Enhanced Assessment in Mental Health

Explore the complexities of assessment strategies and techniques relevant to your specialism. Learn to critically appraise the application of theoretical principles, and enhance your clinical reasoning. You'll be able to adapt your study to suit your own practice and learning needs, incorporating local policies, guidance and directives.

You can also study this module as part of our Mental Health (Top-Up), designed for working mental health professionals wanting to develop their skills and knowledge.

Our short course explores why assessment is essential for effective mental health practice and how to embed values-based assessment into your routine work.

Contemporary policy and guidelines, from the Department of Health to the World Health Organization, suggest that service users and carers should actively participate in the assessment of their needs, in order to inform their inclusion and participation.

You'll will examine and discuss the complexities of a variety of assessment strategies and techniques relevant to your specialism. You’ll critically appraise the practical application of a range of theoretical principles, enabling you to enhance your clinical reasoning.

One of the features of our course is that you’ll be able to adapt the focus of your study to suit both your own practice and learning needs. To do this, with the dedicated support of your personal tutor, you'll develop your assignment by firstly considering the principles of assessment, then developing your ideas about risk assessment before moving onto a case study from your own practice and concluding with how you will apply your new learning. We'll encourage you to use your own local policies, guidance and directives – as well as national ones – to support your study.

Assessment is by a 6,000-word patchwork text. You’ll work on this throughout the course, so there's no essay to write at the end.

You’ll be studying by distance learning, so there aren't any set study dates and you won’t need to come onto our campuses. However, you are expected to set aside at least one day each week for study, and to follow the module structure rigorously. You can do this from anywhere with an internet connection.