Personality Disorder (Graduate Certificate)

The programme provides a focused qualification in working with people who have a diagnosis of personality disorder.

About the programme

There has been a significant shift in the current and future provision of care and support for people with personality disorder and those who work with them. This programme will give you the opportunity to develop specialised knowledge about the needs of people with personality disorder in a variety of settings. You will extend your knowledge, understanding and skills to support and meet the needs of the challenging experiences faced by people who are often stigmatised, isolated and rejected by society. You will be taught by lecturers with a wide range of knowledge about personality disorder from diverse perspectives. In addition, an important contribution will be made from clinical experts in the School of Forensic Mental Health (SoFMH) and the health sector across Scotland.

Your learning

You will study three modules at SCQF Level 9: Theory of Personality Disorder; Risk Assessment and Risk Management; and Interventions and Strategies for dealing with people who have personality disorder. The first two modules can be taken as stand-alone modules. If you wish to complete the Graduate Certificate you will need to complete all three modules.

Further study

On successful completion, further study options could include the Postgraduate Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or the MSc Vulnerability.

Our Careers Adviser says

Graduates of this programme will have broadened their knowledge of personality disorder and enhanced their professional credentials particularly for those in the community or forensic mental health settings, as well as criminal justice social workers and mental health practitioners working in the Scottish Prison Service or police custody settings.

State-of-the-art facilities

Our campuses are equipped with artificial simulated environments with contemporary healthcare technology, where you’ll learn in a realistic context, to put your knowledge into practice. The unpredictability of patient symptoms are mimicked using sophisticated software in a clinical ward setting, ranging from low to high dependency beds.

Investment in the Domus Initiative – an older adult artificial home environment – provides you with experience in caring for older people and dementia care. In a first for the Scottish university sector, we have established A Community Orientated Resource for Nursing (ACORN) where students can practice within a simulated primary care environment.

Lanarkshire and Paisley campuses also provide midwifery students with excellent learning and teaching environments with facilities and equipment that includes a birthing room with maternal simulator and a birthing pool for simulated water births.

Life-changing research

We work jointly with a range of partners, both nationally and internationally, on our research interests, and this directly informs teaching at UWS – which means that you’ll learn from the experts.

Our programmes are informed by practice and all of our academic staff are members of the School’s Institute of Healthcare Policy and
Practice. Some of our most recent initiatives include –

• the launch of a new resource, ‘Jenny’s Diary’, which will provide an invaluable tool for families and practitioners to help people with a learning disability understand their diagnosis of dementia

• the development of a new ‘Philosophy of Care’ in partnership with Broomfield Court Care Home in Glasgow, which will look at ways of enhancing the culture and care within a care setting

• we have collaborated with Ayrshire Hospice to launch the first University Hospice in Scotland to help improve the lives of people with life-limiting illness, their families, partners and carers across Ayrshire & Arran; and Ardgowan Hospice in Greenock, with it becoming a University Teaching Hospice and launching a two-year research project with the University aimed at revolutionising the way palliative
care is delivered to improve the patient journey

• the launch of Dumfries & Galloway Recovery College – the first of its kind in Scotland – which offers short courses designed to enhance self-belief, identify ambitions and encourage learning

• in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Edinburgh, the mental health team lead research into the relationship between emotional intelligence and clinical and academic performance in student nurses

• we are working with the Glasgow Improving Cancer Journey Programme to evaluate this groundbreaking intervention in cancer care in Scotland

• we have launched a new state-of-the-art microbiology lab which will form a research base in the fight against Healthcare Associated Infection

• a collaboration with a number of European partners to develop shared academic and practicebased programmes to prepare family health nurses in Europe

Candidates will normally be educated to degree level or equivalent. Applicants may also be considered with other academic, vocational or professional qualifications.