Psychological wellbeing practitioner
Psychological wellbeing practitioners treat and support people with mental health problems.
Also known as: Primary care graduate mental health worker
- Starter salary£28,000 a year
- Experienced£39,000 a year
- Typical hours37 to 40 a week
What you'll do
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.
Skills and knowledge you'll need
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
How to become a psychological wellbeing practitioner
You can get into this job through a university course or an apprenticeship.
University
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
Apprenticeship
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
Volunteering
To get into this role you'll usually need a lot of experience of working with people who have mental health issues. This can be from paid work or volunteering.
You can:
- get work experience in the NHS
- search for roles on NHS jobs , like community support worker
- find opportunities with Mind , Rethink Mental Illness and Turning point
Restrictions and requirements
You'll need to:
- pass enhanced background checks
You may need a driving licence for some jobs.
Career tips
You would be expected to have an understanding of how the NHS values would impact your work, if applying for jobs in the NHS.
Guides for this industry
Related roles
- Job rolePsychologist
- Job roleCounsellor
- Job roleArt therapist
- Job roleCognitive behavioural therapist
- Job roleDramatherapist
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0