Mentors for National Autism Training Programme for Psychiatrists – Cohort 3
- Status : March 2024 to February 2025
- Salary : 8,250 per year
- Closing date : 10/03/2024
We are looking to recruit a group of mentors who have expertise in working with autistic mental health patients (ideally in specialist autism settings) for the National Autism Training Programme, funded by National Health Service England (HEE) and developed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. As the course is funded by NHSE, mentors must work in England.
RCPsych was commissioned by HEE to develop and run an enhanced course to provide specialist autism psychiatrists (or those wanting to develop into autism specialists) with the clinical skills needed to deliver enhanced autism support, including diagnosis, co-morbidity, and therapeutic approaches.
The next enhanced course will be in March 2024 and we want to recruit additional mentors to support trainees on that course. Learning will continue as participants complete a suite of eLearning modules over the course of the next year. They will also be expected to undertake guided self-study and to complete five formative assessments throughout this year.
In addition to these structured learning opportunities, the course will give participants access to a community of practice where they can share their thoughts with other participants and build professional relationships that can continue beyond the end of the course and support them in their specialist autism roles.
The final component of the course is mentoring. It is incredibly important that participants can learn from those who have already developed expertise in this area.
Mentors would be expected to work with a group of sixteen mentees. The time needed to do this is 150 hours over the course of the year from March 2024 to February 2025.
The table below contains shows a suggestion of how time would be allocated to different activities, but this is not set in stone:
| One to ones / Group sessions | Assessment / Evaluation | Community of practice | Admin / email | Cost | |
| Six mentors, 16 mentees | 3 x 16 = 48 hours (3 hrs 1-2-1 time per mentee) | 3 x 16 = 48 hours (30 mins x feedback on 6 assessments) | 50 hours Contributing to conversations in community of practice | 4 ad hoc email, reporting on cohort progress etc | £8250 x 6 = £49,500 |
In recognition of this time commitment, mentors will be entitled to £8,250 per year.