This programme offers the unique perspective that children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is influenced by developmental processes at multiple levels, from individual to sociocultural, and that approaches to working should be informed by this dynamic, interactional system. University of Edinburgh draws on the knowledge and clinical experience of a community of developmental, clinical and health psychologists, to help students understand children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing from this perspective.

The programme includes both conceptual and applied elements. At the conceptual level, the programme will review different theories of children and young people’s mental health involved in the complex structure of typical and atypical development. At the applied level it will include the application of psychological knowledge to understanding the difficulties experienced by children and young people and the critical appraisal of psychological knowledge and its implications.