Service Information About the Childrens' Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP) Programme
This page is for services to learn more about the CWP course and its funding.
Information for Prospective Students
Funding for Cohort 8 of the CWP programme has been preliminary confirmed by Health Education England. If you are a prospective student, please view our Postgraduate Studies page to find the relevant information.
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About the CWP programme
The national CWP programme was established as a response to the target for offering an evidence based intervention to 70,000 more children and young people annually by 2020, by training up 1,700 new staff in evidence based treatments, outlined in Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health
The CWP Programme is a fantastic opportunity for services to create new trainee roles that:
- Increase capacity by expanding the workforce through creating a new sub-service with close links to local providers
- Focus on prevention and early intervention – diverting children and young people from specialist services through guided self-help for anxiety, low mood and common behavioral problems
- Meet the gap in services– increasing accessibility and seeing children and young people who might not meet the threshold for current services
By Cohort 6 there had been 397 CWPs (including current trainees) based in over 42 different services including NHS, Voluntary Sector and Local Authority across London & the South East.
The CWP programme in London and the South East has produced some impressive outcomes for children and young people. You can find a thorough evaluation of the first year of the CWP programme here
- What do CWPs do?
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What do CWPs do?
CWPs are trained to offer guided self-help to children, young people and families with mild to moderate anxiety, low mood and common behavioural problems.
CWPs work in a variety of different settings including CAMHS, Local Authority and Voluntary Sector organisations. The work of CWPs is very varied as each service will be tailored to local need and provision but can include assessments, face to face sessions, telephone work, workshops, groups and service user involvement activities.
- Training – PG Certificate in Child and Young Persons Psychological Wellbeing Practice
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Training – PG Certificate in Child and Young Persons Psychological Wellbeing Practice
Trainee CWPs will undertake postgraduate certificate level training for 1 year, hosted by either University College London (UCL) or Kings College London (KCL) whilst being based within a service.
Trainee CWPs will be trained over the course of a year to offer brief, focused evidence- based interventions in the form of low intensity support and guided self-help to young people who demonstrate mild/moderate:
- Anxiety (primary and secondary school age)
- Low mood (adolescents)
- Common behavioural difficulties (working with parents for under 8s)
During the first term, CWPs will receive an initial three days a week of University led training, with a further two days a week allocated to work within their service under close supervision. During the second term, this reduces to one day a week University training, with four days for CWPs to put their skills into practice within their service, supported by local supervisors and service development leads. The third term sees CWPs in their service full time.
The Course Fee is covered by HEE funding pending a successful application process. As this is a HEE funded course with employment placements, prospective candidates must be able to access Home fees.
Teaching will be conducted in a blended format, but with more in-person teaching than the 2020-2022 cohorts. Organisations will be working to their own coronavirus policies to ensure remote/safe working for trainees.
Please follow the links below to see the course brochures (previous Jan 2022 cohort brochures):
- CWP funding package for Services
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CWP funding package for Services
Providers (NHS, Local Authority, Voluntary Sector) and CCGs can apply in partnership for a funding package provided by Health Education England to create up to 4 CWP training posts at band 4, which in previous cohorts has included:
- 1 year certificate level CWP training course at University College London or Kings College London for trainee CWPs
- Salary support at the equivalent of NHS mid-point band 4 for each trainee CWP (in addition to on costs and high-cost living area weighting where applicable)
- Placement support funding for each service to recruit a CWP Supervisor/Service Development lead to provide intense supervision and support for 1 day a week per CWP within their service
- A training course for new CWP supervisors
Services interested in the CWP programme should contact cwp@annafreud.org as a first step to discuss further.
- More information
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More information
For more information about the CWP programme please take a look at the FAQs:
CWP Service FAQsYou can find a thorough evaluation of the first year of the CWP programme here:
CWP Cohort 1 auditYou can read an article about the typical week of a CWP in the ‘New Beginnings’ issue (page 14) of Aspire.
If you have any questions please contact cwp@annafreud.org
You can see a variety of different CWP service models here:
CWP Booklet: Reflections from Year One
CWP Booklet: Reflections from Year Two
CWP Booklet: Reflections from Year Three
CWP Booklet: Reflections from Year Four
