We are internationally renowned for our wide range of clinical training programmes for mental health professionals. These courses are made possible by the expertise of the staff within the Department and elsewhere within the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) as well as our close ties with our NHS partners, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Many members of academic staff are qualified Clinical and Health Psychologists providing expert psychological services to our NHS partners are part of their work.
These are programmes where NHS England (NHSE) commissions and funds education and training. The number of commissions are based on workforce planning and analysis, local demand, capacity, capability to train, and national priority areas. Clinical placements may also be funded for these courses on behalf of the DHSC. Students are taught a nationally dictated curriculum and complete nationally set assignments.
Child & Young People’s (CYP) Mental Health (MH) Trainings
CYP-MH courses are funded by NHS England (formerly Health Education England) with the aims of expanding the workforce to build capacity and fill gaps in provision. The courses run are delivered to current Managers, Supervisors and newly recruited practitioners in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Voluntary and Third Sector services. For more information on these courses, please visit King's CYP Mental Health recruitment or our online prospectus.
This Postgraduate Diploma, also known as 'CYP-MH Recruit to Train', provides specialist post-qualification training for recruited professionals with some experience. Practitioners will gain a critical understanding of the CYP-MH model of service change, outcome monitoring, and fundamentals of evidence-based psychological therapies to treat common mental health problems in childhood and adolescence (anxiety, depression, and conduct problems). At King's, we offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Systemic Family Practice, and Parent Training.
This programme is aimed at supporting individuals in their role as Site Supervisors of trainees registered on our other workforce development programmes delivered in collaboration with King's. The King's Supervisors programme will help to extend the Supervisor’s knowledge and understanding of evidence-based practice and supervision models within CAMHS, community and school settings. There are pathways for supervisors of high intensity trainees and practitioners (CBT, SFP and PT modalities) and for supervisors of low intensity trainees and practitioners. The low intensity pathway represents a departure from discipline-based supervision to supporting the development of competencies in supervisors to enable the delivery of a range of models in their services aligned to the evidence base for low intensity interventions.
This course is for CYP-MH and Wellbeing leaders and managers across health, social care and education within the NHS, schools, other statutory, voluntary, and third sectors. The focus of the course is to provide leaders and managers with an effective learning environment and toolkit by which to deliver their service change and transformation objectives. The course will benefit anyone in a leadership role implementing change in CYP MH and Wellbeing provision including:
- Senior school staff involved in the EMHP and Mental Health Teams in schools.
- Clinical Leads in NHS CAMHS implementing CYP MH and/or the CWP programme.
- Commissioners and Social Care leads who are driving service transformation.
- Managers and Senior Clinicians in CYP MH & Wellbeing charities and third sector organisations.
This programme is a Department of Health initiative which aims to train a community-based, low intensity workforce to support Children and Young People and their families, called Children’s Wellbeing Practitioners. Graduates will complement the work of existing practitioners by building better links with communities and offering rapid access to brief treatment interventions for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health difficulties, as part of a stepped care model of service delivery.
This two-year programme is specifically commissioned by NHS England (NHSE) with a view to developing the careers and employability of those trained on Children and Young People’s Mental Health CYP-MH (previously CYP-IAPT) Low Intensity Trainings. The main aims of the programme are to enable students to extend their clinical skillset and widen the scope of presentations that they are trained to work with. During year one, students will develop knowledge and skills in working with various advanced anxiety presentations as well as evidence-based low intensity interventions for neurodivergent children and young people including Autistic Spectrum Conditions and Learning Disabilities, and their families. In year two, students will also develop their skills in supervising in-training and newly qualified low intensity practitioners.
The Educational Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) is a professional role and an exciting opportunity to deliver evidence-based early interventions for children and young people and parents/carers in educational settings. It is a full time, year-long employment training programme on completion of which, trainees will qualify as an EMHP, one of the key roles in Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs). This programme is a shared initiative between the Department for Education and Health Education England that supports the government’s priority to increase access of mental health and well-being support for children and young people.
The three-year, full-time Doctorate in Clinical Psychology is based within the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. Trainees spend three days a week on supervised clinical practice placements and two days a week are dedicated to teaching, study and research. The aims and philosophy of our programme are to benefit service users, carers and wider society by training clinical psychologists who: are skilled in evidence-based psychological assessment and intervention; produce applied research of the highest quality and impact; progress to become leaders within the NHS, clinical academia and beyond.
Our Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT) course provides practical, intensive and detailed training to equip you with the necessary skills to become an independent CBT practitioner in accordance with the BABCP guidelines. You will work in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services and train in evidence-based CBT for adults with depression and anxiety disorders. You will also develop critical knowledge of the theoretical and research literature relating to CBT. Through lectures and workshops, you will learn from internationally known figures involved in developing and evaluating cutting-edge cognitive behavioural treatments. Our multi-disciplinary teaching team are all actively involved in CBT practice and research developments in the Institute and in the various clinical units of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Our Cognitive Behavioural Therapies for Psychosis (CBTp) course equips students with a critical understanding of psychological models of psychosis and the skills to deliver high quality and creative cognitive behavioural interventions. The course has been developed with the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and designed in accordance with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence Schizophrenia Guideline psychological therapy recommendations (NICE, 2003, 2014). The purpose of the courses is to improve the delivery of cognitive behavioural interventions for people with psychosis. CBTp is a complex therapeutic intervention and requires of independent practitioners an advanced theoretical understanding of cognitive models of psychosis and specialist post-qualification skills in relationship building, assessment, formulation and intervention. Our course trains students in each of these requirements, enabling them to develop competence then mastery in therapy delivery, and to provide consultancy, training and supervision to others.
IAPT For Long-Term Conditions (LTC) and Persistent Physical Symptoms (PPS) Training of High Intensity Therapists (HiTS)
Our course adheres to the IAPT National Curriculum and UCL Competencies for delivering cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions to people with long-term conditions and/or persistent physical symptoms. You will attend a ten day course with sessions typically delivered one to two days per month during the period of September to April.
The aim of the course is to deliver both theoretical knowledge of factors that trigger and sustain depression and anxiety in the context of LTCs whilst also offering practical knowledge to improve assessment, formulation, and intervention delivery skills. This course benefits from an expert teaching team consisting of clinical-academics and clinicals who have both participated in designing the IAPT curriculum for LTC/PPS and pioneered integrated care pathways in England.