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Fundamental Skills: Assessment and Engagement

Module description

Child and adolescent mental health practitioners assess children, young people and families with a range of mental health problems. This assessment must reflect the child and their family’s perspective and must be conducted with the child’s and family’s needs paramount. The assessment should reflect a shared understanding of the child or young person’s current difficulties and inform how decisions are made with the family about the best next steps for the child and the family. Possible next steps include giving advice and psycho-education, referral to another agency, care within the multidisciplinary Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) team (e.g. for medication or formal psychological therapy) or a low intensity intervention (e.g. guided self-help, brief behavioural activation) delivered by the practitioner themselves.

As a Wellbeing Practitioner for Child and Young People (CWP) or Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) you must be able to undertake a child-centred interview which identifies the child’s current difficulties, their goals and those of their family/parents, their strengths and resources and any risk to self or others. You need to understand the child in the context of their family, culture, wider social environment, developmental stage and temperament. You need to engage the child or young person and their carer(s) and other family members and to establish therapeutic alliances. You need to gather appropriate information from different sources, be able to make sense of this and with the family develop a shared understanding. You also need to understand how the child’s difficulties fit within a diagnostic framework, identify other physical, developmental or psychological difficulties (e.g. epilepsy, autistic spectrum disorders, impact of life experiences) and know what evidence-based interventions are likely to be appropriate.

No formal pre-requisites are required but you must be able to demonstrate familiarity with diagnostic systems such as the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and/or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as a helpful shorthand to describe symptom patterns and familiarity with standard models and approaches for anxiety disorders, depression, and other disorders with an evidence-base for both the models and the treatment.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aims of the module are to equip WPCYPs and EMHPs with a good understanding of the incidence, prevalence and presentation of common mental health problems and evidenced-based treatment choices. Skills teaching will develop core competences in active listening, engagement, alliance building, patient-centred information gathering, information giving and shared decision-making.

We will aim to show you how to:

• Assess and identify areas of difficulty (including risk) and establish main areas for change.
• Establish and maintain a working therapeutic alliance and engage the child/young person/family to support them in self-management of recovery.
• Identify and differentiate between common mental health problems in CYP.
• Navigate and signpost to appropriate interventions.
• Use routine outcome measures and standardised assessment tools effectively.
• Support both face to face and remotely completed assessments

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Safely and effectively conduct MH assessments including risk assessments under supervision, face to face or remotely in line with service policy.
• 2. Demonstrate knowledge, understanding and critical awareness of concepts of mental health and mental illness, diagnostic category systems in mental health and a range of social, medical and psychological explanatory models, including issues related to social determinants and protected characteristics.
• 3. Demonstrate knowledge of, and competence in applying the principles, purposes and different types of assessment undertaken with CYP with common mental health disorders, including awareness of relevant EDI positive practice guidance.
• 4. Demonstrate knowledge of, and competence in therapeutic introductions (including use of common preferred pronouns) and using ‘common factors’ to engage CYP, gather information, build a therapeutic alliance with people with common mental health problems, manage the emotional content of sessions and grasp the client’s perspective or “world view”.
• 5. Demonstrate knowledge of, and competence in ‘CYP-centered’ information gathering to arrive at a succinct and collaborative definition of the CYP’s main mental health difficulties and the impact this has on their daily living.
• 6. Demonstrate knowledge of, and competence in recognising patterns of symptoms consistent with diagnostic categories of mental disorder from a CYP-centred interview.
• 7. Demonstrate knowledge of, and competence in and protective factors for risks associated for mental disorder and risks to the absence of positive health or wellbeing (including issues related to diversity e.g. minority stressors model, Module Aims and Content of Education Mental Health Practitioner for Children and Young People Curriculum (EMHP) 10 inclusive adaptations to genograms, consideration of faith etc.). Understanding of the cumulative nature of risk, the age specificity of risk and ability to advise on risk mitigation and reduction, including access to relevant support groups and e learning materials (e.g. MindEd) related to sexual orientation, ethnicity.
• 8. Demonstrate knowledge of, and competence in the use of standardised assessment tools including symptom and other psychometric instruments to aid problem recognition and definition and subsequent decision-making.
• 9. Demonstrate knowledge, understanding and competence in using behaviour change models in identifying intervention goals and choice of appropriate interventions.
• 10. Demonstrate knowledge of, and competence in giving evidence-based information about treatment choices and in making shared decisions with CYP.
• 11. Demonstrate competence in understanding the CYP’s attitude to a range of mental health treatments including prescribed medication and evidence-based psychological treatments.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 12. Summarise basic and essential factual and conceptual knowledge of the subject, and demonstrate a critical understanding of this knowledge
• 13. Review and evaluate established work and identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of this work

