Parent Carer Peer Support course applications

For parents and carers

Our PCPS training course is open to those working or volunteering as parent carer peer support workers, or parents and carers supported by local services who would like to train to become a PCPS worker.

On this page you can find all the information you need if you are interested in our parent carer peer support training. We will help you find out: 

  • If you are eligible
  • Course dates
  • What the training involves
  • How to apply
If you are a service, please scroll down the page to find information about applying as a service. 

Eligibility

We only accept joint applications from a parent or carer and an organisation. This is because the work can be challenging as well as rewarding, so, as a parent or carer, it's important to have the support of an organisation behind you.

The parent or carer must have lived experience of supporting a child or young person with mental health issues, and the organisation must support children, young people and/or families to improve their mental and emotional wellbeing. Applications can be from anywhere in the UK.

Are you a parent or carer who has experience of supporting a child with mental health problems? You may be eligible to apply for a place on our course.

You will need either:  

  • working or volunteering as a parent carer peer support worker

or

  • A parent carer supported by local services who would like to train to become a parent carer peer support worker

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.

The training is fully funded by NHS England, and a support grant of approximately £3300 is also available to organisations within England.

 

Our next course

We are now taking applications for our fully funded Parent Carer Peer Support course which will start in the third week of March 2026.

We are accepting partnership applications between a parent or carer who has lived experience of supporting a child with mental health issues and a service that supports children, young people and or families to improve their mental and emotional wellbeing from anywhere in the UK.

  • The window for applications is from Monday 8th December 2025 – Friday 30th January, 2026.
  • The deadline for completed applications is Friday 30th January, 2026 at 6pm.
  • We will be running a series of online application drop-in sessions through December and January for anyone interested in applying or who may have questions.
  • Tech support sessions will be held in the weeks commencing 23rd February and 2nd March (learners can book onto to help them understand the learning platform used during the course)
  • First session for the course: week commencing 16th March.
  • The online sessions are delivered by the Reading Team on Monday mornings and by the Northumbria Team on Thursday mornings - in the application learners can express a preference, and if you have no preference, we will allocate to whichever course has spaces.

You can also reach out to the team with questions by emailing: pcps.training@charliewaller.org.

What does the training for parents and carers involve?

  • 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)

What will the PCPS course cover?

  • Reflective practice and use of supervision
  • Diversity and inclusion
  • Understanding and navigating the children and young people’s mental health system
  • Managing groups
  • Co-production and the shared lived experience
  • Safety and self-care
  • Endings, transitions and new beginnings
Apply for the course
PCPS Banner (1)

Please find below the commitments and eligibility criteria overview for services and parents and carers.

  • You are a parent or carer who has lived experience of supporting a child or children experiencing mental health difficulties.
  • You will discuss your support needs with your service lead and course tutor prior to the start of the course so that reasonable adjustments can be made as appropriate.
  • You commit to attending the induction sessions and eight half-days online, attending monthly supervision sessions, taking part in 30 hours of self-directed learning and completing a self-reflective portfolio.
  • You are volunteering or working within a children and young people’s mental health service (or are looking to do so); you plan to continue or start providing support to other parents and carers supporting loved ones experiencing mental health difficulties when you have completed the course
  • You have provided a brief written or spoken supporting statement providing evidence of your lived experience as a parent or carer of a child with mental health difficulties, why you want to do this course and how you will use the training.

Download a copy of the commitments and eligibility criteria below:

Download commitments and criteria (PDF)

Please download the timetable below:

Download the timetable

Have any questions about the Parent Carer Peer Support training course?

As part of our application period we are running some PCPS information sessions. Please book onto a session below if you would like to learn more.

A one-hour information session led by lived experience parent carer peer support workers will give you the basic information about what parent carer support workers do. The session will help you think about whether the role might be right for you.

Wednesday 7 January, 1pm - 2pm

Book your place

Have any questions about applying for the PCPS training course?

Drop in and speak to the team!

