Senior Mental Health Practitioner -MHST

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Harrow; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization in Harrow is seeking a Senior Mental Health Practitioner to provide evidence-based interventions for children and young people facing mild to moderate mental health challenges. The role involves supervising junior staff, collaborating with schools, and delivering training. Candidates should hold a relevant mental health qualification, with experience in child mental health. This position aims to empower young individuals and caregivers while fostering a supportive environment.

Qualifications

• Relevant professional qualification in Mental Health Nursing, Social Work, or equivalent.
• Experience working in child and adolescent mental health.
• Ability to conduct mental health assessments and deliver interventions.

Responsibilities

• Provide evidence-based interventions to young people with mental health issues.
• Supervise junior staff and provide training.
• Collaborate with schools to support emotional wellbeing.

Skills

Child and adolescent mental health

Evidence-based therapeutic interventions

Supervision skills

Collaboration with educational staff

Education

Degree level Mental Health Nursing or equivalent

Formal CBT training

Registered with a relevant professional body

Job description

Go back Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Senior Mental Health Practitioner - MHST

The closing date is 01 January 2026

This is a role within the Green Paper for Transforming children and young people's mental health programme. The post holder will work within Harrow Mental Health Support Team providing short-term evidence‑based interventions to children and young people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression and/or behavioural difficulties and their parent(s)/carer(s).

The post holder will work with children, young people and parents from different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary, and should be committed to equal opportunities.

Main duties of the job

The MHST works with Young people with mild to moderate mental health presentations attending school/education settings in the Harrow area.

The purpose of the team is to

• Provide evidence-based 1‑1 and group interventions to CYP and parents for mild to moderate mental health issues.
• Support the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school or college approach.
• Give timely advice to school and college staff, and liaising with external specialist services to help children and young people get the right support and stay in education.

Young people have access to the MHST through their education setting. School staff and other potential referrers can contact a team of clinical staff to discuss potential referrals.

The MHST clinician will manage referrals, deal with queries, undertake clinical telephone triage and face‑to‑face assessment, give advice and signpost young people where appropriate.

The role involves regular supervision of junior clinicians within the team, including Trainee and Qualified Education Mental Health Practitioners.

The postholder will also join the duty rota for the service.

About us

Central and North West London NHS Trust expects all staff to act in a way which shows you understand our core values and are willing to put them into practice with young people, their friends, family and carers and also other staff members.

We expect you to show COMPASSION, contribute to a caring and kind environment and recognise that what you do and say helps can make the lives of others better.

We expect you to RESPECT everyone and acknowledge and welcome people's differences rather than ignore them or see them as problematic.

We expect you to EMPOWER others and continually try to provide information, resources and support to help others make their own decisions and meet their own needs.

We expect you to work in PARTNERSHIP and behave in a way that shows we recognise the importance of working collaboratively with all who come into contact with this service.

To find out more about working in CAMHS: watch our video.

Job responsibilities

The key roles and responsibilities of the Senior Mental Health Practitioner will include:

• Forming strong working relations with a variety of stakeholders
• Working in partnership with schools/colleges and other educational settings.
• Providing training to team members and other professionals/trainees
• Supervising junior staff in the team.
• Providing consultations to education colleagues and supporting education settings to embed a whole school approach to wellbeing
• Developing and delivering evidence‑based individual and group time‑limited interventions to young people within education settings in accordance with Children and Young People's IAPT principles
• Holding a caseload of CYP with mild‑moderate mental health difficulties
• Completion of thorough assessments, risk assessments, care planning and reviews.
• Ensuring that there is accurate and timely documentation to a high standard, and that Routine Outcome Measures are completed.
• Evidencing the outcomes of the MHST service and feeding back this data to key stakeholders
• Providing clinical supervision to Education Mental Health Practitioners and day‑to‑day clinical and supervisory support for the Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioners.
• Contributing to group supervision spaces within the team.
• Working as part of a senior team, supporting the Senior Clinical Supervisors and Service Development Leads to expand the service within the Harrow area and improve the quality of the service.
• Supporting and developing the interventions that can be delivered as part of the MHST within the education setting, including SEN settings.
• Appropriately raising and reporting safeguarding concerns where identified and supporting colleagues with this process
• Safeguarding people by recognising and responding when an adult or child might be at risk from abuse while recognising their own limits and asking for help and escalating concerns when necessary.
• Escalating safety concerns and acting as effective advocates for those who use our services.
• Being open and transparent about your own practice.
• Identifying areas where improvements in safety or quality can be made. Report to the Team Manager any areas of concern which may affect the safe delivery of care and/or the safe working of other members of the team.
• Working closely with others to improve services.
• Maintaining compliance with your mandatory and core training requirements.
• Be aware of and understand your responsibilities in relation to the policies and procedures regarding:
  • Fire
  • Lone Working
  • Health & Safety
  • Absence management
• Report any accidents / incidents as per the reporting procedures of the service.
• Central and North West London NHS Trust is committed to providing safe, effective services and providing young people and families with a positive experience.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

• Relevant professional qualification in either: a) Degree level Mental Health Nursing; Social Work; Occupational Therapy; Art Therapy; Drama Therapy; Music Therapy; LD Nursing. Or b) Substantial consolidated experience qualified as EMHP or CWP.
• Additional qualifications or training in child and adolescent mental health gained through study
• Registered with a relevant professional body
• Completed or expressed willingness to complete EMHP Supervisor training
• Formal CBT training or Post Graduate accredited training in CBT
• Accredited courses / workshops in CYP‑IAPT principles
• EMHP supervisor training

Previous Experience and knowledge

• Substantial consolidated experience working in child and adolescent mental health.
• Experience either working as a member of a multidisciplinary team or multi‑agency working.
• Good understanding of the range of child and adolescent mental health services and conditions
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to children and adolescents and safeguarding procedures and policies
• Experience of supervising or training junior employees
• Extensive experience of delivering evidence‑based interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues such as anxiety, low mood and behavioural problems to CYP both individually, to parent(s)/carer(s) and in groups.
• Knowledge and experience in mental health promotion work
• Experience of working with schools to support CYP emotional wellbeing needs
• Experience running therapy groups and/or training events
• Experience of delivering evidence‑based CBT interventions to CYP and their families for mild to moderate mental health issues such as anxiety, low mood

Other

• Able to travel to meet the requirements of the post
• Team player
• Excellent time management and organisational skills
• Access to car or other motor vehicle for use for work purposes.

Clinical Skills

• Ability to carry out 1:1 therapeutic mental health interventions with children and young people
• Ability to conduct mental health assessments of children and young people
• Ability to work within educational settings to increase mental health awareness within the staff group
• Ability to make an assessment of risk and to record and communicate it appropriately.
• Experience delivering training talks and psycho‑educational workshops about mental health issues
• Experience of providing mental health consultation and signposting to education staff and other professionals.
• Experience of conducting group parenting programmes.

Knowledge

• Understanding how the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards impacts on your work and the people you are working with
• Understanding the concept of quality and your role in improving safety, clinical outcomes and the patient experience
• Understanding how the Mental Health Act impacts on your work and the people you are working with
• Knowledge of children and young people safeguarding legislation, policies and procedures
• Knowledge of the functional operation of specialist CAMHS teams

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.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust