MUSIC THERAPIST / ART THERAPIST / DRAMATHERAPIST

A Vacancy at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust. SWLSTG MH Trust currently runs 12 Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) across Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth. Each MHST works within a cluster of schools and offers an early intervention schools based mental health service, as well as supporting the implementation of a Whole School Approach (WSA) to mental health across the cluster.

The SEN MHST is composed of a team lead who is a Clinical Psychologist, 2 additional qualified clinicians, 4 Education Wellbeing Practitioners (EWPs) and an administrator. It covers three secondary schools and a number of primary schools across Merton and Sutton, with a population total of 8,000 pupils.

The post is Agenda for Change pay band 6, plus outer London weighting. Full time applicants are preferred but job shares, term time only or part time working will be considered.

Postholders will be based in schools across the cluster and will offer direct clinical interventions to children, young people and parent/carers in both individual, group and workshop formats. There are many opportunities for joint working with other team members, particularly when running groups or workshops. The postholders will also collaboratively work with schools to implement a whole school approach to mental health, including opportunities for jointly facilitating consultation groups and training for school staff, as agreed with the MHST lead.

Regular supervision will be provided by the MHST lead clinician and there is weekly team time for the team to meet and plan together. We have a strong network across the MHSTs within the Trust and across the wider SW London partnership to enable sharing resources, learning and providing support. Peer support is strongly encouraged and nurtured. As a service we think hard about ensuring a variety of continuing professional development opportunities.

Some travel between schools and base is essential but this can be managed by public transport or cycling. As this position is based within schools, the vast majority of annual leave will need to be taken during school holidays. We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti-racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together.

Unless expressly stated in the job advert this role is not subject to sponsorship, please be advised that all offers of employment are subject to evidence of right to work in the UK.

This advert closes on Wednesday 29 Apr 2026.

• To assist the implementation of delivery of a range of psychological interventions to children, young people and parents within a school settings in line with NICE guidance.
• To work jointly to implement a whole school approach to mental health under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist or psychotherapist.
• To undertake protocol based psychological assessments of patients, including self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients and others involved in the client’s care.
• To assist in the formulation and delivery of mental health care involving psychological interventions for mild to moderate mental health problems, under the clinical supervision of qualified professional psychologists/psychotherapists, in school and community settings.
• To lead in the coordination and running of groups and workshops.

• In common with all applied therapists, to receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines and clinical governance guidelines.
• To spend 0.5 day per week on CPD to further develop skills in therapeutic interventions and risk assessment.
• To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties.
• To regularly and systematically enter clinical data on IAPTus according to IAPTs protocols and to highlight areas of difficulty to the MHST lead as soon as they arise.
• To contribute to the training and support of others, including school staff and workers in the non-statutory sector enabling them to provide effective mental health care.
• To inform primary care practitioners and users about local statutory and voluntary services to whom children and young people can be signposted.

• To take the lead in managing a triage system for entry to the service in line with agreed protocols and to highlight issues relating to potential waiting times and access to the MHST Lead, Service Manager and Consultant Lead.
• To assist and lead in the design and implementation of service development projects within the service as required.
• To attend meetings in which service developments are planned and discussed.

• To assist the clinical team leader and others in undertaking data collection, analysis, and production of reports and summaries, in relation to primary care mental health services.
• To undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist qualified applied psychologists and others in evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
• To take the lead in organising resources of self-help material and maintaining up to date information about services to which service users could be signposted.

• To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and the Trust’s development review programmes, in consultation with the postholder’s professional lead and team manager(s).
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing in accordance with Trust’s and IAPTs policies and procedures and relevant professional codes of practice.
• To prepare therapeutic materials and visual aids as required.