Children’s Psychological Well-being Practitioner

NHS; York and North Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in York is seeking a Children's Psychological Well-being Practitioner to deliver CBT-based interventions to children and young people. This role involves working within a team of specialists to provide mental health support in a clinical setting, with opportunities for continuous professional development and supervision.

Benefits

Access to NHS Pension Scheme

27 days holiday rising to 33 days

Employee Assistance Programme

NHS Car Lease scheme

Discounts on various services

Qualifications

• Experience as a Children's Wellbeing Practitioner.
• Understanding of anxiety and depression in children.
• Skills in delivering psycho-educational groups.

Responsibilities

• Deliver CBT-based interventions to children and young people.
• Administer and teach psycho-educational classes.
• Use evidence-based interventions with supervision.

Skills

Communication skills

Ability to work under pressure

Teamwork

Knowledge of mental health

Education

Degree in a relevant field or equivalent

Post-Graduate qualification as a Children's Wellbeing Practitioner

Job description

Overview

Go back York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Role

Children’s Psychological Well-being Practitioner

The closing date is 05 October 2025

This is an exciting time to join us in making a real change for children and young people across our area, as we are looking for a Children and Young People's Well-Being Practitioner to work in our team of experienced clinical psychologists, specialist epilepsy nurses and consultant paediatricians based at York Hospital.

We are delighted to be chosen as a national pilot site for integrating mental health support into children and young people’s epilepsy care. This project, which began in March 2023, is focused on the implementation of mental health screening and intervention for children and young people in our region.

If you wish to apply for this vacancy as a secondment opportunity, please seek permission from your current line manager first

Main duties of the job

Your role will be to deliver an innovative, manualised CBT-based intervention, to children and young people who have been screened by their team and shown to require psychological support. This intervention, MICE (Mental Health Intervention for Children with Epilepsy), is designed to improve the treatment of mental health problems in young people with epilepsy and has been shown to be effective in a large-scale research project.

It can be delivered by telephone, video conferencing or face to face, and training will be provided. You will be using evidence-based interventions with supervision from the senior clinical psychologist. This will include a range of therapeutic self-management interventions to children and young people with mild to moderate psychological problems, as well as the administration and teaching of psycho-educational classes to groups of parents and children and young people.

Team & Support

• York Hospital Paediatric Psychology Service, part of a larger Department of Psychological Medicine.
• Supervision and collaboration with experienced psychologists including:
• Dr Emma Peakman - Consultant Clinical Psychologist
• Dr Anya Knight - Senior Clinical Psychologist

You will be joining a dedicated paediatric psychology team and have opportunities to continue to learn and develop.

About us

For more information about our Trust, please visit:

We offer a range of benefits to support our staff including:

• Access to the NHS Pension Scheme, providing generous benefits upon retirement, as well as a lump sum and pension for dependants
• 27 days holiday rising to 33 days (depending on NHS Trust service)
• A variety of different types of paid and unpaid leave covering emergency and planned leave
• Confidential advice and support on personal, work, family and relationship issues, 24/7, from our Employee Assistance Programme
• NHS Car Lease scheme and Cycle to Work scheme
• An extensive range of learning and development opportunities
• Discounts on restaurants, getaways, shopping, motoring, cinema and finance from a range of providers

For further information on the fantastic range of benefits we offer please visit the Trust's dedicated Staff Benefits pages.

Job responsibilities

A full description of the role is available in the attachment: job description.

Please note that if a high number of applications are received this advert may close early. You are advised to submit your application at the earliest opportunity.

Working for the Trust

Across our organisation, people are guided by values that were co-developed with staff: we are kind; we are open; and we pursue excellence.

Our values aim to develop a more diverse workforce, truly representative of our communities. We welcome applications from everyone, while working with our Staff Networks - including our Race Equality, LGBTQ+, Disability and Carers Networks - to increase the number of applications we receive from different backgrounds. If there is anything we can do to make our application process more accessible to you, please contact: [e-mail].

As part of seeking to become more inclusive, we will consider requests for flexible working from the start of your employment. It may not be suitable for every role, but we will try and be supportive where we can. We would encourage you to speak to the recruiting manager named within this advert to discuss any requirements you may have.

Armed Forces Friendly Employer

We are holders of the Gold Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which is helping actively promote SaBRE - Supporting Britains Reservists and Employers. This means that we have made a statement of intent to support all Defence personnel, including with applications for employment.

Person Specification

Education, Qualifications and Training

• Educated to degree level or equivalent qualification / experience.
• Post-Graduate qualification as a Children's Wellbeing Practitioner (or equivalent)
• Qualification in therapeutic approaches with children and families e.g., CBT systemic, solution focused play therapy

Experience and Knowledge Required

• Post qualification experience as a Children's Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP)
• Must have working knowledge of Mental Health and evidence gained through experience
• Evidence of working with children and young people who have experienced a mental health problem utilising experience/training in therapeutic approaches
• Experience of working in mental health services or settings where there is a stepped care model of service delivery
• Received training (either formal or through experience) and carried out risk assessments within scope of practice
• Skills in delivering Guided self-help
• Skills in delivering psycho-educational groups/classes
• Demonstrates an understanding of anxiety and depression and how it may present in children with a physical health condition
• Experience of teaching groups of professionals and parents
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post
• Experience of working with children and young people with physical health conditions
• Experience of working in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes
• Experience of supervising others

Skills and Attributes

• Ability to manage own caseload and time
• High standard of computer skills including email, excel and the ability to utilise a patient information system to manage diary commitments and electronic patient records
• Familiarity with screening procedures such as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including telephone skills for CCBT, presentations for teaching classes and writing clear clinical reports
• Able to develop appropriate therapeutic relationships with clients
• Skills in delivering a range of Low Intensity Interventions (in addition to guided self-help), e.g., motivational skills, solution focussed work, stabilisation for therapy

Aptitude and Personal Qualities

• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships
• Ability to work under pressure
• Ability to be self-reflective, whilst working with service users, in own personal and professional development and in supervision
• Ability to meet the travel requirements of post (community service)

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.

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust