Parent Carer Peer Support course applications

At the Charlie Waller Trust, we believe that every parent or carer should be able to access support from their peers. We believe in the strength that comes from representation of the rich diversity of parent and caring experiences – diversity of family makeup, culture, ethnicity, neurodiversity, sexuality, migration history, disability or faith and we hope to be part of building a peer support community that reflects this diversity. We feel this new emerging workforce deserves expert training and a partnership with professionals.

We are now taking applications for our fully funded Parent Carer Peer Support course which will start in the first week of January 2026. The deadline for completed applications is Friday 28th November, 2025 at 6pm. We will be running a series of online application drop-in sessions through October and November for anyone interested in applying or who may have questions. You can also reach out to the team with questions by emailing pcps.training@charliewaller.org.

We will be accepting partnership applications between a parent or carer who has lived experience of supporting a child or young person with mental health issues and a service that supports children, young people and or families to improve their mental and emotional wellbeing anywhere in the UK. This is to make sure that parents and carers working in this way - whether in the voluntary sector, NHS, education system or in children's services - have the support of an organisation around them.

Funds have been placed with the Charlie Waller Trust to provide this training and to provide your service with a £3305 grant to support the PCPSW to participate in the training and to acquire experience of supporting parents and carers.

• 8 half day online sessions provided for parents and carers an online platform such as Zoom or Teams
• Online support and sessions to help parents and carers with the technological aspects of online learning before the course starts
• 30 hours of self-directed learning on topics relating to the PCPS role – if you haven’t done self- directed learning before don’t worry, there will be additional drop-in support sessions available.  Where the parent or carer is working for a service, line managers must ensure that the learner has protected time to complete the self-directed learning.
• Each session will be facilitated by a parent or carer with lived experience and a children and young people’s mental health professional
• Learners will be asked to complete a portfolio of evidence to support learning (this can be done in a style that suits the learner, e.g. talking, writing or visuals)
• A CPD certificate will be awarded, by the University of Reading or Northumbria University both highly respected in the field of children and young people’s mental health (CYPMH)

Please download the timetable below:

We ask services who come in partnership to confirm that both sorts of supervision are available, and that the clinical supervision is from a qualified mental health professional with direct links to or within local CYPMH systems.  Services may have two people providing supervision, for example from line management as well as clinical supervision, and supervision can be one to one or in groups.

Supervising a PCPS worker is different from supervising a Mental Health professional. The PCPS worker may be working within a service that their child attended, and their experience of the service may be positive or negative. As a new member of the team, PCPS workers will need support to navigate local systems. The supervisor provides an essential bridge to their colleagues to ensure the contribution of the PCPS worker is understood, valued and that the PCPS worker is appropriately supported.

Our mandatory training for supervisors on either Wednesday 10 December 1pm – 4:30pm or Tuesday 6 January 9:30am – 1pm will cover how to work with PCPS and with other colleagues to maximise the positive experience for all stakeholders. Supervisors will be offered further support from peer facilitated sessions, meeting with other supervisors to problem solve together. You will be asked to confirm your supervisor’s details when you apply for the course, and the training must be attended.

Support for services

We include a ‘kick off’ session for service managers/leads as a mandatory part of the training course. This will be an opportunity to discuss what your learners and supervisors will need as they undergo the training as well as explore together what changes you may need to make to your services to enable this new workforce to thrive. You will be asked to select a date when you apply for the course, and this meeting must be attended by someone in a position to make any changes required in the service.  We will also be running a series of online application drop-in sessions through October and November for anyone interested in applying or who may have questions.

The window for applications is from Monday 20th October – Friday 28th November 2025.  There will be tech support sessions in the week commencing 15th December 2025 which learners can book onto to help them understand the learning platform used during the course, and the first session for the course will be in the week commencing 5th January 2026.

The online sessions are delivered by the Reading Team on Monday mornings and by the Northumbria Team on Thursday mornings. Learners can express a preference, and if they have no preference, we will allocate to whichever course has spaces.

Drop in and speak to the team! Before attending an application drop-in, we hope that you will have attended one of our info sessions and looked at the course information on our website. Use the links below to book your 15-minute drop-in with one of the team:

• We are ready to make a joint application between a parent(s) or carer(s) who has lived experience of supporting a child with mental health difficulties and their linked service.
• We have identified and agreed line management and clinical supervision
• We have checked that the parent carer has access to appropriate technology to undergo online training or will supply them with the appropriate kit
• We are ready to provide written or spoken supporting statements for our joint application
• We have checked the timetables, and we are able to commit to these dates
• The learner has internet access and can access a web browser.

Please note this is a joint application however, the service and parent or carer will need to fill in a separate application form and both forms will need to be received to be considered for a place on the course.