Education Mental Health Practitioner

Job summary

Are you passionate about improving the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people?

Do you have experience working with children, young people, families, schools or community services and want to develop a career in children's mental health?

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated EMHPs, CWPs and PWPs to join Barking & Dagenham Mental Health Support Team (MHST)

You will work across educational settings and healthcare services to support children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties. You will develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to deliver evidence-based early interventions, support emotional wellbeing within schools and colleges, and contribute to improving access to mental health support across Barking & Dagenham.

Main duties of the job

Deliver evidence-based early interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.

Work in partnership with schools, children, young people and families to support the self-management of presenting emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties.

Undertake assessments, contribute to formulations and develop collaborative intervention plans under appropriate supervision.

Deliver guided self-help and other evidence-based interventions on both an individual and group basis.

Support education staff to identify, understand and respond to mental health and wellbeing needs within their settings.

Promote emotional wellbeing and improve access to mental health support across educational settings.

Liaise effectively with health, education, social care and voluntary sector partners to support integrated care and effective pathways.

Identify and appropriately escalate concerns where children and young people require more specialist mental health intervention.

Maintain accurate clinical records, outcome measures and activity data in line with Trust policies and professional standards.

Participate fully in the Education Mental Health Practitioner training programme and associated supervision requirements.

About us

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and community services for over 4.9 million people living in the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, and across Essex.

We work to ensure our patients, their friends and family, feel confident that their health needs are well met. With an excellent reputation for research and development, our skilled health professionals are at the cutting edge of evidence-based innovation, opening up the possibilities for better ways of working and delivery of care.

Job responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will be a member of the Barking & Dagenham Mental Health Support Team (MHST), working collaboratively with schools, colleges, children, young people and families to improve access to early mental health support and intervention.

Working under appropriate clinical supervision and as part of a multidisciplinary team, the post holder will deliver evidence-based interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties. This will include undertaking assessments, contributing to formulations, developing collaborative intervention plans, delivering guided self-help and other low-intensity interventions, and monitoring progress and outcomes.

The post holder will work closely with education settings to promote emotional wellbeing, support the development of whole-school approaches to mental health, and assist education staff in identifying and responding appropriately to emerging mental health concerns. They will contribute to strengthening links between education and specialist mental health services, ensuring children and young people receive timely support and are signposted or referred appropriately where higher levels of need are identified.

The role requires effective partnership working with a range of professionals across health, education, social care and voluntary sector services. The post holder will be expected to communicate sensitively and professionally with children, young people, families and partner agencies, maintaining a child-centred, strengths-based and inclusive approach at all times.

The successful candidate will be responsible for maintaining accurate and contemporaneous clinical records, collecting and reporting outcome measures, and ensuring all work is completed in accordance with Trust policies, professional standards, safeguarding requirements and information governance procedures.

The role will involve working across a range of educational settings and community locations throughout Barking & Dagenham and therefore requires flexibility, strong organisational skills and the ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a wider multidisciplinary team.

Working for Us
Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030
Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT. They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

High Cost Area Supplement – Outer London
(B&D, Redbridge, Havering and Waltham Forest, Goodmayes) This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4870to a maximum of £6,137 p.a. pro rata for part time).

Certificates of Sponsorship
Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications.

Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.

We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.

For an informal chat or to arrange a visit, please contact:

Name: Nasif Nijabat
Job title: Clinical Lead and Service Manager
Contact Number: View phone number on meeveem.com
Email: View email address on meeveem.com

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Successful completion of the HEE commissioned 1yr Education Mental Health Practitioner course.
• Ability to work to degree level
• Proven record of previous academic attainment
• NVQ level 2 or equivalent standard of literacy and numeracy

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with children and young people, their families and others.
• Experience of working in mental health and/or education settings.
• Experience of working with children and young people who have social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties
• Ability to work within educational settings to increase mental health awareness within the staff group
• Experience of working and liaising with a wide variety of agencies and stakeholders
• Experience of working with anxiety disorders
• Experience of the delivery of specific therapeutic interventions to children, young people or their families (e.g. CBT, solution focused brief therapy)
• Ability to carry out 1:1 therapeutic mental health interventions with children and families
• Ability to conduct mental health assessments of children and young people
• Ability to make an assessment of risk and to record and communicate it appropriately.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.