Band 5 Children's Wellbeing/Educational Mental Health Practitioner

NHS; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 31,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health trust in Birmingham seeks a Band 5 Children's Wellbeing/Educational Mental Health Practitioner to enhance early mental health support in schools. You will assess and provide interventions for children experiencing mild to moderate mental health issues while delivering engaging workshops and training. The ideal candidate will have a qualification in children's wellbeing, experience in therapeutic intervention, and excellent communication skills. Join a compassionate team dedicated to making a difference in children's lives.

Qualifications

• Experience of working with anxiety and mood disorders.
• Experience of delivering specific therapeutic interventions.
• Ability to conduct mental health assessments.

Responsibilities

• Deliver evidence-based interventions in schools.
• Conduct screening assessments of children.
• Provide workshops and training on mental health.

Skills

Experience working with children and young people

Therapeutic interventions (e.g., CBT)

Communication skills

Risk assessment and management

Education

Qualification from CYP-IAPT accredited training course

Teaching qualification

Youth Mental Health First Aid Trained

Job description

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Band 5 Children's Wellbeing/Educational Mental Health Practitioner

The closing date is 15 December 2025

Every day our team gets the chance to make a real difference to the lives of local children, young people and their families through this unique Early Help Mental Health project in Birmingham schools.

We invite qualified Childrens Wellbeing Practitioners (CWP) and qualified Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP) to join our dynamic, welcoming, and supportive team. The job is a mix of independent and collaborative working, working in schools, working from home and team meetings and trainings.

The post will involve delivery of consultation with school staff, helping them access early mental health support for pupils with mild to moderate mental health difficulties to prevent mental health difficulties escalating to secondary / CAMHS level (severe and complex difficulties). You will conduct screening assessments of children and young people and deliver evidence-based interventions on a 1:1 or group basis in primary and secondary schools. As part of the Whole School Approach you will join your colleagues to deliver engaging workshops and assemblies, as well as parent and staff training.

The Mental Health Support Team sits in the Early Help stage of the Forward Thinking Birmingham model.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work as part of Forward Thinking Birmingham, within the MHST teams in Birmingham. As CWP/EMHP in the MHST team, your role will be to continue building and embedding the Early Help MHST service in schools across the city, assessing children and young people (CYP) for suitability for the service and working with a caseload of pupils. The CWP/EMHP will provide high quality low-intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) informed outcome focused evidence based interventions for children and young people and their families in schools in South Birmingham. You will also deliver workshops, assemblies and training to pupils, their families and education staff as part of our Whole School Approach, promoting mental health awareness and prevention.

About us

Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year. We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.

Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community. If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people's lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Qualification from CYP-IAPT accredited training course eg Children's wellbeing practitioner or Post Graduate diploma in Educational Mental Health Practitioner
• Teaching qualification
• Youth Mental Health First Aid Trained

Knowledge and experience

• Experience of working with children and young people, their families and others.
• Experience of working and liaising with a wide variety of agencies and stakeholders
• Experience of working with children and young people who have social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties
• Experience of working with anxiety disorders
• Experience of working with affective (mood) disorders
• Experience of the delivery of specific therapeutic interventions to children, young people or their families (e.g. CBT, solution focused brief therapy)
• Experience of working with children and their families in a healthcare setting
• Experience of working with children and their families in an education setting
• Experience of navigating complex social systems and environments, who may have conflicting priorities or agendas
• Experience of working with looked after children
• Experience of working with other vulnerable groups
• Knowledge of educational environments
• Knowledge of safeguarding issues
• Knowledge of capacity and consent issues including Gillick competence
• Knowledge of the functional operation of specialist CAMHS teams

Analytical and judgement skills

• 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.
• Experience of monitoring and recording outcome measures for childrens' emotional wellbeing

Professional skills and specialist knowledge

• Ability to carry out 1:1 therapeutic mental health interventions with children
• Ability to carry out 1:1 therapeutic mental health interventions with familiesAbility to conduct group parenting programmes
• Ability to work within educational or community settings to increase mental health awareness within a professional staff group
• Ability take appropriate action to mitigate or manage risk.
• Ability to personally manage a sensitive, traumatic and potentially emotionally distressing caseload
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to teach others about mental health issues
• Ability to conduct other group therapeutic interventions with children and their families
• Proven commitment to continuous professional development.

Personal

• Self-motivated
• Able to travel to meet the requirements of the post
• Team player
• Excellent time management and organisational skills
• Able to meet the physical requirements of the role after reasonable adjustments have been made for any illness or disability
• Car driver (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010 which prevents you from driving).
• Disclosure and Barring Approval

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.

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

£31,049 to £37,796 a year per annum, pro rata