIAN-Europe), the European Anti-Poverty Network, the Malta Federations of NGOs and the Malta Health Network, the Alliance For Mental Health (A4MH) and the Platform of Human Rights Organisations Malta.
Richmond Foundation is registered with MFHEA as a Further and Higher Education Institution. Licence Number: 2019-011
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We Use Evidence Based Mental Health Education
Mental Health First Aid International, based in Australia, is a global leader in early intervention mental health education, backed by over 20 years of evidence-based research. Its training programmes, proven effective through peer-reviewed studies, are developed in collaboration with top universities worldwide. This model serves as a valuable reference for the development of Mental Health First Aid in Malta, ensuring context-relevant, research-informed training to meet local mental health needs.
How Mental Health First Aid started in Malta
In 2000, the Mental Health First Aid Program was created in Canberra, Australia, by Betty Kitchener, an educator and mental health consumer, in partnership with Professor Tony Jorm, a psychiatrist and mental health researcher. The aim in creating the program was to extend the concept of first aid training to include mental health problems so that community members were empowered to provide better initial support to someone whois developing a mental health problem, has a worsening of an existing mental health problem or is in a mental health crisis.
In 2015 Richmond Foundation reached out to Betty Kitchener and became the 23rd country to be licensed as the Mental Health First Aid provider, in fact Richmond Foundation holds the license for MHFA Malta. Currently 35 countries across the world have partnered with MHFA International to adapt the MHFA programme for their own country.
In 2018 Richmond Foundation obtained EU funds to allow the Foundation to develop the training material including manuals, learning videos, a learning management system and an app to offer the Youth and Teen Mental Health First Aid courses.
In 2025 Richmond Foundation developed and launched theMental Health First Aid for Older persons programme.
International Quality Principles
Richmond Foundation adheres to the International Quality Principles, reflecting a collaborative commitment to upholding the highest standards in the adaptation and delivery of Mental Health First Aid courses globally.
Become An Instructor
Our Instructor Training Courses are for adults with the relevant skills and experience to become a Licensed MHFA Instructor.
