Training for the mental health workforce: a review of developments in the United Kingdom

Implementation of the National Mental Health Strategy has important implications for education and training of the Australian mental health workforce. This paper discusses relevant developments in the United Kingdom that may provide some lessons for Australia.

A review was undertaken of a number of specific clinical education and training programs for mental health workers in the United Kingdom which have been subjected to published evaluation.

A finite mental health resource base dictates that education and training activity should: (i) be evaluated; (ii) target those clients most in need; (iii) include evidence-based approaches such as assertive community treatment, medication management, cognitive-behaviour therapy and family interventions; and (iv) prepare mental health workers in the core competencies needed to implement these approaches. Two programs, developed in the United Kingdom, which meet these criteria are presented as examples of best practice: the nurse therapy model established by Isaac Marks; and the Thorn initiative established in association with the Institute of Psychiatry, London and the University of Manchester.