Part 1 provides the essential foundation on which the rest of the manual is built. It has four chapters covering four broad areas of knowledge needed to give confidence to the health worker to provide mental health care.

Chapter 1 introduces a simple approach to understanding and classifying the types of mental health problems in community and general health care settings: distress, disorders and disabilities. In Chapter 2 we cover the core skills needed to interview a person with a mental health problem. These skills are just as important in assessing the problem as in providing care and support. Chapter 3 describes how to assess a person with a mental health problem. In particular, it addresses how to distinguish distress from disorders and disabilities. Chapter 4 then outlines the general principles of how to treat mental health problems.

It is essential that the reader goes through Part 1 at least once before reading any other part of the manual. This is because many of the later chapters assume that the reader is already familiar with the basic information on the types of mental health problems and the general approaches to interviewing, assessment and treatment.