Hi all - hope you can help.
I am a qualified practising social worker and am interested studying to gain the AMHP qualification. After searching various various social work websites, I am still having difficulty finding much info on the course.
I have a dilema in that I work full time and studying full time is pretty much out of the equation. So just a few questions if anyone can help out...
1) Where can i find a list of Uni's offering this course?? (Did'nt find GSSC site that useful)
2) What is the shortest time period that an AMPH qualification can be gained (by a current S Worker)
3) Are there any part time time options available - if so how long are these courses.
Many thanks in advance - I am only posting because am having no joy elsewhere on the web.
Hi Ross - I did my ASW (now AMHP) training in 2007 through a local university but paid for by my employer, a local authority. My employer was then able to authorise my practicing as an ASW. You cannot practice unless authorised by the local authority, and you then become registered to practice for 5 years before registration renewal, however, there is now also an 18 hour statutory training each year which you have to carry out - this can be anything from attending courses to attending supervision- providing you keep a record and it amounts to 18 hours. If you do not do the statutory 18 hours, then you will not be able to continue practising.
My course began around February 2007 and lasted until November that year. There are several theory sessions to attend and then the placement, mine was in a community mental health team and I used some of the service users on my small caseload for my assessments. My course led to my gaining a BA (Hons) Degree but I believe the course has changed now and is only a Masters (but I may be wrong about that). My course was at The University of Chester. You could ring them or download their Prospectus for more info about it or you could speak to your training department of your employer because your employer has to support your continued professional practice and learning and help you to gain the full post qualifying social work award (if that still exists).
Not sure if the course can be taken part time but you are working whilst doing the course, and you should really be in a mental health setting with a small caseload because there was a lot of paperwork to do for the Portfolio, without which you cannot pass the course. There is also a lot of reading!
Hope this is useful.
If you are working as a mental health social worker then you will have access to AMHP trining through your employer. This is pretty much the only way to train as courses are commisioned by them. If you are not a mhsw then conatct the AMHP lead in your organisation to discuss
Many thanks for the replies -
Unfortunately I am not local authority but work for a small charity. We work with clients with issues surrounding mental health but do not have a specific M H department, my employers funding the course I think would be out of the question. Any suggestions? Thanx again
you should conatct the menatl health trainer or AMHP lead of the local community mental health service and discuss the options with them
Hi- not sure where abouts you are working but UCLAN (University in Preston) are currently about to start a turbo AMHP course whereby you attend uni every monday for one year and all 3 years of the AMHP course are squeezed into the one year course!
3 years! my understanding was that it is about ten months
It depends on how intense the course is! I did the one (ok, it was an ASW course!) at Hertfordshire and it was a block course of about 5 months.
By block course, I mean full-time, 5 days a week so we didn't go into work at all for that entire period. It's a really good way to do it incidently because you can detach from your day to day work completely for a few months and concentrate on the training and the placement completely. Highly recommended.
yes thats the one i wil be doing, the one where you dont go to work, i could not carry my caseload and study
ASW training was around a year, give or take. AMHP training has changed and to some extent it depends where you do your training. The course is likely to be over at least 2 years. (3 if you want to end up with an MSc at Manchester for example.) In part this change has come about because other professions can now become AMHPs.
The real difficulty in attempting to do the course without sponsorship (other than the cost) will be the placement. Generally this is up to your employer to organise. I've no idea how you would go about this without this placement being somewhere that you could undertake the necessary practice to prove your competences in MH work.
The AMHP training at Manchester, where I have had the most contact as a supervisor etc., has had very good feedback from trainees. However it is a very exacting course and the learning curve for someone who doesn't already work and have a reasonable level of experience of mental health/learning disability/substance misuse will be steep.
If you really want to become an AMHP you should really consider working in a specific MH team and this is likely to be in either health or social services. Working in the private sector doesn't preclude you from becoming an AMHP but it will make it difficult to maintain practice, in order to maintain your status as an AMHP, as there is a requirement to undertake assessments over the 5 year approval period.
