Department of Mental Health and Social Work

The Department of Mental Health and Social Work is an innovative and thriving centre of academic excellence in mental health and social work training.

Our academic staff are comprised of qualified social workers, nurses, and professionals from other related fields, such as psychology, social policy, anthropology and sociology. The teaching teams all hold or are working towards Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education and are members of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), with many holding Senior Fellowships.

Our innovative programmes and curricula have been developed by a range of academic experts, practitioners, clinicians and service users, who in addition to general knowledge and competency in mental health and social work, have a number of specialisms including but not limited to:

• Addictions / problematic substance use
• Dementia
• Dual diagnosis
• Comorbidities
• Perinatal mental health
• Co-production
• LGBTQIA+
• Mental health and social work law
• Psychosocial interventions such as CBT, motivational interviewing
• Restrictive practices in health and social care
• Transcultural competence

Given that the focus of the department is the development of the future workforce of health and social care, the department enjoys strong partnerships with mental health trusts, including the two largest mental health trusts in North London ( Camden & Islington Mental Health Foundation Trust and Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust) and is the Higher Education Institution (HEI) partner for the North London Social Work Teaching Partnership (NLSWTP) whose partners include Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington Councils and Norwood.

Our students and staff are also connected with a range of mental health and social care providers and stakeholders, including non-statutory social enterprises, grassroots and service user networks.

In addition to the portfolio of programmes, the department also has three major research centres and its own partnership platform for knowledge sharing called My Care Academy.