Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health (Professional Practice)
Join our community of academics and practitioners to develop your expertise in mental health services for 0-25 year olds. Our childhood, adolescent and young adult mental health pathway will enable you to be responsive to statutory and policy developments in services and interventions offered to children and families.
A dedicated team of academic lecturers and clinicians with extensive experience and expertise will facilitate your teaching and learning. Studying this pathway will enable you to identify the incidence and nature of mental health issues, and a multiplicity of interventions and caring approaches offered in these age groups.
What's covered in the course?
The pathway is divided into three separate single modules:
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Childhood and Mental Health:
Completing this module will enable you to develop your understanding of perinatal mental health, neonatal and early year’s development, and attachment factors impacting on the emotional health and wellbeing of the child. This module will also examine developments in service provision, safeguarding principles, and role of statutory agencies.
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Adolescence and Mental Health
Completing this module will enable you to examine the incidence and nature of trauma, loss, and abuse. You will also explore risk and resilience factors which influence mental health and wellbeing, community and inpatient services, interventions, and approaches to child and family centred care.
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Young Adulthood and Mental Health:
Completing this module will enable you to examine the developmental needs of young adults accessing mental health services. This will include; the role of specialist community, inpatient and forensic resources; substance use and abuse provision; and the factors influencing transition to adult care.
This pathway will be taught one day per week between 9am and 5pm and located at our City South Campus.
University based teaching and learning activities will be facilitated by academic and clinical colleagues with extensive experiences.
A range of classroom-based lectures, seminars, group work activities, formative presentations, Moodle based, and self-directed work will be adopted to facilitate your learning.
Personal tutor support will be provided by a member of the module team. Additionally academic support can be accessed from our Personal Development Department on a self-referral basis, and from our experienced library colleagues.
Please note that most modules may be studied as discrete learning units so that your specific learning needs can be addressed without the need to study an entire pathway. If, later, you wish to build upon your studies more modules can be accessed that may be combined to form an award e.g. BSc (Hons), MSc. In other terms, the credits gained from one module may be able to be combined with others to be awarded a degree. For further details, please contact the staff as indicated for the pathway.
Why Choose Us?
- We have extensive academic and clinical experience of offering a programme of child and adolescent mental health modules.
- We have extensive links with local mental health services whose staff have successfully completed the child and adolescent mental health pathway award.
- You'll train with the post-registration educator of the year 2017 (Student Nursing Times Awards)
- We have developed a comprehensive child, adolescent, and young adult mental health pathway which is responsive to the need of these age groups.
- You will have access to an extensive library of books, journals and support staff who will assist you in developing your knowledge and skills.
- You will be offered personal tutor support and additional personal development services from a professional and committed team of staff.
- You will have the opportunity to become a member of a community of practice with other students completing the pathway. This will enable you to share your experiences, share good practice, and reflexively examine your learning.
New £10,609 postgraduate loans
If you are completing the MSc Professional Practice, you may be able to take advantage of the government’s plans to make loans of up to £10,609 available for postgraduate study.
This course is not open to International students
Visit us to find out more
Come along to one of our upcoming events where our staff will be on hand to answer all your questions.
Subject event: Wed 12 June
12-2pm
Open Day: Sat 29 June
Course Accreditations
Post Registration Education Provider of the Year Winner
UK or EU students
| Award | Start | Mode | Duration | Fees | |
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| Sep 2019 | PT | TBC |
TBC |
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| Jan 2020 | PT | TBC |
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| Apr 2020 | PT | TBC |
TBC |
International Students
| Award | Start | Mode | Duration | Fees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2019 | PT | TBC |
TBC |
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| Jan 2020 | PT | TBC |
TBC |
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| Apr 2020 | PT | TBC |
TBC |
If you're unable to use the online form for any reason, you can complete our PDF application form and equal opportunities PDF form instead. The University reserves the right to increase fees in line with inflation based on the Retail Prices Index or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament up to a maximum of five per cent.
Course structure
You can choose to study this programme as a complete pathway award (full or part-time) or as a standalone module, dependent on your individual need and the needs of your organisation. All programmes offer a convenient part-time format to fit around home and work commitments
Pathway awards in Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health can lead to:
- Module only Professional Practice Level 6
- Module only Professional Practice Level 7
- BSc Professional Practice
- BSc (Hons) Professional Practice
- Grad Cert Professional Practice
- PG Cert Professional Practice
- PG Dip Professional Practice
- MSc Professional Practice
How to apply
Complete the online application form via the link above, including the name of the pathway or module you are enrolling onto.
