Update: 4:43PM OCTOBER 10 is also observed around the world as World Mental Health Day.
In its message for 2016, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said this year’s theme covered “psychological first aid”.
“When terrible things happen in our communities, we can reach out a helping hand to those who are affected,” it said.
“Learning the basic principles of psychological first aid will help you to provide support to people who are very distressed, and importantly, to know what not to say.
“Indeed, the investment in psychological first aid is part of a longer-term effort to ensure that anyone in acute distress due to a crisis is able to receive basic support, and that those who need more than psychological first aid will receive additional advanced support from health, mental health and social services.”
