Introduction

Developing your knowledge of the professional support available for learners is the focus of Week 4. In this week, you will also explore how to signpost and refer learners to appropriate support services and how you can best provide support in crisis situations until professional support is available.

This week’s content makes reference to some topics including mental health crisis and suicidal thoughts (Section 4), that you may find difficult, or which may trigger emotional responses. If you wish to avoid reading about these topics consider skipping Section 4 (it also carries a trigger warning at the start so that it is easily signposted) and moving on to Section 5, which details further help and support.

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

• recognise early indicators of mental health challenges and difficulties in adult learners
• identify appropriate professional support and information available to adult learners
• increase your awareness of potential serious mental health crises in adult learners and know how to respond appropriately.