Educational Mental Health Practitioner

Are you looking for an opportunity to develop your career within a Mental Health Support Team (MHST) service and further your experience in delivering clinical interventions to children and young people? We are seeking an ambitious and motivated Educational Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) who has experience delivering low-intensity, evidence-based interventions to children, young people, and their families. The successful candidate will provide a preventative and early intervention mental health service to children and young people with mild to moderate mental health needs within identified schools.

Working collaboratively with education settings, you will use your skills, knowledge, and experience to deliver a service that builds upon and complements existing support available within schools, helping to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for children and young people.

Main duties of the job

• Work within a multi-disciplinary Mental Health Support Team (MHST) to increase and improve emotional and mental health provision within educational settings for 5-18 year olds in Westminster and RBKC.
• Work in partnership to support children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties and their parents/carers, families and educators in the self-management of presenting difficulties.
• Contribute to the development of individual or group clinical materials or training materials, and develop such materials independently as falls within own degree of competence, and under direction of the wider team.

You are:

• Experienced and passionate about delivering specific therapeutic interventions to children, young people or their families and eager to engage effectively and make a difference with the service users at our MHST.
• Experienced of working with anxiety disorders.
• Experienced of working with affective (mood) disorders.
• Experienced of the delivery of specific therapeutic interventions to children, young people or their families (e.g. CBT, solution focused brief therapy).
• Experienced of working with children and their families in an education setting.

About us

We are Allkind Mental Health (Previously West Central London Mind). With the need for Mental Health support at an all-time high, choice is shrinking and services are being stretched. We believe everyone deserves better. At Allkind, we offer support across the whole mental health spectrum for people of all ages, from infants to older adults. We've been listening to our communities for over 40 years, and it's clear there's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to mental health care. We're determined to make sure all kinds of people are supported through their mental health challenges, so they can live the life they deserve. Welcome to mental health support with kindness at its heart.

Job responsibilities

• Delivering evidence-based intervention for children and young people in education settings with mild to moderate mental health problems.
• Helping children and young people within these settings who present with more severe problems to rapidly access more specialist services.
• Supporting and facilitating staff in education settings to identify and where appropriate manage issues related to mental health and wellbeing.
• Working with and within education environments to afford better access to specialist mental health services.

Key relationships:

• Designated Mental Health Lead in education setting.
• Mental Health Support Team Line Manager.
• Clinical Supervisor.
• Local CAMHS providers.
• Colleagues from AllKind.

Therapeutic Assessment and Intervention:

• Assess and deliver outcome-focused, evidence-based interventions in educational settings for 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 parents, carers, families and educators in the self-management of presenting difficulties.
• Work in effective, evidence-based partnership with children, young people, their families and their educators in the development of plans for the intervention and agreed outcomes.
• Support and empower children, young people, their parents/carers and families and their educators to make informed choices about the interventions being offered.
• Operate at all times from an inclusive values base, which recognises and respects diversity.
• Accept referrals within educational settings according to agreed local and national protocols.
• Undertake and record accurate assessments of risk and operate clear risk management processes in line with locally agreed procedures including the safeguarding protocols of the educational setting and Local Safeguarding Board guidance.
• Adhere to all regulations, processes and procedures within the educational service to which the post holder is attached and within the organisation where the post-holder is employed.
• Signpost referrals of children with more complex needs to a locally identified appropriate relevant service.
• Provide a range of information and support for evidence-based psychological treatments, primarily guided self-help.
• Attend multidisciplinary and multi-agency meetings relating to referrals or children and young people in treatment, where appropriate.
• Keep clear, professionally coherent records of all activity in line with both health and education service protocols.
• Assess and integrate issues relating to transitions, education and training/employment into the overall therapeutic process.
• Contribute to the development of individual or group clinical materials or training materials, and develop such materials independently as falls within own degree of competence, and under direction of the wider team.

Training and Supervision

• Continue to apply learning gained on the training program directly to practice.
• Prepare and present case load information to supervisors within the service on an agreed and scheduled basis.
• Respond to and implement supervision suggestions by supervisors in practice.
• Engage in and respond to personal development supervision to improve competencies and practice.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings in appropriate formats through agreed channels.

Professional

• Ensure the maintenance of standards of own professional practice.
• Ensure appropriate adherence to any new recommendations or guidelines set by the relevant departments.
• Ensure that confidentiality is always protected.
• Ensure that any risks or issues related to the safety and wellbeing of anyone the post holder comes into contact with are communicated and shared with appropriate parties.
• Ensure clear objectives are identified, discussed and reviewed with supervisor and senior colleagues on a regular basis.
• Participate in individual performance/appraisal review and work towards agreed objectives.
• Keep all records up to date in relation to Continuous Professional Development.
• Attend relevant educational opportunities in line with identified professional objectives.