Financial sponsorship
If you will be receiving financial sponsorship, to settle the tuition fees for this course please download and complete the financial support form. Once completed please upload it to your applicant portal.
Professional practice routes
Have a look at all of our professional practice healthcare routes available.
Degree (Level 6)
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 100 credits): Year 1 Pathway Award – Exit Award: Grad Cert / BSc Professional Practice (Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental) |
Year 2 Pathway Award (BSc Only) – Exit Award: BSc (Hons) Professional Practice (Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental) |
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the List of Additional Optional Modules * for Year 2. *Any appropriate module (relevant to Pathway / Speciality) from University / Faculty portfolio as agreed with the Pathway Leader. |
Postgraduate (Level 7)
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 100 credits): Year 1 Pathway Award – Exit Award: PG Cert Professional Practice (Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health) |
Year 2 Pathway Award - Exit Award: PG Dip Professional Practice (Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health) |
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the List of Additional Optional Modules * for Year 2. *Any appropriate module (relevant to Pathway / Speciality) from University / Faculty portfolio as agreed with the Pathway Leader. |
MSc
Year 3 Pathway Award – Exit Award: MSc Professional Practice (Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health) Option 1 In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete the following CORE module (totalling 60 credits): |
Option 2 In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete the following CORE module (totalling 40 credits): |
In order to complete this route a student must also successfully complete at least 20 credits from ‘this list of additional optional modules* for Year 1 and Year 2. *Any appropriate module (relevant to Pathway / Speciality) from University / Faculty portfolio as agreed with the Pathway Leader. |
Degree (Level 6)
Pathway Level
Modules completed
Exit Awards
Postgraduate (Level 7)
Pathway Level
Modules completed
Exit Awards
Student Nursing Times Award Winner
Post Registration Education Provider of the Year
Course dates
Please check the course dates to see when your chosen modules are available throughout the year.
Examples of classroom activities
The pathway offers the opportunity to reflect critically on your practice, and to deepen your specialist clinical knowledge. Case studies, simulation, classroom debate, and on line forums will be used throughout the pathway.
Our Facilities
We are constantly investing in our estate and are currently in the process of spending £260 million on new learning facilities.
We boast up-to-date, innovative facilities that simulate the real situations that medical staff may come across.
These resources are essential in offering students a hands-on introduction to health and social care practice. Much of our teaching is carried out within our state-of-the-art, £30m Seacole Building, which houses cutting-edge facilities.
Take a virtual tour of our skills suites at Seacole
In a sector where new techniques are constantly being discovered, we work hard to ensure that students learn using the most up-to-date equipment available. These include the only mock operating theatre in an English university and a cutting-edge radiography virtual clinical training facility, virtual ward and virtual case creator.
Virtual Case Creator
For pre-registration midwives, Virtual Case Creator software contains a range of scenarios to let you experience birthing situations and decide on appropriate interventions in a safe environment.
Hospital Ward
Our mock wards enable you to get a feel of what a ward is really like before you head out for your first placement. They contain ‘Sim Men’, which are demonstration dummies that develop ailments, allowing you to treat them as you would a real patient and build your confidence in reacting to the changing needs of patients.
The Hospital Ward can be adapted from a low care to high dependency care environment with the necessary monitoring equipment.
Part of the package is our SIM baby, SIM man and Mega code kid. There are also nursing manikins for fundamental skills teaching and various equipment to support essential skills teaching, such as blood pressure monitoring venepuncture and cannulation equipment.
Skills Practice and Clinical Enhancement facility
The SPACE (Skills Practice And Clinical Enhancement) learning facility lets you further practice the skills taught in class, at your own pace and convenience.
It is fully stocked with the specialist items and equipment needed for procedures such as taking blood pressure, giving an injection, abdominal examination of a pregnant woman and caring for ill babies in an incubator.
Biomedical Laboratories
We have recently installed new laboratory facilities to help you explore understand the scientific principles underpinning many of our courses. The physiology laboratory is equipped to help you learn about the way the human body works by performing investigative experiments. The biomedical science laboratory is undergoing an upgrade over the summer and will allow you to learn about anatomy, cellular processes, immunology and enzymology in a hands-on way that links directly to day-to-day health care.
