Senior Educational Mental Health Practitioner

South West Yorkshire Partnership Teaching Nhs Foundation Trust; West Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust is seeking an experienced Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner to join the Kirklees Mental Health Support Team (MHST) working with children and young people in educational settings.

You will assess, triage and plan interventions for CYP with mild to moderate mental health difficulties, provide supervision to EMHPs and lead case management within a busy, collaborative multi-agency environment.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering low intensity interventions for mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
• Ability to work autonomously within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience managing a caseload of children/young people and families.
• Experience providing clinical supervision and training to others.

Responsibilities

• Manage a defined caseload of CYP with mental health difficulties.
• Provide case management and clinical supervision to trainee/EMHPs.
• Work flexibly across education providers and contribute to service development.
• Liaise with schools, parents and partner agencies safeguarding responsibilities.

Skills

Autonomy

Multi-agency working

CBT experience

Risk assessment

Communication

Caseload management

Education

PWP/CWP/EMHP registration

NMC/HCPC registration

Registered social worker

KSA accreditation

Tools

IT skills

Job description

Job summary

Are you an experienced Mental Health Practitioner looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young people within the Kirklees area? Would you like to be part of a diverse and innovative service who offer mental health support in an educational setting?

Main duties of the job

This role would suit an experienced health care professional with experience in assessing and working with young people with mild- moderate mental health concerns and preferably experience delivering CBT interventions and delivery of supervision.

As a band 6 mental health practitioner you will be expected to confidently manage a caseload of young people including triaging, consulting with schools/ parents and assessing CYP with a range of mental health issues and making decisions as to what support they may need.

You will support the senior leadership team and be involved with service development of the MHST, taking initiative to identify opportunities to improve the service.

You will be expected to draw on your experience to lead case management supervision and supervise the junior staff within the team.

You will be able to make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the services referral protocols, refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary.

At the time of advertising, this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application.

About us

We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.

Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do this by providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.

We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.

Being a foundation Trust means were accountable to our members, who can have a say in how were run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.

Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.

We do reserve to right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.

Job responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY

The post holder will work as part of the Kirklees Mental Health Support Team (MHST) to manage a defined case- load with a focus on providing comprehensive assessment, consultation and evidence-based interventions, for children and young people (CYP) with mental health difficulties and their parents/carers.

This post will involve supporting Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP)s with developing their clinical practice, psychological formulation and school engagement.

The post holder will be expected to provide Case Management and Clinical Skills Supervision to a number of trainee/EMHPs within the service (training may be provided).

The post holder will be able to work flexibly across a range of education providers, be a keen contributer to joint working initiatives and adaptive to change in a ever-growing service. Kirklees MHSTs are delivered through a partnership involving CAMHS (South West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust) as the lead provider, Educational Psychology services (Kirklees Council) and Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust as wrap around services.

• Work in partnership to deliver a range of evidence-based mental health interventions with children and young people (CYP) as well as some parent-led interventions.
• Facilitate evidence-based group interventions with CYP and/or parents.
• Offer specialist mental health-based consultation, advice and guidance with professionals.
• Be responsible and ensure the effective co-ordination of clinical care provided including consideration to safeguarding and clinical risk issues where indicated.
• Support clinical staff to identify children and young people with emerging mental health needs aswell as psychological formulation.
• Promote overall access to Kirklees MHST where appropriate.
• Establish therapeutic relationships with children, young people and their families and implement evidence based therapeutic interventions.
• Plan and organise interventions ensuring that reviews are held within the required time frames.
• Ensure that all members of the multi-disciplinary team, their colleagues, service users and appropriate others are informed/updated of changes involving current care plans, progress, mental state, and psychosocial factors in line with best practice.
• Liaise with and advise CYP and families, local authority and other statutory bodies and third sector agencies including childrens safeguarding as necessary.
• Communicate sensitive information to carers and relatives.
• Use a range of inclusive communication styles and channels as appropriate to the task.
• Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or patients in treatment, where appropriate.
• Care plan and manage own caseload
• Maintain accurate written records on the electronic record system of the Trust
• Undertake mental health assessments, with an agreed plan of action and/or care and low moderate intervention.
• Set and monitor Goal Based Outcomes with CYP/parents.
• Undertake complex risk assessments and develop a formulation of risk which will lead to the development of risk management plans which have taken into consideration a range of possible options.
• Undertake and continuously re-evaluate complex bio-psycho-social assessments and develop a working formulation which will lead to the development of personalised care packages in line with evidence based and routine outcome measures.