Before attending an application 1:1, 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 informal 1:1 with one of the team:

Meet with Nikki Chapman our Lived Experience Lead 

Friday 12th December between 9:30am and 11:30am - book a time

Monday 15th December between 12:00pm and 2:00pm - book a time

Wednesday 21st January between 9:30am and 11:30am - book a time

Tuesday 27th January between 12:00 and 2:00pm - book a time

Want to view the application questions before you apply online?

To help you to prepare for and structure your responses to your application, below we have provided you with a copy of the grant application questions.

Download a copy of the application questions for parents and carers and services.

Download questions (PDF opens in new tab) Apply for the course

Are you a parent and/or carer who would like to help others but haven’t linked with services yet?

We have set out some ideas you might like to consider about how to link up with local services in this downloadable document.  

You can also contact us via the PCPS Training email address if you need further information or guidance. Contact the PCPS training team at pcps.training@charliewaller.org.

We might be able to help, sometimes services are looking for parents and carers in their area to partner with. If you would like us to hold onto your details and provide them to services who ask if we know of parents and carers in their area, please enter your information below:

Complete our Parent Carer Database Form

For services

About the application

We will be accepting partnership applications between a parent or carer who has lived experience of supporting a child with mental health issues and a service that supports children, young people and or families to improve their mental and emotional wellbeing from anywhere in the UK.

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.

Training for supervisors

Supervision is essential to ensuring that the service offered by the PCPS and the PCPS worker themselves are safe.

Although this is not a clinical role, parents and carers providing support to their peers need case management and agreed support from a clinician. 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 is on either: 

  • Wednesday 18th February 1pm – 4:30pm

or 

  • Wednesday 4th March 9:30am – 1pm

The training 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 December and January for anyone interested in applying or who may have questions.

 

What sort of supervision does CWT recommend?

PCPS workers require supervision during and after their training whilst undertaking the PCPSW role. Our briefing for services and commissioners sets out the role, and what sort of supervision and clinical support should be in place.

Download the briefing document

Have any questions about applying PCPS training course?

Drop in and speak to the team!

Are you in a service or a commissioner wanting to improve your local offer to families and benefit your service? Find out more about how to grow parent carer peer support locally with our free PCPS Information session.

Wednesday 7 January, 9:30am - 10:30am

Book a place

Have any questions about applying for the PCPS training course?

Drop in and speak to the team!

Before attending an application 1:1, 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 informal 1:1 with one of the team:

Meet with Kathryn Pugh our Strategic Consultant

Monday 15th December between 15:00 and 17:00 -  book a time

Tuesday 16th December between 11:00 and 13:00 - book a time

Thursday 15th January between 14:00 and 16:00 - book a time

Monday 19th January 11:00 and 13:00 - book a time

  • You will support the parent or carer throughout their training journey and beyond to continue to develop parent carer peer support services
  • You will attend one of the service lead meetings to ensure you understand the needs of your PCPS learner on either Tuesday 17th February 1:00 – 2:00pm or Wednesday 11th March 1:00 – 2:00pm
  • You will administer and use the £3305 grant to support the PCPS to participate in the training and to acquire experience of supporting parents and carers. This might include salary costs, backfill, expenses, purchasing resources, and/or IT equipment, buying in supervision if not available in service or in partnership with another service. The grant should be allocated in discussion with the PCPS trainee
  • You will nominate a CYPMH professional supervisor to undertake a half-day supervision training day prior to providing supervision.  If you have two people providing supervision e.g., a clinician and a line manager, they are both welcome to join.
  • You will participate in training evaluation and grant monitoring processes (detailing how the grant instalments are utilised to support the learner and to embed the PCPS worker role with your service)
  • You are a UK children and / or young people’s mental health service provider with the statutory (e.g. NHS or local authority) or voluntary and community sector (VCS) and you offer, or are planning to offer, parent carer peer support.
  • You have all relevant organisational practices in place including insurance, safeguarding policies and financial management.

Download a copy of the commitments and eligibility criteria below:

Download commitments and criteria (PDF)

Want to view the application questions before you apply online?

To help you to prepare for and structure your responses to your application, below we have provided you with a copy of the grant application questions.

Download a copy of the application questions for parents and carers and services.

Download questions (PDF opens in new tab)

Application check list

  • 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.

Services Application Parents and Carers Application