Even if you do manage to do the course and pass, there is no guarantee that a LSSA will approve you. Sorry to sound so negative, but on a positive note try to talk to someone who has done the AMHP training in the last couple of years to get an up to date description of what is needed and how much time it really takes.
amhp training in all the councils i know is still 5 months full time. you need to have shadowed a number of mental health act assessments and have a good knowledge of the mental health act. whilst on the training you need to be able to find a placement in a CMHT. i have never known anyone to do this qualification without working for a local authority or the nhs, but i may be wrong
All the information you need is on the GSCC website here...
http://www.gscc.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/68CDA9A9-72E6-414A-9A6A-508D32F99A75/0/Socialworkinmentalhealth.pdf
I qualified last year and have almost 1 yrs experience. I still have to do the Consolidation Module first once I've got a year's experience under my belt, then I will be able to apply through my local authority. They currently use Bournemouth University.
I am on the AMHP course at the moment so feel I can clarify a few points made here. You have to be sponsored by the local authority to undertake the training you cannot self fund the training. It is over a period of 2-3 years and is in stages. Stage 1 is the old PQ1, Stage 2 is the old PQ 2-5, Stage 3 is the old PQ6 and Stage 4 is a dissertation which you would have to self fund. You only need to complete stage 1 and 2 to be an AMHP. At stage2 you go on placement in a CMHT. Stage 3 gets you the full PQ award and a PGDip and completing stage 4 gets you a Masters. Another thing to consider is the university may have the course at higher specialist award or advanced award. For my LA and the univeristes we use they state that you need 2 years PQ SW experience.
It seems that it varies depending on where you live. I have colleague on his AMHP training right now and it's only 5 months full time. He did have to have completed his PQ1 or consolidation course beforehand, but this was separate to his actual amhp training.
Hiya, I am currently on the AMHP training sponsered by my Local Authority employer. The first year has comprised only 6 days at uni over the past few months and a portfolio to submit in September comprising three peices of work, a case study, a write up of being observed doing an assessment and a write up of a mental health act assessment I observed. I get four study days paid for by my employer but will be expected to complete the rest of the work in my own time. Next year will comprise approx May - August on full time placement away from my usual place of work. Again there is a portfolio of work to complete and you have to observe many mental health act assessments. The only real way of doing this training is through your employer. Hope this is helpful.
I am an AMHP and as far as I am aware Ross76, one is approved to and carries out the function of AMHP on behalf of their respective LA.
You can't detain someone on behalf of a voluntary organisation
As such my advice to you, if you want to work as an AMHP, is to get a job in a CMHT or similar for a local authority or PCT and apply through them to do the training. This training will currently take you two uears to approval.
Hope this helps.
I'm familiar with the UCLAN course and that's not entirely representative. It's different in terms of outcome award and format. It's interactive and offers much more individual support. For the first 1 year of a 3 year course you're only in uni for 2 weeks anyway! The second year is the AMHP and then the third year is an additional 'top-up' after you've already got AMHP. UCLAN also offer this and it includes the Practice Assessor Award.
I work as a locum in mental health services and have been trying to do the AMPH course for a few years. I've found that in most areas it is compulsory to be an employee for a mental health or LD team. At my previous post in Preston the overwhelming number of posts were reserved for workers in CMHT / AOT / CRHTT's with only 1 or two places being av ailable for workers in LD teams. Outside of the above there was no chance of doing the training. Preston - part of Lancashire County Council - used to use University of Manchester for the accodemic training but are trialing some places on the fast track at UCLan Preston this year. The Mcr course is two years and the Preston course 1 year. Case loads are not reduced and one just has to muddle through until the placement which is a full time placement for several months.
I left Preston in April and moved south to a locum post in a forensic team In April. I've found that the traing model in my current authority is very different to that in Preston i.e it is a 5 months intensive - ful time - course. I was originally advised that it would be impossible to do the training as a locum and self funding down here but have since been advised by the social care lead that she would not rule out having somebody working as a locum and self funding doing the courseand a placement with their authority. I have also spoken to colleagues who are AMPH qualified and are aware f other mental health workers who have self funded but this is the exception commonto the norm. The comments I am getting is that things are changing and it is becoming more common for people to self fund the course.
Having said this it is still very difficult to do the course without being sponsored as an employee in a mental health service or LD team.
I do wonder however why you would want to become an AMHP if this is not a requirement as is the case for most workers in mental health services.