Simulation Mannequins
We have several Simulation men (SIM men) and Simulation babies (SIM babies) which are leading edge, anatomically correct mannequins used for teaching specific techniques such as advanced adult and paediatric life support skills, acute and high dependency clinical skills, first aid and communication skills.
The SIM men and SIM baby mannequins are complete with software, which is used to replicate real symptoms, and are enhanced by the manipulation of for example blood pressure, pulse and heart rate for extra realism. SIM Man can also “talk” to the students which adds another dimension to their use in teaching clinical skills and in simulation exercises.
Mary Seacole Library
The Seacole library, based at City South Campus, is one of the UK's largest specialist health education libraries. The state-of-the art facility offers an extensive range of range of information and reference materials set out in a relaxing environment, conducive to studying. There are comfortable seating areas, group study areas, a silent study area and private study rooms.
The Seacole building houses a large open access IT Suite which comprises of 96 PCs, full colour printers, photocopiers and scanners. Our PCs utilise the latest Intel i5 core technology, all with:
- Fast (unrestricted) internet connectivity
- Ability to save files to USB, DVD & CD
- Microsoft Office software
- Research and statistical software
- Storage space which can be accessed from any PC across the University and from home
Our PCs are also designed to support students who may have difficulties with reading and writing, featuring specialised software with zooming/magnification and screen reading capabilities, which may also be customised for individual student needs.
The IT Suite offers extended opening hours and is supported by a specialist Open Access Assistant during term time. In addition to the open access PCs within the IT Suite, there are 12 networked student PCs available within Seacole library.
Paul Millwood
Senior Lecturer
Paul has worked in mental health nursing and nurse education for 34 years, with his time in practice being spent in community and specialist forensic mental health settings for children and adolescents. Following completion of his mental health and adult nurse training in the 1980s, Paul worked in a number of senior clinical nurse specialist roles before being appointed as a Senior Lecturer in 2004 at Birmingham City University. He also completed the ENB specialist practitioner award in child and adolescent mental health nursing at Birmingham City University.
Within this period Paul has also completed an MSc in addictions counselling (Birmingham University 2000-01), an M(Ed) completed at Birmingham City University in 2003/4, and is currently in the process of submitting his PhD for external examination. Paul's thesis has examined the professional socialization experiences of a group of mental health student nurses and the factors influencing the centrality of care in this process.
As a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University Paul was appointed as the pathway leader for the child and adolescent mental health nursing program in 2008. Since this time he has developed a range of teaching and learning resources focusing on child and adolescent mental health, and developed close links with clinicians engaged in this specialism.
Paul is the lead for the Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health Pathway for post-qualifying students.
William Murcott
Senior Lecturer
Will is a senior lecturer in the Mental Health and Learning Disability team and he is the deputy programme director for the BSc (Hons) Nursing:Mental Health programme. He teaches on the pre-registration nursing courses where he is a module coordinator and he also teaches on post-registration mental health courses.
He qualified as a mental health nurse in 2002 and has worked in a variety of settings. Will has worked with people in acute secure settings, child and adolescent hospital settings and in the community. His main focus was working with young people and families in the community. This has enabled him to become involved with CAMHS service development work overseas. Will's time with young people and families has mainly been involved with people recovering from trauma and abuse
the Deputy Programme Director for the BSc (Hons) Nursing: Mental Health programme.
Enquiries
For all course enquiries please contact the Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health Pathway Leader, Paul Millwood on:
- 0121 202 4543
- paul.millwood@bcu.ac.uk
International Enquiries
If you are an international student please contact the international office for more information on entry requirements:
- Tel: +44 (0)121 331 5389
- Email: international.enquiries@bcu.ac.uk
Professional Navigator
The Professional Practice Programme consists of a selection of modules that can be studied on their own or as part of an award. For help in deciding which modules to study or your outcome award please contact our Professional Navigators on navigator@bcu.ac.uk
All students must be engaging in an appropriate mental health context one day per week.
What award you exit the programme with is dependent upon the amount credits you enter the programme with.
To gain a BSc / BSc (Hons) you must have the equivalent of a Dip HE or 240 credits of which at least 120 are at Level 4 and a 120 are at level 5 as recognised by this university.
To gain a Graduate Certificate / Diploma you must have a relevant Bachelors degree (Ordinary or Honours) or 300/360 credits of which at least 60 are at level 6.
The Advanced Diploma Professional Studies Award will be suitable for you if you do not have the prerequisites for any of the other awards.
Professional practice routes
Have a look at all of our professional practice healthcare routes available.