Psychological wellbeing practitioner
Psychological wellbeing practitioners treat and support people with mental health problems.
What you'll do
Day-to-day tasks
As part of your day to day duties, you could:
- conduct interviews to assess and support the patient's needs
- design and run group therapy sessions
- signpost patients to other helpful services
- keep accurate and up to date patient care records
- support and train other healthcare professionals
- develop and set up new mental health support services
Working environment
You could work at a health centre, at a client's home or at a GP practice.
Your working environment may be emotionally demanding.
Career path and progression
With experience, you could train as a high intensity therapist, working with people with complex mental health needs. You could also lead a team or develop new mental health services.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
- knowledge of psychology
- counselling skills including active listening and a non-judgemental approach
- to be flexible and open to change
- sensitivity and understanding
- the ability to work well with others
- to enjoy working with other people
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- customer service skills
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
Restrictions and Requirements
You'll need to:
You may need a driving licence for some jobs.
How to become
You can get into this job through a university course or an apprenticeship.
You could do a degree in psychology or health and social care subjects then apply for a place on a postgraduate training course.
After your degree, you'll need to get a job in healthcare while you complete Improving Access to Psychological Therapy training approved by the British Psychological Society.
This 12 month course is made up of a day of academic study and 4 days of supervised practice each week.
Entry requirements
- 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
- a degree in a relevant subject for postgraduate study
More Information
You could do a psychological wellbeing practitioner degree apprenticeship.
You may need a degree in a relevant subject like psychology or nursing or experience of working in mental health to do this apprenticeship.
Entry requirements
Employers will set their own entry requirements.
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship
- a degree in a relevant subject
More Information
To get into this role you'll usually need a lot of experience of working with people who have mental health issues or disabilities. This could be from paid work or volunteering.
You can:
- get some work experience in the NHS
- search for paid and volunteer roles on NHS jobs, such as community support worker
- look at volunteer opportunities with Mind
Career tips
Experience of working with people with mental health problems will be helpful.
Further information
You can find out more about working as a psychological wellbeing practitioner from Health Careers.
You can also explore other careers in the psychological professions.
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External links
This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.