Educational Mental Health Practitioner

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust

Do you have experience working with children with a mental health issue and are looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young people within the Kirklees area? Would you like to be part of a diverse and innovative service that offers mental health support in an educational setting?

We are seeking applicants to join our Mental Health Support Team who work across all the schools in Kirklees. This is an exciting time to join our team to deliver evidence-based interventions to children within our schools with mild to moderate mental health conditions. Focusing on early intervention, we also provide training and workshops to schools using the whole school approach, which enables schools to provide a culture of wellbeing for all their pupils.

We are encouraging applicants who are registered Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP) or who are currently undergoing training to become a registered EMHP.

You will be part of a supportive and resilient team within a trust that places staff health and wellbeing at the top of its agenda. Our team sits within our CAMHS service, which means that we can provide expert CPD opportunities, further training, and supervision from a diverse range of experienced practitioners.

All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect patients.

Main duties of the job

This role would suit a practitioner who has completed the HEE Postgraduate Diploma in Education Mental Health Practice for children and young people and experience working in mental health.

As a band 5 Educational Mental Health Practitioner, you will be expected to develop your skills under supervision to manage a caseload of young people, including triaging and consulting with schools. You will provide low-intensity CBT interventions to promote the mental wellbeing of the children and young people within our schools. You will liaise with the mental health leads within the schools to implement a whole school approach and enable staff to be competent to deal with low to moderate mental health concerns.

You will be expected to provide workshops for young people, parents, and school staff.

As part of your role as an EMHP, you will be expected to travel between community-based venues, i.e., schools and SWYT bases. Therefore, you must be able to travel across Kirklees independently.

At the time of advertising, this role is eligible for sponsorship under the Health and Care Worker visa. However, sponsorship can only be offered if the pro-rated salary meets the minimum salary threshold of £23,200 set by UK Visa and Immigration.

About us

We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health, and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the West Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.

Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities; we do this by providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families, and carers.

We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.

Being a foundation Trust means we are accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we are run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.

Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical, and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expect all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.

We do reserve the right to close the vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.

Job responsibilities

The Children and Young People's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (CYP IAPT) is a service transformation programme delivered by Health Education England and partners that aims to improve existing children and young people's mental health services (CYP MHS) working in the community.

As part of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) will work in both education and healthcare settings to support children and young people with mental ill health. The new roles support the Government's priority of increasing access to and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people.

The post is for a team player who has already qualified through the Education Mental Health Practitioner framework.

This is a role within the Children and Young People Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (CYPIAPT). The post-holder will work within a CYP mental health service delivering, under supervision, high-quality, brief outcome-focused evidence-based interventions and guided self-help for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.

The training and service experience will equip the post holder with the necessary knowledge, attitude, and capabilities to operate effectively in an inclusive, value-driven service.

This post will work under the direction of the Senior CAMHS Practitioners within the project, across the secondary and special schools within the Kirklees locality.

As this is a school-based service delivery, the post holder will be expected to take their annual leave predominantly in the school holidays.

Assess and deliver, under supervision, outcome-focused, evidence-based interventions to children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.

Work in partnership to support children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties and their families in the self-management of presenting difficulties.

Work in partnership with children, young people, and families in the development of plans for the intervention and agreed outcomes.

Support and empower children, young people, and families to make informed choices about the intervention.

Operate at all times from an inclusive values base, which recognises and respects diversity.

Accept referrals within agreed national and local protocols.

Adhere to the service referral protocols. Under supervision, signpost unsuitable referrals to the relevant service as necessary.

Under supervision, undertake accurate assessments of risk to self and others, through close case management and supervision, escalating cases where the level of need becomes beyond scope or more severe, ensuring adherence to other relevant elements of service delivery.

Provide a range of information and support for evidence-based psychological treatments, primarily guided self-help. This work may be face-to-face, by telephone, or via other media.

Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the overall number of children and young people contacts offered and sessions carried out per week in order to improve timely access and minimise waiting times.

Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or CYP in treatment, where appropriate.

Keep coherent records of all activity in line with service protocols and use these records and outcome data to inform decision-making. Complete all requirements relating to data collection.

Assess and integrate issues relating to transitions, education, and training/employment into the overall therapeutic process.

Work within a collaborative approach involving a range of relevant others when indicated.

Work in collaboration with children, young people, and communities to enhance and widen access.

We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Overreliance on AI-generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.

Person Specification

Knowledge

• Good working knowledge of nationally agreed routine outcome measures within the CYP-IAPT Programme.
• Working knowledge of the educational system.
• Knowledge of children and young people gained through academic study in child development, child wellbeing, or mental health.
• Knowledge of safeguarding issues and legal framework.
• Knowledge and experience of capacity and consent issues when working with young people.
• Knowledge of the whole school approach to mental health.
• Knowledge of other neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions; both in type and severity.
• Knowledge of service pathways and remits and ability to navigate these processes.
• Knowledge of how contextual factors affect children and young people's mental health and the impact this can have on delivering effective interventions.

Qualifications

• Relevant qualification or experience within an educational setting.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to deliver low-intensity evidence-based interventions under supervision to children and young people.
• Ability to devise and deliver group-based interventions to children and young people.
• Ability to deliver parent-led interventions where children have a mental health need.
• Ability to keep clinical records to a high standard.
• Skilled at engaging and building relationships with children, young people, and parents.
• Ability to work collaboratively with young people, parents, colleagues, and partner agencies.

Experience

• At least one year of experience delivering low-intensity evidence-based CBT interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues.
• At least one year of experience working within both health and educational settings.
• Experience of consultation and liaison with education and multidisciplinary colleagues.
• Experience of service development.
• Experience of forging new working relationships within a complex interagency framework.

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.

Employer name

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust