Overview
- Degree awarded
- AMHP Postgraduate Certificate
- Duration
- 12 months part-time
- Entry requirements
-
We require an undergraduate degree (minimum Lower Second) or equivalent alternative qualifications or experience.
- How to apply
You can only apply for this course if you have been nominated by your employer, who must be responsible for providing your practice placement.
Please apply using our online application form , following all instructions. If you have any problems, please contact us at pgt.mentalhealth@manchester.ac.uk .
We recommend you apply as early as possible. We reserve the right to close applications if the course is full.
Course options
| Full-time | Part-time | Full-time distance learning | Part-time distance learning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | Y | N | N |
Course overview
- This is the only certificate that allows students to gain Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) status and be approved by local authorities.
- Learn about the integration of mental health issues, psychiatry and mental health law in multidisciplinary teams from a social perspective.
- Study at a university ranked 7th in the UK for Psychology (QS World University Rankings 2022).
- The PGCert is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council.
- The course is delivered entirely through face-to-face, on-campus teaching.
Open days
Fees
For entry in the academic year beginning September 2024, the tuition fees are as follows:
-
(part-time)
UK students (per annum): £4,100 (4 units at £1025 each)
International, including EU, students (per annum): £4,700 (4 units at £1175 each)
Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.
The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive for the course tuition, administration and computational costs during your studies.
All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
Contact details
- School/Faculty
- Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
- Contact name
- Postgraduate Admissions Team
- Telephone
- +44 (0)161 529 4563
- pgt.mentalhealth@manchester.ac.uk
- Website
- https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/nursing/masters/
- School/Faculty
-
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
Courses in related subject areas
Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.
Entry requirements
Academic entry qualification overview
Relevant work experience
Professional entry qualification
- A social worker registered with Social Work England.
- A first-level nurse, registered in Sub-Part 1 of the Nurses' Part of the Register maintained under article 5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, with the inclusion of an entry indicating their field of practice is mental health or learning disabilities nursing.
- An occupational therapist registered in Part 6 of the Register maintained under article 5 of the Health Professions Order 2001.
- Either a psychologist registered in Part 14 of the Register maintained by the Health and Care Professions Council, or a chartered psychologist who is listed in the British Psychological Society's Register of Chartered Psychologists and who holds a relevant practising certificate issued by the BPS.
You must be able to provide your Social Work England or NMC membership number.
Application and selection
How to apply
You can only apply for this course if you have been nominated by your employer, who must be responsible for providing your practice placement.
Please apply using our online application form , following all instructions. If you have any problems, please contact us at pgt.mentalhealth@manchester.ac.uk .
We recommend you apply as early as possible. We reserve the right to close applications if the course is full.
Advice to applicants
How your application is considered
Overseas (non-UK) applicants
Fitness to practise / health requirements
Deferrals
Re-applications
Course details
Course description
The course combines academic study with practice in mental health, with a focus on AMHP training.
AMHP training covers the integration of mental health issues, psychiatry and mental health law in multidisciplinary teams from a social perspective.
Our lecturers reflect this multidisciplinary approach and include psychiatrists, lawyers, psychologists, nurses and social workers, as well as service users and carers.
Students undertaking AMHP training must be supported by their employers and seconded to the training. Employers must agree to provide a Practice Educator and an appropriate Practice Learning Placement.
To meet the requirements for AMHP, you must successfully complete the four mandatory course units and a competent Practice Portfolio.
Students who successfully complete the PGCert will be able to progress to our PGDip in Applied Mental Health, which includes a literature review. You can then progress to our MSc in Applied Mental Health.
PhD with integrated master's
If you're planning to undertake a PhD after your master's, our Integrated PhD programme will enable you to combine your postgraduate taught course with a related PhD project in biology, medicine or health.
You can also visit this page for examples of projects related to integrated master's courses.Aims
Our PGCert has been designed for those wishing to seek authorisation under the Mental Health Act 1983, as amended in 2007, to discharge the duties of an Approved Mental Health Professional.
The outcome is to produce knowledgeable and skilled professionals who will be able to discharge statutory responsibilities under this legislation, and who will also have the ability to stay abreast of cutting-edge research and development within contemporary mental health services, as well as having the capacity to translate research insights into practice.
The course aims to produce students who:
- have a systematic and integrated knowledge and understanding of mental disorders, the different models of causation, presentation, assessment and management, the different models of treatment and intervention and their outcomes;
- have sufficient knowledge and practical skills to critically apply theoretical models to practice situations, both at the level of individual case planning and case management and also at the level of policy and service development;
- can work comfortably within multidisciplinary mental health settings;
- can access and negotiate service frameworks involving a variety of statutory and non-statutory agencies;
- can successfully achieve consensus in representing their own professional view as one among several, perhaps competing, views or approaches to mental health problems;
- are able to work in partnership with service users and their carers, and to have the ability to appreciate the perspectives of users and carers.
Special features
Multidisciplinary teaching
Learn from psychiatrists, lawyers, psychologists, nurses and social workers, as well as service users and carers.
Teaching and learning
Find out more by visiting the postgraduate teaching and learning page.
Coursework and assessment
Course unit details
This course comprises four compulsory units and a Practice Portfolio (zero credit rated unit). The units are:
- Critical Decision Making in Mental Health Practice
- Applied Psychiatry
- The Role of the AMHP
- Applied Mental Health Law
Each of the four units are worth 15 postgraduate credits and the Practice Portfolio is a zero credit rated unit.
The pass mark for each unit is 50%. The Practice Portfolio is assessed as either competent or not yet competent.
On successful completion of all four units plus being deemed 'competent' in the Practice Portfolio, you will be eligible to be approved as an AMHP by your local authority.
12-month route
Compulsory units:
- Critical Decision Making in Mental Health Practice : Students will be given academic input on social perspectives in mental health which are informed by a social science knowledge base and social research. Child protection, protecting vulnerable adults and the MCA are essential components of this unit.
- Applied Psychiatry: This unit will examine pharmacological, psychological and social intervention strategies and the research evidence for their impact on the outcomes of mental disorder.
- Role of the AMHP: Students will be provided with knowledge about the AMHP role within the legislation and the range of functions that the AMHP is required to undertake.
- Applied Mental Health Law: This unit has a focus on the concept of risk, risk thresholds as they operate within the Mental Health Act and the skills of risk assessment in mental health crisis work. It also focuses on the interface between the Mental Health Act 1983 as amended in 2007, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Students will be provided with an analysis of how the current capacity legislation operates in a range of contexts.
- Practice Portfolio (zero credit rated unit)
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical Decision Making in Mental Health Practice | SOWK60712 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Role of the AMHP | SOWK60741 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Applied Psychiatry | SOWK60751 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Applied Mental Health Law | SOWK60773 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Practice Portfolio (AMHP) | SOWK60800 | 0 | Mandatory |