Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) (Education Mental Health Practitioner)

You’ll need a 2:2 degree in any subject and experience of working or volunteering with children and young people in a mental health context.

You cannot apply for the course directly without applying for the role of a trainee EMHP. To learn more about these roles visit www.jobs.nhs.uk

About this course

Explore Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) at a global top 100* university.

Provide low intensity CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) interventions for children, young people and their parents or carers. Support common mental health problems including anxiety, low mood and behavioural difficulties on this Education Mental Health Practitioner PGDip.

Your future career

You'll gain the skills needed to work in education settings and assist schools with their mental health strategies. Upon completing this Education Mental Health Practitioner PGDip, you'll be qualified to:

- Provide low intensity CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) interventions for children, young people, and their parents or carers

- Support common mental health problems including anxiety, low mood, and behavioural difficulties.

Key features of this course

At Southampton, you’ll develop the skills to:

- work in a values-driven service

- understand common mental health problems experienced by children and young people and the evidenced-based treatment options

- understand therapeutic management of children, young people and their parents/carers experiencing anxiety, low mood or behavioural difficulties

- understand education settings, including legislative and policy frameworks

- promote the wellbeing of children and young people by supporting their cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development in the context of their family, school and other systems

- understand the process of consultation and group work in schools and colleges

Further information

This course is fully funded by the NHS. The training is provided as part of an MHST clinical training role. The trainee role is full time and you earn a wage equal to the NHS Agenda for Change Band 4. Visit our course page for a full list of modules and detailed requirements.

*QS World University Rankings 2025

If English is not your first language, you will need to demonstrate your English meets our Band C: For IELTS, this is 6.5 overall, with minimum 6.0 in all components. For information on other accepted English language tests, please see the website.