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Career Planning

Why is this important?

There is an untapped recruitment supply pipeline that leads from the mental health support workforce into other mental health roles that may have high targets to meet or are hard to recruit to. If an organisation can build obtainable career pathways this may help them to reduce vacancies in other roles.

A recent survey of the mental health support workforce showed that a quarter of respondents wanted to remain in post and the remainder wanted to progress into other roles. This is a steady alternative supply pipeline for other roles in the Trust; 30% of respondents wanted to move to a higher support role and 46% wanted to move to a registered grade. However, when asked whether they knew how to progress their career, only half did. (King's College London, 2021, pg. 19).

We also know that 92.5% of mental health support workers or healthcare assistants in June 2019, and who were still employed by the NHS the following year, remained in the same role – suggesting difficulties in progression (Nuffield Trust, 2021, pg. 43).

Career planning in mental health services is complex – there is no central resource that someone can access that holds all the roles available, including the requirements for those roles and the funding and support available. However this does exist across different sources and we have tried to collate these here to be used as a base for career conversations.

The mental health support workforce tell us that ‘more effective appraisals’ and ‘transferable learning’ are the top two workforce interventions they felt would have the greatest impact on improving their careers. (King's College London, 2021, pg. 4). Find out more about effective appraisals and transferable learning in the day-to-day management section of the toolkit.

Health Education England’s Supporter Voice Network (a free virtual network) has identified a lack of career progression opportunities and clear pathways as a key issue.

How to use these resources?

The resources here are primarily focussed on individual conversations with the mental health support workforce. However we would strongly recommend working with your HR teams and head of department to create a more strategic career pathway, using the same resources here, that is available for all of the mental health support workforce and tailored to the opportunities available at your organisation.

It is important to note that being part of the mental health support workforce is a valuable and skilled career option in its own right – not all staff will be using this role as a stepping stone to the next position. However, don’t forget career pathways can be across as well as up and so some staff who wish to remain in post may be interested in equivalent roles.

checklist Career planning: To Do List

Acknowledge that not everyone wants to move from their current role, and being part of the mental health support workforce is a valuable and skilled career option in its own right. Therefore there should be a trigger for having a discussion with your mental health support workforce about career planning (for example in 1.1s, appraisals, when they have asked for one). However do discuss that career pathways can be across as well as up and so there may be options for sideways move.

Facilitate a discussion to help them understand what they enjoy about their current role, what they don’t enjoy, what their motivations for work are, what their current strengths are, what skills/knowledge/experience they have etc. Your Learning and Development team should be able to support these discussions. This exploration and self-reflection may last over several sessions and the output should start to narrow down some career options.

Together you can research (using the resources here as a starter) the different career options available.

Assess what the entry requirements are using the career maps below. Conduct job searches online for specific roles and look at the person specifications to see what employers are asking for.
Assess how competitive different career pathways are - speak to your HR team to understand how often certain roles become vacant in your Trust and how many applications they receive. Conducting job searches online or speaking to recruitment agencies will give further information.
Assess what funding is available. Speak to your HR team and use the resources below.
Ask staff who do the desired role at your Trust (or from your networks) to speak to the mental health support workforce – share what the role is like day to day, what they enjoy, what they find challenging. Give an opportunity for questions. You can also see mental health professionals talk about their roles from the resources attached, such as the ‘Day in the life’ resources in this section.

Now that you may be clearer on the type of career suitable and have assessed current and needed requirements – what opportunities can you provide to close the gap? Speak to your HR and Learning and Development team for help on this. It may be a qualification is required but it could also be skills that can be gained by shadowing, secondments, acting-up opportunities; knowledge can be gained by networking, attending talks, reading relevant literature/media. Look at your local learning and development policy for guidance on study leave and funding.

There are lots of resources online, training sessions and support from your HR team that can help staff with best practice for applications and interviews. Providing opportunity to practice and giving helpful feedback will help.

