Course summary

The overarching aim of this course is to enable students to gain in-depth knowledge of current thinking and practices in neurodevelopmental conditions to incorporate directly into health and social care practice. This course will be delivered by current interdisciplinary practitioners and specialist academic staff. This course has been designed by senior clinicians at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Trust (CWP) and the Centre for Autism, Neuro-Developmental Disorders and Intellectual Disability (CANDDID) and the University of Chester. The course taught module content and assessments can be completed over 9 months. The course offers an opportunity for experienced interdisciplinary staff to study for a qualification that directly benefits themselves, their working practice, persons who they care for, and perhaps meet your employer’s minimum educational requirements. Students that work in mental health settings may undertake a PG Cert that is directly relevant to their clinical practice. Clinical professors and senior lecturers from a range of disciplines will deliver the module content. The three modules for this course are already validated and delivered on the MSc in Psychiatry, Neurodevelopmental Disorders pathway. The course is a unique blend of academic learning and sub-speciality clinical training. All modules are compulsory on the course. The three clinical 20 credit modules focus on mental health law and ethics, sub-speciality module, and therapeutic interventions that underpin the delivery of care and treatment. Members of the Programme Team support the vision that students embarking on post-registration education are adult learners, where characteristics such as autonomy and a sense of responsibility towards education should be nurtured. Such students should be facilitated to take control of their learning and through exposure to both theoretical and practice experience, students are provided with an opportunity to develop skills of identification, internalisation, critical analysis and dissemination. All students will have an identified Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) throughout the course, in addition to the support provided from a module tutor. Students need to be accountable for their educational and professional practice, be able to recognise the limits of their expertise, and be capable of challenging practices and initiating care that is patient focused and based upon available evidence. The Faculty is committed to providing students with opportunities to discover, apply and disseminate knowledge and recognise lifelong learning as the path to successful professional development. To this end, the course provides students with a climate for learning that is grounded in the mission of the University of Chester that values and fosters personal and professional growth. The specific course aims are:

• Produce challenging and critical thinking practitioners with a range of transferable skills who can effectively contribute to mental healthcare care assessment and treatment provision.

• Prepare effective practitioners whose interventions will be underpinned by the best available evidence, contemporary knowledge and high level clinical decision making skills.

• Develop the student’s confidence, competence and emotional resilience to consistently exercise personal responsibility and professional decision making providing high quality evidenced based practice.

• Promote commitment to the concept of lifelong learning and thereby foster ongoing personal and professional development.

• To provide students with opportunities to engage with ‘cutting-edge’ theory and evidence in applied mental health domains, with a view to promoting societal innovation.

• To offer a dynamic and quality educational experience relevant to neurodevelopmental person centred care.