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 14. Record accurately interviews and questionnaire assessments using paper and electronic record-keeping systems
• 15. Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, challenge received opinion and develop your own criteria and judgement, and seek and make use of feedback

Syllabus plan

The module content, module-specific learning objectives, style of delivery and assessment for this module are as informed by the curriculum for the training of WPCYPs and EMHPs to support the delivery of low intensity CBT/ parent therapy. Teaching content will include:

• Therapeutic relationship skills, ability to engage and communicate across the
• age range. Developmental stages and background, working with difference.
• Cultural diversity awareness - cultural competence
• Engagement of CYP and families.
• Using creativity to engage children and young people
• Interviewing and questioning skills
• Risk assessment, safeguarding and management
• Common mental health problems in CYP
• How to use measures, goal setting and goal-based outcomes
• Knowledge of support interventions and giving evidence-based
• information (psychoeducation)
• Pharmacology - assessment and awareness of medication that may be
• prescribed for CYP for common mental health problems.
• How to make best use of platforms of digital platforms for assessment and
• clinical engagement for remote working.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Three summative assessments are required for this module. In all cases re-assessment will be the same as the original assessment. Where you have been referred/deferred for any form of assessment detailed above you will have the opportunity to retake within the period specified above from the date that feedback was provided.

If you pass re-assessments taken as a result of referral (i.e. following initial failure in the assessment), the overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

If you fail re-assessments taken as a result of referral (i.e. following initial failure in the assessment), you will be failed in the module and as a consequence you will be failed in the programme and your registration as a student of the University will be terminated.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Core reading:

• Bennett-Levy, J., Richards, D., Farrand, P. et al (2010). Oxford guide to low intensity CBT interventions. Oxford University Press.
• Burton, M., Pavard, E., & Williams, B. (2014). An introduction to child and adolescent mental health. SAGE.

• Gallop, C., Fonagy, P., & Kidney, R. (2023). Low-intensity practice with children, young people and families. SAGE.
• Richards, D & Whyte, M (2011) Reach Out. (3^rd edition) Retrieved from: Reach_Out_3rd_edition.pdf (exeter.ac.uk)

Wider reading:

• Batchelor, S. (2017). Suicidal thoughts start young: The critical need for family support and early intervention. Paper presented at the National Suicide Prevention Conference, Brisbane.
• Bennett-Levy, J., Thwaites, R., Haarhoff, B., & Perry, H. (2015). Experiencing CBT from the inside out: A self-practice/self-reflection workbook for therapists. Guilford
• Dazzi, T. Gribble, R., Wessely, S., & Fear, T. (2014). Does asking about suicide and related behaviours induce suicidal ideation? What is the evidence? Psychological Medicine, 44, 3361–3363
• Lawlor. K. B, & Hornyak, M. J. (2012). SMART goals: How the application of SMART goals can contribute to achievement of student learning outcomes. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, 39, 259-267.
• Michie, S., Van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: a new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Science, 6(1), 1-12.
• Padesky, C. A., Mooney, K. A. (1990). Presenting the cognitive model to clients. International Cognitive Therapy Newsletter, 6, 13-14
• Papworth, M., Marrinan, T., Martin, B., Keegan, D., & Chaddock, A. (2013). Low intensity cognitive behaviour therapy: A practitioner’s guide. SAGE
• Panchal, U., Salazar de Pablo, G., Franco, M., Moreno, C., Parellada, M., Arango, C., & Fusar-Poli, P. (2023). The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on child and adolescent mental health: Systematic review. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 32(7), 1151-1177.
• Roth, A.D., & Pilling, S. (2007). Core competencies required to deliver effective psychological therapies. Department of Health.
• Young Minds (2020). Why young people will need more mental health support after lockdown. Retrieved from: Why young people will need more mental health support after lockdown | YoungMinds

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7741 and https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7761

Key words search

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, IAPT, assessment and engagement , wellbeing practitioners, CYP, children and young people, low intensity, cognitive behavioural therapy, common mental health problems, primary care, evidence based psychological therapies, clinical competency