Postgraduate Diploma in CYP IAPT Therapy
University College London (UCL) and King’s College London (KCL) are in partnership together to deliver the CYP IAPT training (Children and Young Peoples, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) in London & the South East.
CYP IAPT Courses are funded by Health Education England (HEE) with the aims of expanding the workforce to build capacity and fill gaps in provision. The courses run are delivered to current Managers, Supervisors and newly recruited practitioners in CAMHS & 3rd Sector services.
There are five courses related to IAPT training. This page is dedicated to the CYP IAPT Recruit to Train, or also known as the Children and Young Persons IAPT Therapy Programme.
This Postgraduate Diploma provides specialist post-qualification training for recruited professionals with some experience. Practitioners will gain a critical understanding of the CYP IAPT model of service change, outcome monitoring, and fundamentals of evidence-based psychological therapies to treat common mental health problems in childhood and adolescence (anxiety, depression, and conduct problems).
Depending on funding and course viability, students will apply a specific specialization and develop skills in one of the below modalities held at either UCL or KCL:
UCL:
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A)
- Infant Mental Health (0-5s)
- Autism Spectrum Condition or Learning Difficulties (ASC/LD)
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
KCL:
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
- Systemic Family Practice (SFP CDD) - Conduct Disorder and Depression
- Systemic Family Practice (SFP ED) - Eating Disorders
- Parent Training (PT)
A key aim is to improve the effectiveness of psychological services for mental health disorders by embedding the necessary changes required into service culture. Students are encouraged to think about their role in the transformation of services to the benefit of Children, Young People and Families through the following principles:
• The delivery of evidence-based practice.
• Monitoring outcomes to ensure that the therapist is effectively supporting the young person in getting better.
• Engaging young people to collaboratively help to shape their services.
Course Information
The successfully recruited candidates will undertake a 1 year full-time training on the Postgraduate Diploma in CYP IAPT Therapy (click for brochure), usually starting in January.
Training is typically 2 days a week during term time, with the remaining time spent working in the service. There are the occasional extra teaching days required for intensive training (such as for the Incredible Years training for 0-5s)
The Course Fees are covered by HEE pending a successful application process. As this is a HEE funded course with employment placements, prospective candidates must be able to secure a visa that allows you to work and study full time in the UK and have plans to remain in the UK for at least 2 years post-graduation. For UCL modalities, trainees must also be eligible for Home Fees.
Pending confirmation of funding and course viability, we are likely to be offering the following modalities (please click on the course name to access the corresponding course brochure):
PG Diploma in CYP IAPT Therapy at UCL
- Autism Spectrum Conditions and Learning Disabilities (ASC/LD)
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A)
- Infant Mental Health (0-5s)
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
PG Diploma in CYP IAPT Therapy at KCL
- Systemic Family Practice for Conduct Disorders and Depression (SFP CDD)
- Systemic Family Practice for Eating Disorders (SFP EDD)
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Parent Training (PT)
More information
Course brochures can be found by clicking the Module names above.
For more information about the PG Diploma in CYP IAPT Therapy please contact cypiapt@annafreud.org
Please see the FAQ (updated regularly) for other information. We strongly recommend you review this FAQ as it will answer most questions you may have.
Testimonials
'The experienced, knowledgeable, positive and focused tutors facilitated worthwhile discussion.' CYP IAPT Therapist
'It was extremely useful and thought provoking.' CYP IAPT
Introduction to CYP IAPT Therapy: Autism Spectrum Conditions and Learning Disabilities Modality (Part 1)
Introduction to CYP IAPT Therapy: Autism Spectrum Conditions and Learning Disabilities Modality (Part 2)
How do I apply?
Application Process:
Please note applications for these courses are a dual process. Prospective candidates must apply to the University course at the same time as one of the associated job adverts. The job advert will have guidance embedded into the advert about applying for the university course, however if this is not included, please contact the Programme Officer.
