Mental health professionals are employed in a variety of settings. These include healthcare (hospital and community NHS services), social care, education and the charitable or not-for-profit sector.
There are also some opportunities within the private sector. For example, a counsellor could set up their own private practice, or a large corporate organisation could employ a mental health specialist for their employees. Other settings could include housing associations and criminal justice.
Support could be talking therapy, peer support, advocacy, arts or creative therapies, advice services, online services, traditional, complementary or alternative medicine. There are also crisis teams and services which help individuals in acute need.
Thinking about the client group which you would like to help and which setting you would like to work in should help you in your career planning.
It is worth remembering that most roles within the mental health sector will involve working in the public or charitable sector. This means that salary and working conditions are heavily influenced by government policy on funding for the NHS, charities and local government.
Healthcare (treatment, control, prevention by NHS)
Healthcare settings can include primary, secondary or tertiary treatment.
- Primary settings are the first point of contact for a patient. These can include GPs, pharmacists but also potentially IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapy) services and some services for drug and alcohol problems
- Secondary services have a referral point. These include hospitals and some psychological wellbeing services for example CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services)
- Tertiary services involve highly specialised treatment for example secure forensic mental health services
Social Care provision (Local Authority)
Local authorities often offer practical help and support that might be needed because of mental illness. This type of setting might include residential care, telephone helplines and mental health social worker provision – in short, any local support around mental health.
Education
Mental health professionals may work in schools, colleges and universities, supporting young people in their education environments.
Charities
There are a large number of national and local charities in the mental health sector such as Samaritans, Rethink, Mind and SANE. These offer services to individuals such as counselling, advice and guidance, advocacy as well as research and policy support.
Read Jessica Fath's blog about working for Rethink Mental Illness in a prison
The Psychological Professional Network's career map for psychological professions provides a useful overview of many of the opportunities in the mental health sector.
It is worth noting that opportunities within the mental health area are increasing with new roles emerging all the time. New opportunities to investigate could include:
Clinical psychologist
Setting: Mostly NHS, some private practice or charities
Offer therapy?: Yes, wide range of therapies can be offered
Entry routes: BPS accredited psychology degree plus work experience plus three-year doctoral training
Salary: NHS Band 7 on qualification with progression to Band 8. Doctoral training is Band 6
Graduate scheme?: No
Experience: Most applicants to the doctorate have a two to three-year career in mental health before successfully applying
The British Psychological Society (BPS) - more information on clinical psychologist
Counselling psychologist
Setting: Various
Offer therapy?: Yes
Entry routes BPS accredited psychology degree plus work experience plus three-year doctoral training
Salary: Doctoral training is not funded. When qualified the salary is a similar banding to clinical psychologists
Graduate scheme?: No
Experience: Would need some experience of counselling to gain a place on doctorate courses
The British Psychological Society (BPS) - more information on counselling psychologist
Clinical associate psychologist
Setting: Mostly NHS
Offer therapy?: Yes under supervision of a chartered clinical psychologist
Entry routes: Can apply with a BPS accredited degree to a relevant masters level course. Applicants should be currently in a role relevant to mental health. This is a new role and so information may change.
Salary: NHS Band 6
Graduate scheme?: No
Experience: Will need to be currently employed in a relevant role in the NHS and nominated for a masters level study as part of a level 6 apprenticeship scheme
Skills for Healthcare - Clinical Associate Psychologist
Assistant psychologist
Setting: Mostly NHS and some charity work settings
Offer therapy?: Yes under supervision of a chartered clinical psychologist
Entry routes: Can apply with a BPS accredited degree although recruitment is highly competitive and most successful applicants will have work experience in mental health
Salary: NHS Band 5
Graduate scheme?: No
Experience: Can apply with a BSc or MSc level qualification. Most successful applicants will have substantial experience in mental health
HealthCareers - Assistant Psychologist
Psychological wellbeing practitioner (PWP)
Setting: IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapy is part of the NHS
Offer therapy?: Provide support for low intensity mental health issues through group work, telephone appointments or signposting
Entry routes?: Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner roles (PWP) involves study 1-2 days per week and work
Salary?: Trainee PWP is Band 4 and PWP is Band 5
Graduate scheme?: Graduates have successfully applied to trainee PWP roles
Experience: Applicants would normally need some relevant experience for trainee roles but this could be voluntary
Read Kat Wheatley's, UoN alumna, blog post on applying for IAPT training
Prospects - more information on psychological wellbeing practitioner
Cognitive behavioural therapist (CBT)
Setting: IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapy is part of the NHS
Offer therapy?: Yes, CBT
Entry routes: Progression from PWP as well as some other disciplines
Salary: Trainee CBT therapist is Band 6 and CBT therapists is Band 6/7
Graduate scheme?: No, although graduates have successfully applied to trainee PWP roles
Experience: Graduates would normally need substantial work experience or a career history within a mental health or similar setting. Could be career progression from PWP
Prospects - more information on cognitive behavioural therapist
Counsellor
Setting: Various - work structure may involve self employment or flexible/portfolio career options
Offer therapy?: Yes, talking person-centred therapies
Entry routes: BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy) accredited course
Salary: Training course and supervised sessions will be unpaid. Salary varies depending on sector
Graduate scheme? No
Experience: Voluntary counselling experience would be useful, for example, Childline or Samaritans
Go to our webpage on counselling and psychotherapy
Prospects - more information on counselling
Mental health support worker
Setting: Various, may be a good opportunity to get NHS experience
Offer therapy? No, more practical support although there may be opportunity to get involved in group sessions, for example
Entry routes: Direct entry role. Applicants often need experience but could be from volunteering or temporary work
Salary: NHS Band 3
Graduate scheme?: No, not a graduate level role
Experience: Applicants often need some experience but could be from volunteering or temporary work
Mental health nurse
Setting: Normally NHS with some community roles
Offer therapy?: Could do as a part of their role
Entry routes: Mental Health Nursing BSc is three years or two-year course after a first degree for which there is Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL). You could also take a two-year postgraduate course Graduate Entry to Nursing (Mental Health)
Salary?:Training is unpaid although there is a bursary of £5,000 to £8,000. NHS Band 5 when newly qualified. Can progress to level 6/7 and for very senior roles to level 8.
