AMBIT - Children and Young People (CYP) Crisis Workforce Training
On this page you can find details of our training for the CYP crisis workforce.
CYP Crisis Workforce Training
Our well-established training programme for those working with children and young people in crisis is informed by the principles and practices of AMBIT (Adaptive Mentalization Based Integrative Treatment), an approach for teams working with people who have multiple needs, often in high-risk, high-stress environments.
AMBIT is listed as an evidence-based approach for urgent and emergency mental health care for children and young people in NHS England’s recent national implementation guidance.
AMBIT supports professionals by promoting mentalizing capacities (i.e. understanding the link between mental states and behaviours) and integrated working across services, as well as fostering secure attachment relationships between children and young people and their keyworkers.
Between 2021 and 2024, this training was commissioned by NHS England for the crisis workforce in England. NHS England funding is not available for the financial year 2024-25. However, these trainings are now available to anyone working within health, social care or youth services that work with children and young people in crisis, both within and outside of the UK (training fees apply).
Our training
The training programme offers five modules tailored to different professional needs, all based on AMBIT principles. Places can be booked on our public trainings, or bespoke trainings can be commissioned for groups.
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An Introduction to Child and Young Person Crisis Mental Health: For administrative staff
This training is designed for people who work in administrative and business support roles, in teams that work with children and young people in crisis.
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An Introduction to Child and Young Person Crisis Mental Health: For non-registered clinical staff/practitioners
This training is for members of the crisis workforce who have regular contact with children and young people in crisis and/or their parents and carers, and are not formally clinically tr...
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An Introduction to Child and Young Person Crisis Mental Health: For registered clinicians and practitioners
This training is designed for registered/qualified clinicians and practitioners who might be experienced, but new to working with children and young people who are in crisis.
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AMBIT for CYP Crisis Professionals
This training is designed for anyone working with young people in crisis and their families.
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Motivational Interviewing and Mentalization for CYP Crisis Professionals
This training introduces motivational interviewing, grounded in mentalizing theory, as a model for brief interventions with children and young people in mental health crisis.
Crisis Workforce training evaluation
Our most recent Crisis Training Evaluation report summarises the evaluation of the third round of the Children and Young People’s Crisis Pathway Workforce Training, developed and delivered by Anna Freud and commissioned by NHS England. This round of training ran from December 2022 to April 2024. You can find our executive summary and evaluation reports below.
Feedback summary from our evaluation report
1,742 members of staff were trained across modules 1-4. Feedback was collected via forms, 1:1 interviews six weeks post-training and a post-training surveys. The majority of trainees scored training engagement, quality of facilitation and applicability to their day to day work as ‘high’ or ‘very high’.
Trainees felt that engaging with others from across the CYP crisis workforce was a positive experience for learning and a sense of validation.
Trainees reported incorporating a mentalizing mindset and tools and techniques from the courses into their practice with children and young people. Training was reported to have enhanced compassion and communication with Trainees’ teams and wider network relationships.
Trainees reported improvements to their own wellbeing through increased self compassion and a greater understanding of their own emotional states.
Trainee feedback
“This type of training is exactly what all employees should receive as standard as soon as they work within any role of children’s mental health - It gives such a greater perspective of the wider purpose of what we are working in, and would give people so much more confidence”.
- AMBIT CYP Crisis Workforce Trainee
Seen and Heard & Worker scenario crisis films
We have created two sets of films to enhance training:
1. Seen and Heard films
These films feature anonymised real stories of children, young people and parents/carers.
2. CYP crisis workforce films
This series of scenario films feature anonymised real-life scenarios shared by workers from the CYP crisis pathway workforce.
The purpose of the films are to:
Enhance the extent to which the voice of children, young people, families and workers features in crisis pathway training.
Support reflection and learning in crisis pathway workers, providing opportunities to apply theories and practice knowledge to real-life scenarios.
Learning activities
On our crisis films page, you can also access the learning activities, resources and printable PDF posters shared during training.
Access the crisis workforce films and learning activities