General mental health service roles / mental health support workforce career resources

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Support Worker - Help and Resources east

This page has been put together for Health Care Support Workers to enable them to find, in one place, information relevant to their current role as well as information about how they can progress to registered professions.

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National Careers Service: Healthcare east

Find out what a job involves and if it's right for you.

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HEE Talent for Care: Widening Participation east

A directory of best practice. Access the SharePoint link from this page and select ‘widening participation directory’. See especially band 1-4 workforce development and career pathway development.

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Health Careers east

Health Careers is the information service about the range of 350 or so careers available in health.

Career maps

Use the following resources to understand different careers in mental health and possible journeys to get there.

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Psychological professions east

This map is all about career opportunities in the NHS psychological professions. Choose the route 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.

Explore also careers in:

Allied Health Professionals

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This resource provides stepping stones for everyone considering an Allied Health Professional (AHP) career no matter what the starting point is. east

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Keep up to date with work to recognise, develop and expand the non-registered AHP workforce east

There are 14 allied health professions and the below 8 may work in mental health settings. (Source: Health Education England, https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/mental-health/new-roles-mental-health/allied-health-professionals)

link Art Therapist east

link Dietician east

link Dramatherapist east

link Music Therapist east

link Occupational Therapist east

link Paramedics east

link Physiotherapist east

link Speech and language therapist east

Nursing and nursing associate roles

Understand the development and career opportunities available for the nursing support workforce across health and social care.

Potential future mental health nurses can view the required core competencies and education requirements at each level of the Mental Health Nursing Competences and Career Framework and be able to plan careers and identify continuing professional development and education and training needs.

Trust initiatives to support pathways to nursing and nursing associate roles

‘Future You’ – An Alternative Pathway into Nursing, offered by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is an alternative pathway into nursing, taking individuals from a band two Healthcare Support Worker (HCSW) role through to a Registered Nurse (RN) position.

Healthcare Support Worker pathway for progression, offered by NHS Frimley Health Foundation Trust, ensures that all Healthcare Support Workers (HCSWs) coming into the trust undertake the Care Certificate, with the option to do a level 2 or 3 apprenticeship afterwards, The level 3 Health Care Assistant Apprenticeship builds on the fundamentals of care training that all HCSWs receive and further develops clinical skills. HCSWs that progress through the level 2 and 3 apprenticeships have the opportunity to enter into level 4 Associate Practitioner or Nursing Associate roles.

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Clinical Research Practitioners east

Explore information on Clinical Research Practitioners (CRPs) from the National Institute for Health Research and find out more about roles including Clinical Studies Officer, Research Practitioner, Clinical Trials Practitioner and Clinical Trials Officer, that work alongside nurses and others. They deliver the safe, ethical, and high-quality clinical research care that is transforming treatment and patient care.

Vacancy search

Use the following platforms to search for new vacancies in health and social care:

A day in the life

The following case studies and videos provide an insight into the daily life of NHS workers in mental health nursing, nursing associate roles, allied health professions and psychological professions.

Mental health nursing

smart_display Explore what it means to work in mental health and learning disability nursing

In this video, people with lived experience of mental health describe the “huge impact” that great mental health care has had on their recovery and their lives. While mental health nurses explain why they feel there’s “…no greater gift than supporting someone and seeing them prosper and flourish.”

Explore more real-life stories from other mental health nurses.

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Cherie became a mental health nurse after suffering post-natal depression as a teenager. Her career took off from there and she isn't looking back. east

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Jenny Hiorns talks about going from healthcare assistant to nursing associate to registered nurse. east

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Ian Unitt talks about his role from working in railways for 20 years to healthcare support work to learning disability nursing after 30 years being away from formal education. east

Nursing associates

Find out more about a day in the life of a nursing associate.

smart_display Introducing the nursing associate

Nursing associates work with nurses, caring for patients to a high standard. But what are nursing associates? What opportunities do they have and what do they mean for registered nurses? Find out from trainee nursing associates and nurses.