MHST Team Lead - Mid Essex

Nelft; Chelmsford; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

NELFT is recruiting an experienced MHST Team Lead (Band 7) to provide clinical and operational leadership for a multi-professional team delivering mental health support in schools across Mid Essex. The role focuses on high-quality, evidence-based interventions for children and young people, with travel between sites a core requirement.

The post requires a post-graduate qualification in psychology or equivalent health care qualification, registration with HCPC/NMC, and a strong track record in

Qualifications

• Post-graduate qualified psychological practitioner (e.g. psychologist, family therapist, child and adolescent psychotherapist) or graduate healthcare professional (e.g. nurse, social worker, occupational therapist) registered with HCPC/NMC.
• Experience leading MHSTs or similar teams in educational settings preferred.
• Willingness and ability to travel across Mid Essex to cover multiple locations.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical and operational leadership to the MHST Team.
• Oversee day-to-day management, performance and governance of the service.
• Deliver specialist assessments, consultations and targeted therapies for children and families.
• Support MHST delivery including group programs, workshops and Whole School Approach activities.
• Monitor quality, safety and outcomes in line with NHS standards and NICE guidelines.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Operational leadership

Team supervision

Multi-professional collaboration

Travel across Mid Essex

Education

Post-graduate qualification in psychology

Graduate healthcare qualification

Job description

Job Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and motivated mental health professional to join our Mental Health Support Team (MHST) service as a Team Lead (Band 7).

Job Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and motivated mental health professional to join our Mental Health Support Team (MHST) service as a Team Lead (Band 7). We are looking for a passionate and innovative clinician committed to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. As MHST Team Lead, you will provide both operational and clinical leadership to a multi-professional team, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based interventions within schools and educational settings. The successful candidate will be a post-graduate qualified psychological practitioner (e.g. psychologist, family therapist, child and adolescent psychotherapist) or graduate qualified health care professional (e.g. nurse, social worker, occupational therapist), fully registered with the appropriate professional or regulatory body (e.g. HCPC, NMC). Working closely with the MHST Operational Manager and key partners across health, education, and local wellbeing services, you will play a pivotal role in shaping service delivery, supporting staff development, promoting clinical excellence, and ensuring children and young people have timely access to effective mental health support. This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled clinician and leader who enjoys working collaboratively, driving service improvement and supporting teams to achieve positive outcomes for children, young people, families and schools. Main Duties of the Job As MHST Team Lead, you will provide clinical and operational leadership to a Mental Health Support Team, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based mental health support for children and young people within educational settings.

Key Responsibilities Include

• Leading, supervising, and supporting MHST staff to deliver safe and effective care.
• Overseeing the day-to-day management, performance, and governance of the service.
• Delivering specialist assessments, consultation, and therapeutic interventions for children, young people and families.
• Supporting the delivery of MHST interventions, including guided self-help, group programmes, workshops, and Whole School Approach activities.
• Monitoring quality, safety, outcomes, and compliance with Trust, CQC and NICE standards.
• Building effective partnerships with schools, CAMHS, social care and other community services.
• Contributing to service development, quality improvement, audit and workforce development initiatives.
• Promoting a positive team culture and acting as a role model for the Trust's values and behaviours.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced clinician and leader to make a meaningful difference to the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people across Mid Essex.

Mid Essex covers a wide geographical area, and this role involves working across a range of locations, including schools, community settings and partner organisations. The ability to travel independently and efficiently throughout the locality is therefore essential. Applicants should consider the travel requirements of the role, as public transport options may not always align with service needs across the locality.

Name: Melanie Kemp

Job title: Operational Manager Mid Essex MHST

Email

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

Working for Us

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas. The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.

They Are

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications. Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience. We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.