Senior Mental Health Practitioner -MHST in London

This is a role within the Green Paper for Transforming children and young people's mental health programme. The post holder will work within Brent Mental Health Support Team providing short-term evidence-based interventions to children and young people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression and/or behavioural difficulties and their parent(s)/carer(s).

The post holder will work with children, young people and parents from different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities. There is an expectation that the post holder will commit to undertaking the EMHP supervisor 1-year training programme as and when this training becomes available to the service.

The MHST works with young people with mild to moderate mental health presentations attending school/education settings in the Brent area. The purpose of the team is to provide evidence-based 1-1 and group interventions to CYP and parents for mild to moderate mental health issues, support the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school or college approach, and give timely advice to school and college staff, liaising with external specialist services to help children and young people get the right support and stay in education.

Young people have access to the MHST through their education setting. School staff and other potential referrers can contact a team of clinical staff to discuss potential referrals. The MHST clinician will manage referrals, deal with queries, undertake clinical telephone triage and face-to-face assessment, give advice and signpost young people where appropriate.

The role involves regular supervision of junior clinicians within the team including Trainee and Qualified Education Mental Health Practitioners. The postholder will also join the duty rota for the service. Central and North West London NHS Trust expects all staff to act in a way which shows you understand our core values and are willing to put them into practice with young people, their friends, family and carers and also other staff members.

We expect you to show COMPASSION, contribute to a caring and kind environment and recognise that what you do and say helps can make the lives of others better. We expect you to show RESPECT everyone and acknowledge and welcome people's differences rather than ignore them or see them as problematic. We expect you to EMPOWER others and continually try to provide information, resources and support to help others make their own decisions and meet their own needs. We expect you to work in PARTNERSHIP and behave in a way that shows that you recognise the importance of working collaboratively with all who come into contact with this service.

Responsibilities include:

• Forming strong working relations with a variety of stakeholders.
• Working in partnership with schools/colleges and other educational settings.
• Providing training to team members and other professionals/trainees.
• Supervising junior staff in the team.
• Providing consultations to education colleagues and supporting education settings to embed a whole school approach to wellbeing.
• Developing and delivering evidence-based individual and group time-limited interventions to young people within education settings in accordance with Children and Young People's IAPT principles.
• Holding a caseload of CYP with mild-moderate mental health difficulties.
• Completion of thorough assessments, risk assessments, care planning and reviews.
• Ensuring accurate and timely documentation to a high standard, and that Routine Outcome Measures are completed.
• Evidencing the outcomes of the MHST service and feeding back this data to key stakeholders.
• Providing clinical supervision to Education Mental Health Practitioners and day-to-day clinical and supervisory support for Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioners.
• Contributing to group supervision spaces within the team.
• Working as part of a senior team, supporting the Senior Clinical Supervisors and Service Development Leads to expand the service within the Harrow area and improve the quality of the service.
• Supporting and developing the interventions that can be delivered as part of the MHST within the education setting, including SEN settings.
• Appropriately raise and report safeguarding concerns where identified and support colleagues with this process.
• Patient Safety: Safeguarding people by recognising and responding when an adult or child might be at risk from abuse, recognising limits and escalating concerns when necessary.
• Escalating safety concerns and acting as an advocate for those who use our services; being open and transparent about your own practice.
• Identifying areas where improvements in safety or quality can be made and reporting any areas of concern to the Team Manager.
• Working closely with others to improve services; maintaining accurate, legible, comprehensive records; maintaining compliance with mandatory and core training requirements.
• Aware of responsibilities related to Fire, Lone Working, Health & Safety, Absence management; report accidents/incidents as per procedures.

Central and North West London NHS Trust is committed to providing safe, effective services and providing young people and families with a positive experience.