Psychological First Aid
Psychological First Aid (PFA) is about taking care of yourself – your thoughts, feelings and emotions when you have experienced stress, crisis or trauma – and then being there for family, friends and community when they are having difficulty coping.
Learn how to anticipate stress and crisis whenever possible and equip yourself with the skillset to practice self-care and to provide care for others during particularly challenging times. Unlike mental health first aid, which trains people to help someone during a mental health emergency, Red Cross Psychological First Aid teaches you how to build up resiliency to stress and establish coping strategies for stress and trauma.
The Canadian Red Cross is a national expert in Prevention and Safety education, training more than 1.8-million Canadians each year.
Learn Psychological First Aid Online - Independent Learning 
Two Psychological First Aid courses are available online to learn at your own pace: Self-Care and Caring for Others. In both these courses, learn the impact of stress, trauma, and grief while developing useful tools for handling difficult situations. These online courses are quick, accessible and practical, equipping you with skills you can use in daily life.
Complete both the Self-Care and Caring for Others courses for a well-rounded approach to psychological first aid and wellness. At the end of these courses, you will complete a knowledge evaluation and receive an electronic certificate of completion.
Online learning format
A note to participants: Learn at your own pace by working through the course materials independently online. You may leave the course at any time and resume where you left off. The duration will vary depending on the individual learner and their prior knowledge of the subject matter.
Get Certified in Psychological First Aid - Instructor-led Learning 
Self-Care & Wellness
This course offers a safe space for individuals to share experiences and gain self-care strategies that will help increase personal resilience during times of heightened stress. Learners will develop a self-care plan, learn the Red Cross Look, Listen, Link, Live model, connect with peers and apply self-care principles through case-based learning, group discussion and personal reflection.The condensed course format offers an accessible approach for participants to focus on self-care and connect with peers with shared experiences. Course facilitation is flexible to the group’s situation and experiences.
The course is offered in blended training format that includes a self-directed online component, followed by an in-person, facilitated workshop. Learners will develop a self-care plan through the self-directed online component and then apply the principles of self-care in a facilitated workshop led by an Instructor.
Psychological First Aid
This course is designed for anyone seeking a certification in Psychological First Aid. This more substantive and flexible curriculum helps you gain a deeper understanding of the Red Cross Look, Listen, Link, Live model – this means having awareness that there is a problem, listening to yourself or others, and linking to resources in your community so you can live fully.
You’ll also learn Psychological First Aid using the principle of Do No Harm, which refers to the unintentional harm that may be caused to those who are meant to benefit from your intervention.
This course is provided as an in-person classroom format (12 hours) or as a blended online and in-person classroom format (90 minutes online and seven hours in class). The time spent in class gives you and your fellow learners the opportunity to connect with the instructor, who will help you adapt the course to your needs and local context. The instructor guides all learners safely through the course material.
This also gives you the opportunity to learn Psychological First Aid as a group, alongside peers and classmates, building upon one another’s ideas, questions, and examples.
The course uses case-based learning and includes the latest evidence from the international community.
