Training Senior Wellbeing Practitioners: the development of a framework to identify and assess clinical competency

Abstract The Senior Wellbeing Practitioner (SWP) postgraduate certificate is a new low-intensity psychological training intended to expand the Children and Young People’s mental health workforce. It builds on the skillset of qualified Child Wellbeing Practitioners (CWPs) and Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs), by providing training to work with a broader range of presentations including neurodivergence. The SWP Skills and Competency Framework (SWP-SCF) is a new tool developed in response to the need to operationalise and assess the skills necessary to work with the range of presentations SWPs are required to treat, whilst retaining fidelity to the low-intensity intervention approach. As training providers we have used the SWP-SCF with our first cohorts of SWPs as an aid for skill development and reflective practice, as well as for assessment of clinical competency within assignments. Students and tutors have reported good face validity and utility, and further assessment of the validity of this framework appears warranted. Key learning aims (1) To understand the role of the SWP and how this fits into the wider child and adolescent mental health workforce. (2) To outline the key skills and competencies necessary for SWPs to deliver effective interventions at the low-intensity level. (3) To present how the SWP Skills and Competency Framework was developed and how this can be used as a tool within training and supervision.