For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.

We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI-generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.

Person Specification

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Able to work autonomously and as part of a team.
• Commitment to multi-agency approach.
• Ability to work and make decisions under pressure.
• Calm, confident, innovative, creative and assertive.
• Clarity of decision making.
• Willingness to be flexible and adaptable in accordance with changing service priorities.
• Commitment to challenging discrimination and improving accessibility of services.
• Ability to cope calmly in a crisis.
• To demonstrate good self-care and encourage the same in team members.
• A current driving licence and access to a car during the working day is essential (reasonable adjustments will be considered for any applicants who are unable to drive due to a disability).

Training

Essential

• Experience delivering training to a diverse audience (or group work).

Special Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• A good understanding of evidence -based, low intensity interventions for mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
• An understanding of mental health and wellbeing support within community settings.
• Understanding of safeguarding responsibilities and the importance of multi-agency work for children and families in the community.
• Understanding of CYP-IAPT principles including the use of evidence-based therapies and Routine Outcome Measures.
• Excellent communication skills including the ability to engage with children/young people of all ages experiencing a wide range of mental health presentations.
• Ability to communicate with a wide range of professionals from various settings.
• Ability to work effectively with partner services & external partners to promote and adapt change processes.
• Good verbal and communication skills.
• Ability to manage own caseload.
• Good negotiation skills, and problem-solving skills.
• Customer service orientation.
• Effective record keeping and report writing skills to include care planning and risk assessments.
• IT skills.
• Have good team working skills. Be able to work across disciplines with an ability to predict and manage inter-disciplinary tensions and foster good working practices.

Desirable

• A good understanding of the green paper initiative and the function of a MHST.

Experience

Essential

• Substantial post qualification experience, some of which must be working with children, young people and their carers in a mental health or community setting.
• Experience of working in Primary Care/ MHST Services / or CAMHS.
• Experience of managing a case-load of children and young people with a range of moderate mental health needs.
• Experience in assessment and risk management and ability to implement evidence-based practice.
• Experience of delivering evidence‑based psychological therapy e.g. CBT.
• Experience of working with parents (or with adults).
• Experience of working in or in conjunction with an educational setting.
• Experience of providing clinical supervision.
• Proven ability to work with other agencies and disciplines and in partnership with other organisations.
• Experience working within Early Intervention and Prevention Services.
• Experience of service delivery via digital platform.

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Wellbeing Practitioner (Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWP),Childrens Wellbeing Practitioners (CWP) & Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP).
• or
• Registered mental health practitioner (NMC, HCPC)
• or
• Registered social worker
• or
• KSA equivalent accreditation (www.babcp.com/Accreditation/Provisional-Accreditation/Knowledge-Skills-and-Attitudes).

Desirable

• Successful completion of the CYP-IAPT CBT/EMHP supervisor training or willing to undertake.

Physical Attributes

Essential

• Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name:

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust

Address:

Folly Hall Mills, St Thomas Road, Huddersfield, Kirklees, HD1 3LT, United Kingdom

Employer's website:

https://www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Michael Kitson
[e-mail]
07741029336

Details

Date posted:

06 October 2026

Pay scheme:

Agenda for change

Band:

Band 6

Salary:

£39,959 to £48,117 a year

Contract:

Permanent

Working pattern:

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number:

C9378-CK2566

Job locations:

Folly Hall Mills, St Thomas Road, Huddersfield, Kirklees, HD1 3LT, United Kingdom

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.