At Talking Therapies UK, we are passionate about equipping professionals with the knowledge, confidence, and compassion to support mental health across diverse settings. With decades of combined experience in clinical practice, public health leadership, and service transformation, our training programmes are rooted in evidence-based approaches and real-world application.
We specialise in delivering high-impact, trauma-informed mental health training tailored to the needs of health, education, social care, and voluntary sector teams. From safeguarding and suicide prevention to emotional resilience and therapeutic communication, our courses are designed to empower practitioners at every level—whether you’re frontline staff, a strategic commissioner, or part of a multi-agency partnership.
Our facilitators bring many years clinical expertise , and a deep understanding of the social determinants of mental health. We prioritise co-production, reflective practice, and inclusive learning environments that foster curiosity, empathy, and professional growth.
Whether you’re looking to upskill your workforce, embed mental health into your organisational culture, or meet statutory training requirements, we offer flexible delivery formats including in-person workshops, webinars, and bespoke consultancy.
Together, we can build psychologically safe, responsive systems that promote wellbeing, reduce inequalities, and improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities. Let’s shape the future of mental health—one conversation, one training, one transformation at a time..
Professional Practice, Ethics & Supervision · AdvancedPremium · in-depth
The Mental Health Act in Practice: Detention, Treatment, Rights and the 2025 Reforms
A premium, in-depth programme on the Mental Health Act 1983 as it stands in October 2026, the Mental Health Act 2025 and the therapist's role
This premium programme is a comprehensive, practice-focused course on the Mental Health Act 1983 as it operates in England and Wales in October 2026. It is written for psychological therapists, counsellors, psychologists, social workers and allied practitioners who work with people who may be, or have been, detained or treated under the Act, and who need a secure, accurate understanding of the law and of their own part in it.
The course is current to the Mental Health Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. It identifies exactly which provisions of the 2025 Act are already in force, including the power to conditionally discharge restricted patients subject to deprivation of liberty conditions and the extension of the Human Rights Act to private providers of NHS-funded in-patient care from 6 April 2026, and which reforms, such as the nominated person, statutory care and treatment plans, advance choice documents and the new detention criteria, are still to come. It also explains how the Supreme Court's judgment of 2 June 2026 on deprivation of liberty affects the choice between the Mental Health Act and the Mental Capacity Act.
Across six modules and thirty lessons you will study the purpose, structure and principles of the Act and its human rights framework; compulsory admission under sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 135 and 136, the AMHP assessment and the nearest relative; consent to treatment under Part 4, including the statutory consultee role that therapists often fill; restrictive practices and the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018; leave, absence, discharge, community treatment orders, guardianship and section 117 after-care; Part 3 and therapy with forensic and restricted patients; information, advocacy, tribunals, children and young people, race equality and accountability; and the interfaces with the Mental Capacity Act, confidentiality, advance choice and supervision-level ethics.
Every lesson contains a worked clinical example, the common pitfalls in practice and a reflective question, together with key points, a practice task for the week, study activities and further reading drawn from a verified reference list. The course closes with an extended case study and a 25-question assessment with a pass mark of 80 per cent, leading to a certificate for 30 CPD hours. Access lasts twelve months.
The course is designed for practitioners who are not usually statutory decision-makers. It is clear throughout about what the law requires of whom, and about the therapist's own contribution and limits. It is educational material and does not constitute legal advice: for decisions about individual cases, follow your organisation's policies and seek legal advice where needed.
▶ See inside the digital classroom1 minute 36 seconds · how a course is laid out, how each lesson is taught, and how the tutor helps
Before you start
This is a premium, in-depth programme: 6 modules and 30 lessons written at Advanced level and beyond, with a worked clinical example, a reflective question and the common pitfalls in every lesson. It assumes that you already practise, or are training to practise, in this field; it does not assume a particular course before it, and it covers its foundations itself before going well beyond them.
34 study hours34 CPD hours certified12 months of accessAI tutor in every lessonCertificate on completion (pass mark 80%)
What you will be able to do
✓Explain the structure, definitions and guiding principles of the Mental Health Act 1983 and the human rights framework within which it operates.
✓Distinguish the criteria, duration and safeguards of sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 135 and 136, and describe the roles of the AMHP and the nearest relative.
✓Apply the Part 4 consent to treatment rules, including the second opinion process and the statutory consultee role, to practice situations.
✓Evaluate restrictive practices against the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018, national guidance and the evidence on harm.
✓Describe the routes to discharge, community treatment orders, guardianship and section 117 after-care, and support clients to use their rights.
✓Explain the Part 3 powers for people in the criminal justice system, including the 2025 Act provisions in force since 18 February 2026.
✓Identify inequalities in the use of the Act and describe the actions required by the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework.
✓Choose appropriately between the Mental Health Act and the Mental Capacity Act, taking account of the Supreme Court's 2026 judgment on deprivation of liberty.
✓State accurately which provisions of the Mental Health Act 2025 are in force and which are pending, and locate authoritative sources on commencement.
