Are you a member yet? Membership is open to all and is the first step towards accreditation.
CWPs work within community services such as CAMHS, primary care services, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations using a range of psychological interventions and skills to support children and young people with mild to moderate anxiety, low mood and behavioural difficulties. CWPs work collaboratively with children, young people, parents, carers and families alongside other professionals (including Cognitive Behavioural Therapists, counsellors, GP’s, education staff as well as other organisations.) to improve access to psychological interventions and support the self-management of recovery.
The role of a CWP includes providing person centred assessment, thorough risk assessment, providing evidence based treatment interventions (including guided self-help and therapeutic activities), referring more complex cases within the systems of care for more support when appropriate and signposting to other agencies.
Interventions are provided on a one-to-one basis or in groups and can be delivered via telephone, video or face to face.
Treatment interventions are based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Social Learning theory. CBT informed interventions focus on areas where the person wishes to change how they feel, think or behave to help improve how they feel and their quality of life.
To train as a CWP, you need to apply for a post as a trainee CWP in a children’s and young people’s mental health service. These roles are advertised on the NHS Jobs website.
Training routes are available for those who do not have an honours degree as well as those who are graduates who can meet the academic requirements for the post graduate level qualification. You can train for either a graduate or post graduate certificate but you will need to be able to demonstrate you can study at degree level or above and are committed to completing the training.
All applicants must be able to demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills, knowledge of child and adolescent development and experience of working with children and young people.
CWP’s who successfully secure a trainee post will complete 12 month training programme which will include academic teaching and work alongside supervised in service practice. The training is fully funded and you will usually be paid a band 4 AfC salary during your training year.
For further information on training and entry requirements please see here.
Once you are qualified and experienced as a CWP there are opportunities for you to develop your skills further such as supervisory training/role and ongoing skills development training. CWP is an evolving role and future developments may include working in more specialist areas such as CYP paediatrics, neurodiversity and leadership roles. CWP’s may also later go on to train as Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist or Psychologists
If you completed NHS funded training, you will usually be unable to access further NHS funded training in a new roles such as CBT training until you have a minimum of 2 years post qualification experience. (Any queries regarding this should be directed to the service and/or training provider.)
On April 24 2023 Registration for CWP was launched. From April 24 2024, CWPs will be required to be registered with either British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) or the British Psychological Society (BPS). The registers are already open and the BPS and BABCP websites have all the details about what's required and how the registration process works.