Each service goes out to advertise individually and will conduct a standard recruitment process, however during the interview period they will share their shortlist with the University. The University will check their Applications Portal and confirm candidates’ course eligibility and report this to the service. The service will create a final shortlist with this information and will give a tentative offer to the applicant successful at the job interview (subject to final University and HR checks).
Candidates can apply to multiple job adverts and to different modalities – however they should review the person specifications to ensure that their experience is suitable for each modality. Each job advert will have different recruitment forms to fill out, however per recruitment cycle, the University Portals only need to be filled out once no matter how many jobs are being applied for. Candidates should ensure that they have applied to the correct course and university (or in some cases, both KCL & UCL if applying across different modalities).
We strongly recommend in your university application that you mention the modality (or modalities) you are applying for, and tailor your personal statement around the modality/modalities.
For more information, please contact the Programme Officer.
Eligibility:
Each service has their own criteria for assessing applications and so please pay attention to the person specification for each role. However, as a minimum university requirement for the course, candidates will need to demonstrate:
- A minimum of a second-class Bachelor’s degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in a relevant subject (e.g. psychology).
- Applicants without a Bachelors degree but with relevant professional experience are encouraged to apply and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
- A registerable professional qualification in a relevant subject (e.g. psychology, psychotherapy, counselling, social work, nursing) from a UK university or overseas professional qualification of an equivalent standards.
- Two years’ experience of working within a professional setting concerned with the mental health of children and young people or families (e.g. as a mental health worker).
- Experience of working professionally with children & families (e.g. as family support worker, psychosocial liaison, midwife, health visitor).
- Capability to complete academic work at postgraduate diploma level, including IELTS or equivalent to the appropriate level for students with English as a foreign language (BAND D). More information can be found here.
- Eligible for UK Home fees (UCL Only).
As soon as funding for the programme is confirmed by Health Education England, services will advertise for Recruit to Train practitioners. This is often through sites such as jobs.nhs.uk and healthjobsuk.com. We also recommend searching via a search engine such as Google which will display recent adverts. We recommend searching for and setting up alerts for terms such as:
- ‘Recruit to Train Practitioner’
- ‘CYP IAPT practitioner’
- “ASC/LD practitioner’ or some other format of each modality
Please see the FAQ (updated regularly) for other information. We strongly recommend you read this document as it contains a lot of helpful information.
How to Apply to KCL:
Please click here.
How to Apply to UCL:
Please click here.
Please note that UCL temporarily is experiencing problems with the link to the prospective page. To move onto the next step in the guidance, you can follow this link directly to access the portal to apply.
When can I apply?
The course typically starts in January, with services advertising the roles anytime from mid-August - late November. Service advertise individually and at different times.
The course will start in January 2023.
You can find the list of services who will be advertising this Autumn in 2022 here.
Recruitment & Mailing List
The course is expected to run from mid-January 2023, with Recruitment to begin from August through to early November. Please look out for job adverts and sign up to the mailing list to be informed of developments.
Our mailing list will inform prospective candidates of developments and notifications of advertised roles if the team have this information.
If you have signed up to express your interest, we will email as soon as we have been notified that a job has been advertised (however this depends on when we are notified, so please do not solely rely on this).
When you apply for a job, there will be guidance embedded into the advert about applying for the university course – you will need to apply to both the job and the university to be shortlisted for the role.
Information for Candidates:
Please sign up to our mailing list to be informed of developments and receive notification of advertised roles - but again we would recommend frequently checking for jobs via a search engine.
If you missed our Prospective Candidate Webinar, you can find the slides and the script here. the FAQs are also being updated with questions we received from the webinar and in emails.
Services Advertising for January 2023
Please see the link here to review the services. We will endeavor to update the spreadsheet when adverts close and when we receive links to adverts that go live. Please note that some services will not inform us of their advertisement and some services will be doing internal recruitment and thus will not be placing adverts. We expect most adverts to have closed by 21st of November at latest.