Open Course: Embedding human rights legal duties in mental health inpatient care
Starting in September 2026, BIHR is excited to be re-running our 3-part online training programme focused on implementing the legal duties placed on staff working across mental health services to take a human rights-based approach.
Applications for this programme will be opening very soon.
This open course has been accredited by the CPD Certification Service.
About this training course
We are pleased to be re-running this online open course, designed for senior mental health practitioners working with the Mental Health Act, the main piece of legislation covering the assessment, treatment and rights of people experiencing mental distress in England and Wales.
With the new Mental Health Act bringing forward reforms which will be implemented in the coming years, it will be essential to get the foundations right. This training course aims to enhance the knowledge and confidence of senior leaders in inpatient mental health care to promote human rights-based approaches and build a culture of respect for human rights in their service. The ultimate aim of the course is to ensure that people drawing on mental health services have their human rights respected, protected, and fulfilled.
This course is aimed at staff working in NHS mental health trusts across England and Wales (Band 7 or above) and we will also consider applications from equivalent roles in local authority mental health teams and in independent mental health inpatient services.
This is not open to individuals paying for themselves. Bookings must be made by the organisation who can put forward up to 10 suitable candidate(s) – this is because we believe that to achieve meaningful practice change there needs to be a commitment to a human rights-based approach from the wider organisation.
BIHR is a leading provider of human rights capacity-building support in the UK. We have decades of experience training staff across health and social care services to feel confident in their understanding of the Human Rights Act and to increase their ability and accountability to uphold people’s rights in practice.
At the end of the course, participants will:
• Understand the Human Rights Act, the legal duties it places on public officials, and how it works alongside mental health legislation.
• Be able to apply key human rights in inpatient mental health care, and be able to navigate difficult situations by balancing rights.
• Be able to adopt new practical frameworks into the application of policies and processes to guide rights-respecting decision-making across their organisations.
This open course has been accredited by the CPD Certification Service.
