Mental health and addiction challenges are increasingly present across all health care settings, and Health Care Aides (HCAs) play a vital role in providing safe, compassionate, and effective support. This module provides HCAs with essential knowledge about common mental health disorders and addictions, emphasizing person-centred care.

HCAs will develop practical skills to recognize signs of distress, support client safety, and respond appropriately during challenging situations, including crisis events. This module is designed to build confidence, awareness, and competence when caring for clients living with mental health disorders or addictions.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, HCAs will be able to:

• Describe common mental health disorders, including causes, general signs and symptoms, medications, treatment approaches, and the importance of treatment compliance
• Describe specific mental health diagnoses, their signs and symptoms, common treatments, and appropriate care strategies
• Describe addiction, including signs and symptoms, common treatments, and care strategies for clients
• Identify strategies to maintain safety when working with clients with a mental health disorder or addiction
• Discuss suicidal behaviour disorder, including risk factors, warning signs of suicidal intent, and care strategies for clients at risk
• Discuss responsive behaviours that may require de-escalation techniques and recognize warning signs of a client in distress
• Describe appropriate de-escalation interventions, including verbal and non-verbal techniques, disengagement, and the use of restraints when required in crisis situations to protect the safety of self, clients, and others
• Discuss cultural influences on mental health disorders and their impact on treatment and care