SW7006 - Assessment and Planning under the Mental Health Act 1983

This module seeks to extend your practice and intellectual skills in complex assessment and planning to enable you to apply them within the framework of statutory assessments under the Mental Health Act 1983. In accordance with regulatory requirements, your learning will be located in both practice and academic settings to support complementary learning. Module teaching comprises formal lectures combined with seminar groups and groupwork exercises to extend your skills of critical reflection on all aspects of the assessment and planning process. You will be required to undertake a work-based practice learning experience, to develop your practice skills in an appropriate mental health setting with a focus on Approved Mental Health Professional Practice. Your practice will be guided and observed by a work based AMHP practice assessor who will provide a formal statement on whether the required standards have been evidenced in your practice.

Your academic development on this module will be supported by AMHP-experienced academics who are currently actively engaged in related research which informs their teaching. The module tutor will be available for individual queries and you will receive tutorial support with your summative assignment. The programme has strong links with local service user and carer groups who are represented on the Programme Management Board and provide input into teaching on this module. Currently practising AMHPs also provide invaluable input into the module’s taught days enabling a strong focus on the interconnection between theory and practice. In line with the University Technology Enhanced Learning strategy you will be able to access all module handbooks, learning materials, reading lists and online resources via the module e-Learning Portal remotely and at any time. The University Library also provides online study skills guidance as well as access to optional taught drop-in sessions in relation to research and assignment writing skills should you feel these may be beneficial.

During your practice learning opportunity, your professional development towards AMHP competencies will be supported by an individual practice learning team comprising you, your work-based AMHP practice assessor, and an academic tutor. Your practice learning team will meet at the outset of your practice learning opportunity to consider and agree your Practice Learning Agreement. It will meet again at the mid-point, to review your progress, and any member can request an additional meeting if this is required. During practice learning, you will access on-the-hoof supervision as you undertake tasks with professional peers, and your sponsoring agency will ensure you have regular protected time for formal supervision with your AMHP Practice Assessor.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding (K&U):
1. To demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate the outcomes of interventions with service users and others.
2. To utilise research-based evidence in order to inform best practice within the Approved Mental Health Professional role.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities (IPSA):
3.To demonstrate advanced professional skills in assessment, care co-ordination and management of complex situations in the context of the statutory and regulatory framework required for the Approved Mental Health Professional.
4. To demonstrate the ability to work effectively as an autonomous specialist practitioner within inter agency and inter disciplinary contexts and intervene effectively within the Approved Mental Health Professional role

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
5. Recognise and reflect upon the use of power in the Approved Mental Health Professional role; promoting the rights and dignity of service users wherever possible.

Summative assessment has 2 components, both of which must be passed to pass the module overall.

Component 1
Formative assessment
Practice learning provides the formative context for this component. You will receive regular verbal feedback from your AMHP practice assessor in supervision and will be provided with written feedback on two observations of your practice. Midway through your practice learning, your practice learning team will meet to assess your progress against the Social Work England AMHP criteria, provide feedback, and identify any areas where further learning opportunities are needed.
Summative assessment (pass/fail)
You will compile a portfolio of your evidence against the Social Work England AMHP criteria which will include your practice learning agreement, mid-way review, and written feedback on two observations of your practice. Your AMHP practice assessor will contribute their assessment of whether you have demonstrated the criteria and recommend Pass/ Fail.

Component 2
Formative assessment
Your academic tutor will help you to identify a suitable piece of your Mental Health Act practice to critically reflect on in your summative assignment and provide feedback on a partial draft.

Summative assessment
A 4,000word academic assignment critically reflecting on and relating research evidence to a piece of your practice under the Mental Health Act. Module academics will mark this against the module learning outcomes and level 7 academic criteria.
The assessment of this module will comprise practice assessment and completion of a portfolio which will evidence all learning outcomes

Study at Level 6 or above

SW7004 Contemporary Themes in Mental Health
SW7005 Mental Health Law

This final module on the PG Cert AMHP programme is designed to equip you to undertake the statutory role of Approved Mental Health Professional under the Mental Health Act 1983, and therefore learning takes place both in the classroom and in practice, and both your professional practice and academic performance are assessed. Module teaching will enable you to consider the application of legal provisions within family, social, cultural, and ethnic contexts. You will critically reflect on the implications of mental disorder and the application of a range of statutory interventions for different groups of service users, carers and families. This will include consideration of alternatives to hospital admission, the wishes of the patient’s nearest relative, and principles of interviewing the patient in a suitable manner. Concurrent with teaching, you will complete a minimum of 40 days (300hours) practice learning within a mental health setting arranged by your employing agency. Your practice will be supervised by an experienced AMHP, who will assess your progress against the Social Work England AMHP criteria. This will support you to achieve and evidence the skills necessary to act as an autonomous professional within a complex statutory regulatory framework. You will provide a portfolio of evidence of your practice learning containing your AMHP practice assessor’s recommendation as to whether you have demonstrated the Social Work England criteria. You will critically reflect on a piece of your practice under the Mental Health Act 1983 in a 4,000word academic assignment, incorporating research evidence to demonstrate the module learning outcomes.

At the commencement of module teaching, you will receive a taught briefing session to explain the context, aims and expectations of the work required for a successful outcome. This will ensure you are clear about the requirements and learning outcomes of the module. Successful completion of this module, together with SW7004 Contemporary Themes in Mental Health and SW7005 Mental Health Law is a requirement to achieve the Post Graduate Certificate Award, for Approved Mental Health Professional practice. Students are required to attend all taught sessions for this module and an attendance register is maintained. Employers have requested to be kept informed of any absences. Students who have successfully completed this module and gone on to achieve the PG Cert AMHP Award have described an enhancement of their professional skills and confidence in inter-disciplinary working. In relation to employability, nearly all students who complete the PG Cert AMHP go on to achieve formal AMHP approval by a relevant Local Authority. Alumni of the programme see this as a significant professional development and career enhancing progression of their advanced mental health professional practice.