Graduate scheme?: Direct entry after gaining nursing qualification
Experience: May need healthcare experience and NHS understanding to gain access to a course
Prospects - more information on mental health nursing
Mental health social worker
Setting: Mainly social care, some charity and NHS settings
Offer therapy?: Not really. Assessment and review for vulnerable children and adults
Entry routes: Undergraduate and masters (two-year) courses or direct entry schemes such as Step Up to Social Work, Think Ahead and Frontline
Salary: Training is unpaid. However, Think Ahead and Frontline: Training salary Year 1 is £17,00 to £ 20,000, Year 2: £21,000 to £34,000. Qualified social worker £22,000 to £44,000
Graduate scheme? Think Ahead (Mental Health) and Frontline (Children and Families)
Experience: May need social care experience and understanding to gain access to course
Prospects - more information on mental health social worker
Think Ahead - find out more
Frontline - find out more
Step up to Social Work - find out more
Psychiatrist
Setting: NHS and other settings including private practice
Offer therapy? Yes, and can prescribe medication
Entry routes: General medical training or Graduate Entry into Medicine plus up to six years psychiatry training
Salary: Initial medical degree is unpaid. Junior doctors start at £26,000. Consultants earn up to £130,000
Graduate scheme?: Medicine degree qualifies you for junior doctor roles. The initial training is general
Experience: Would need knowledge and understanding of healthcare to gain entry into medical training
Prospects - more information on psychiatrist
Go to our webpage on Graduate Entry into Medicine
Occupational therapist (OT)
Setting: NHS, social care and some private practice work
Offer therapy? Assessment and practical support around rehabilitation. OTs work in many fields not just in mental health and training will be general
Entry routes: Three-year degree or two-year masters qualification if you have a related degree, for example psychology, sociology or biology
Salary: £5000 per year bursary while you train. Newly qualified NHS band 5. Can progress to Band 7 and possibly 8
Graduate scheme?: Direct entry after gaining your OT qualification
Experience: Would need knowledge and experience of healthcare or social care or OT work to access training
Prospects - for more information on occupational therapist
Education mental health practitioner
Setting: Education, but 12 months initial training is NHS-based
Offer therapy?: Low intensity interventions such as guided self-help based on CBT. One-to-one support for young people
Entry routes: Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner (12-month trainee position)
Salary: Trainee roles are at NHS Band 4 with Qualified roles at Band 5
Graduate scheme?: No, but training year offers direct entry
Experience: Experience with helping children and young people to overcome psychological or social problems is required. This could come from voluntary or paid opportunities
NHS - information on education mental health practitioner
More sources of information
Health Careers - NHS Pay Bands
Health Careers - psychological professions
Prospects - job profiles
Trainee roles
For many of these roles the entry point is a trainee role (for example, trainee PWP) and will include undertaking postgraduate qualifications as part of the training.
Trainee roles are typically funded by Health Education England (HEE) who also fund the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology training. Planned policy changes from April 2022 mean that you will only be able to access further HEE training two years after your initial training exam boards.
Other roles within the sector
It is worth considering that very similar roles are called different things depending on the employer or setting. For example, a simple ‘mental health’ search on Indeed reveals job titles such as:
- Well-being co-ordinator
- Therapy assistant
- Mental health care assistant
- CAMHS primary mental health practitioner
- Support worker
- Mental health support worker
- Relief support worker
- Mental health practitioner
- Young persons participations mental health practitioner
Finding the right role for you
It may be a good idea to think in detail about the setting you are interested in, the client group you would like to support and to then investigate the roles available to you. Think about where the client group you would like to support go for help, therapy or advice and start your research here.
Such a huge and diverse sector also needs people to support it and so there are also support roles available such as HR, marketing, finance and data management. Your role within the mental health sector may not be frontline or operational. There are also roles and opportunities within policy making and project management.