Combining academic study with a clinical placement, you’ll gain direct experience of delivering cognitive-behavioural interventions to young people. You’ll also learn to support wider mental health interventions in school/college settings, as part of mental health support teams.

The course forms part of a shared Department of Health and Department for Education policy to increase access to psychological therapies and mental health support in school settings. This may result in some ‘recruit-to-train’ posts – advertised on NHS Jobs – where students are employed by a local mental health support team, receiving a salary and having a fully funded place on the course as part of their employment. 

We currently have no capacity on this course to offer any placements for self-funded students. This is unlikely to change soon. The places on the course are associated with NHS contracts and go with recruit-to-train jobs. We interview with the employers and agree suitability for the course before jobs and places are offered. 

The PGDip is run in partnership with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, providing a range of mental health services across the South of England.

As this course is linked to a new and rapidly expanding national role (education mental health practitioner), we expect there to be a high demand for Education Mental Health Practice PGDip graduates.

On graduation, you’ll have the right balance of knowledge, skills and clinical experience for jobs within the field of mental health support in educational contexts. Future employers could include the NHS, and the education and community/voluntary sector. You can also choose to undertake further professional mental health/therapy training.