Promoting Excellence In Psychological Health & Wellbeing
Career map for the Psychological Professions
This map is all about career opportunities in the NHS psychological professions. Choose the character that best describes you or the qualification you are working towards. You can see what careers might be open to you. Find out more about any of the careers by clicking on the psychological professions.
Associate and Assistant Roles
Careers in the Allied Health Professions
Psychological Practitioners
Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP)
Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP)
Children's Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP)
Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner (MHWP)
Psychological Therapists
Counsellor
Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist (CAPT)
Adult Psychotherapist
Family and Systemic Psychotherapist
Art, Drama and Music Therapist
Psychologist Therapists (Other)
My career options
These are your career options if you have a relevant degree that is not psychology. If you are eligible for a British Psychological Society (BPS) conversion course, you can achieve equivalence to a psychology graduate through the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the BPS.
As an Other Graduate, you can also become...
Other Graduate
My career options
These are your career options if you have a relevant degree that is not psychology. If you are eligible for a British Psychological Society (BPS) conversion course, you can achieve equivalence to a psychology graduate through the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the BPS.
As an Other Graduate, you can also become...
An Overview
Are you interested in delivering guided self-help to adults with anxiety and depression? As a PWP you would be supporting people with a range of different low intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) methods over the telephone, on line or in person. These methods include written exercises, computerised packages and mobile phone apps. You would combine psychological practice with the very latest in low intensity CBT innovation, helping people move forward using structured, brief interventions.
An Overview
Are you interested in working with children and young people and their parents/ carers in education settings? As an EMHP you would assess and support children and young people with common mental health difficulties, particularly mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety, depression and behavioural difficulties, offering short-term cognitive-behavioural approaches. You would also support schools in promoting mental health within the school community, and providing information workshops on mental health and wellbeing.
An Overview
Are you interested in working with children and young people and their parents/carers? As a CWP you would assess and support children and young people with common mental health difficulties, particularly mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety, depression and behavioural difficulties. You would offer a range of interventions that are based on cognitive behavioural therapy and guided self-help.
An Overview
Are you interested in providing wellbeing-focused psychologically informed interventions and coordinate care plans for adults with severe mental health problems? Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioners (MHWP) are based in the community and have an important role in supporting adults of all ages to help them live fulfilling lives.
An Overview
Are you interested in working with children or adults to come to terms with issues like depression, bereavement, relationship difficulties, sexual issues, diversity issues, child abuse and trauma? Counselling offers people a safe and confidential space to talk about their feelings and concerns and as a Counsellor you would help people to understand themselves better and find their own solutions and make positive changes. Counselling can draw on a range of different methods and always prioritises the relationship between counsellor and client.
An Overview
Are you interested in working with children and young people with severe mental health difficulties and their families? As a CAPT you would work in NHS-funded Teams in the community and in hospitals, and with all types of psychological difficulties. You would use specialist psychoanalytic skills to assess and treat children, their families or carers, through a combination of talking, playing and drawing.
An Overview
Are you interested in working with adults to overcome a wide range of emotional or mental health issues? As an Adult Psychotherapist you would provide talking therapy, helping people to change the ways they think and behave or find better ways to cope. You would address common mental health difficulties like anxiety and depression, or complex issues like psychosis or a personality disorder diagnosis. You may work with individuals, couples or groups.
An Overview
Are you interested in working with children or adults from the perspective of or with the involvement of families or groups? As a Family and Systemic Psychotherapist you would use psychological approaches to create a shared map of difficulties and challenges, which would guide the therapies and interventions you would provide, usually involving several members of a family. You might work with specific populations like looked after children, people with learning disabilities or people with dementia.
An Overview
Are you interested in working with people to overcome a wide range of emotional or mental health issues using a creative approach? As an Art, Drama or Music Therapist you would use art music or drama as part of a therapy process. Art , Music, and Drama Therapists work across a range of service settings and age-groups and work with people with a range of needs including emotional, behavioural or mental health problems, learning disabilities, or physical illnesses.
An Overview
Are you interested in training in a model of specialist psychological therapy to support people with specific mental health difficulties? A range of options are available for individuals with an existing mental health professional qualification to train in the delivery of specialist psychological therapies (for some trainings this needs to be a psychological professional qualification or even an existing psychological therapy qualification). These opportunities include Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). Note: some other groups of psychological therapists are listed elsewhere in this career map (e.g. CBT Therapists, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists, Adult Psychotherapists, and Family and Systemic Psychotherapists).