Modula Course on Mental Health in Primary Care
This modular Mental Health in Primary Care course provides healthcare professionals with a comprehensive, practical and evidence‑based understanding of recognising, assessing and managing mental health presentations in frontline settings.
Delegates will explore depression, anxiety disorders, perinatal mental health, OCD, self‑harm, differential diagnoses, outcome measures, NICE guidance, referral pathways, risk assessment and safety planning.
Course Structure & Content
Session 1 — Identification
- Mental health presentations in primary care: Depression, stress, perinatal mental health, GAD, social anxiety, health anxiety, OCD, self‑harm
- How these conditions present and what they look like in practice
- Triage and assessment: key questions, risk, safeguarding, capacity
- Differential diagnosis: personality disorders, mania, ADHD, autism
- Myth‑busting common misconceptions
- Use of outcome measures (GAD‑7, PHQ‑9)
- Patient experiences and real‑world context
Session 2 — Management & Referral
- What primary care staff can do to manage mental health presentations
- NICE guidance and the stepped‑care model explained
- Identifying patients suitable for primary care management vs those needing escalation
- Referral options: Third sector, social prescribing, talking therapies, counselling, secondary care mental health services
- Self‑help approaches: mindfulness, books on prescription, online resources
- Prescribing: first‑line treatments
- Five steps to wellbeing
- Case studies and patient examples
Session 3 — Risk Assessment & Management
- Identifying self‑harm and suicide risk
- Questions to ask and how to respond safely
- Managing low‑level risk in primary care: self‑management, helplines, resources
- When and how to act when risk escalates
- Safety planning
- Referral to specialist services, including crisis teams
- Case studies
Ideal for nurses, GPs, HCAs, ACPs and allied health professionals delivering mental health support in primary care.
