People often post on the Masked AMHP Facebook Mental Health Forum to ask what is entailed in becoming an Approved Mental Health Professional. Here, then, are some guidelines about the process.
Who is eligible to become an AMHP?
In order to be eligible to train as an AMHP, you have to be a qualified professional. While for many reasons most AMHPs are social workers, mental health nurses, occupational therapists and clinical psychologists are also able to train and practice as AMHPs. Professionals will need to have at least 2 years post-qualification experience in order to be considered for training.
AMHP training courses are provided by universities. They may take different forms, and be of different lengths, but will generally last for between 6 and 12 months. They may be part-time, or have a combination of part-time and full-time modules. A practice placement, during which trainees are placed with AMHPs and take part in Mental Health Act assessments, is an essential and integral part of the training process.
At present, there are around 20 universities and training consortia providing over 30 different qualifying programmes. All the courses are at postgraduate level, and the successful candidate will be awarded a range of qualifications from a Postgraduate Certificate to a Postgraduate Diploma up to a MA or MSc degree.
How do I get onto an AMHP course?
The Code of Practice states that local authorities “are responsible for ensuring that sufficient AMHPs are available to carry out their roles under the Act”. The local authority must therefore maintain an AMHP service that can fulfil their legal obligations. They would be responsible for paying the course fees and if you are directly employed by the authority, they would have to authorise you to undertake the training.
This process would generally involve writing some sort of reflective piece relating to their experience and desire to train as an AMHP, as well as a formal interview involving the local authority and the academic lead of the course.
The local social services authority is responsible for actually approving AMHPs, but while individuals practicing as AMHPs are acting on behalf of the local authority, AMHPs do not have to be employed by the local authority.
What if I don’t have a local authority prepared to give me the training?
I have to say that it is almost impossible for someone to train independently as an AMHP.
Almost.
While nearly all courses will refuse to take an independent student, there are some courses that will consider them. The University of East Anglia course, for example, on which I used to teach mental health law, has taken several independent students. They have to pay the full cost of the course out of their own pocket, and also pay for a placement with the local authority sending students to the course.
At the end of the course, unless the student was prepared to work for the local authority as an AMHP, they would not actually be approved, but would be given the necessary evidence to show a prospective employer that they have successfully completed the qualifying training.
What does the training entail?
As I used teach on the UEA AMHP training course, I will describe in more detail this particular course. It is based within the university School of Social Work, taught at post-graduate level, and successful candidates receive a Postgraduate Diploma and will also receive credits towards a Master’s degree.
There is an initial part-time period of occasional days in university from October to December, then a full time segment from February through to June. There is a month of intensive teaching of the law and practice relating to AMHP practice and mental health, then a two month placement period, during which the candidates are placed with AMHPs and have to shadow at least 6 MHA assessments during the course of the placement.
The AMHP trainees then have to
produce a portfolio, which must include evidence supporting a range of national
competencies. These competencies cover seven broad areas of practice:
- knowledge
- autonomous practice
- informed decision
making
- equality and
diversity,
- communication,
- collaborative
working, and
- assessment and intervention.
There is also a Law Test, which consists of case studies covering a cross section of the sort of assessments that AMHPs are likely to encounter, with questions designed to elicit the AMHP’s knowledge of law and practice.
I have to point out that successful completion of an AMHP course only makes an individual eligible to be approved to act as an AMHP. Only those who have completed approved training and have been approved to act as an AMHP by a Local Social Services Authority may actually perform the functions of an AMHP.
This means that, having completed the course, the LA in which they will be practicing has a panel meeting, during which each candidate if formally approved. They will then be issued with a warrant.
In our local authority, the newly warranted AMHP is then expected to undertake three Mental Health Act Assessments, during which they will be shadowed by an experienced AMHP. They are then deemed to be fully competent to practice independently.
The next video will look at how to prepare for the AMHP interview.
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