School of Health in Social Science

MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches

The MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches is a campus-based unique postgraduate programme, which offers advanced study child and adolescent mental health practice through the lens of developmental psychology and psychopathology.

Name MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches
Start Date September
Mode of Study 1 year full-time
Programme Director Vilas Sawrikar
Contact cyp.msc@ed.ac.uk

Please check the postgraduate Degree Finder to see the specific entry requirements, start date and application deadlines. 

Apply Now

Our MSc programme is suitable for graduates of psychology or related disciplines and those with experience of working with children and young people in clinical, social work, educational or third-sector settings. We ask for students to have some experience of working or volunteering with children and young people, as we draw upon your experience during classroom activities. In your application, it is helpful to note what the relevance of your experience is for mental health. The programme team comprises of Academic Psychologists, Clinical Psychologists and Health Psychologists. All our staff are research active within the fields of Developmental Psychology, Health Psychology and Clinical Psychology and are able to assist students in making links between cutting edge research and their studies.  

Programme courses draw on a range of competing and complementary theories to enable students to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of attachment, adversity, trauma and the child's individual attributes and environment on the propensity towards developing mental health issues. Evidence-Based Psychological Interventions enables students to develop a critical knowledge of the evidence for current interventions and students are encouraged to think about case studies in an interactive manner via Applied Developmental Psychopathology. 

Why study this programme? 

The MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches offers a unique perspective: that children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is influenced by developmental processes at multiple levels, from individual to socio-cultural and that approaches to working with mental health and wellbeing need to be informed by this dynamic and interactional system.

Video: MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People Open day presentation
Overview of MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People programme recorded for our October 2020 open day

Programme courses, therefore, draw on a range of competing and complementary theories to enable students to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of attachment, adversity, trauma and the child's individual attributes and environment on the propensity towards developing mental health issues. The programme also draws upon many other theoretical areas, including early intervention, developmental psychopathology and resilience. By drawing on the knowledge and clinical experience of a world-class department of clinical and health psychology, students can develop transferable skills which can be carried into their future careers. 

Beyond the programme  

The knowledge and understanding of children and young people's mental health, wellbeing and psychological practice is of value to a wide range of professions working with children. The degree also demonstrates a student's high level of commitment to working with children and young people and can lead to careers in clinical practice, social work, social care, nursing, teaching and working for volunteer organisations.  

Further Study Opportunities    

Some students complete the MSc in preparation for undertaking PhD-level study. Some students do not start with this intention but enjoy research so much during the dissertation that they wish to continue. 

Courses within the MSc programme may be taken as stand-alone CPD courses for which credits will be awarded. 

Find out more about our postgraduate Clinical and Health Psychology options