Trainee Education MH Practitioner

Borough of Barnet; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A local council in Greater London is looking for an Education Mental Health Practitioner to deliver early interventions for children's mental health. This role supports students in schools, requiring applicants to have experience with children and a relevant degree. Training is provided, alongside benefits like 31 days of leave and public holidays. Apply now to be part of this transforming initiative for child wellbeing in educational settings.

Benefits

31 days annual leave

Local Government Pension Scheme

Work-life balance options

Lifestyle discounts

Payroll benefits

Excellent training opportunities

Employee well-being programs

Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to work at degree level with relevant experience.
• Previous learning or formal study in child development, wellbeing, or mental health.
• Experience working with children and young people.

Responsibilities

• Deliver evidence-based early interventions in educational and healthcare settings.
• Manage own caseload applying various interventions.
• Support self-management and develop plans for children and parents.

Skills

Ability to work at degree level

Experience with children and young people

Understanding of the educational system in England

Education

Relevant degree or equivalent experience

Job description

About Barnet Council

Barnet is a borough with much to be proud of. Our excellent schools, vibrant town centres, vast green spaces and diverse communities all help make it a great place to live and work. As a council we want to build on these strengths as we move into the future. We are growing and developing as an organisation to meet the challenges facing our borough and we are committed to working with partner organisations and residents to make Barnet even better. As an organisation our staff are committed to Our Values: Learning, Improving, Caring, Inclusive, Collaborative which drive everything we do.

About the role

In line with the government’s priority to increase access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the new Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) provide an exciting opportunity to deliver evidence‑based early interventions for children and young people working across both educational settings and healthcare sectors in England.

Barnet Council’s Family Services have been successful in gaining further funding to expand existing MHSTs, part of the government’s green paper ambitions to transform mental health support in England. This will build on the prevention and early intervention work in schools and is a key and permanent part of developing early help support within Barnet’s Integrated Clinical Services (BICS) for children and young people’s mental health.

The role is part of a multidisciplinary team of clinicians offering a range of mental health and wellbeing interventions to children, young people and their families in one of Barnet’s Child & Family Early Help Hubs and will be based primarily in schools in the east of the London Borough of Barnet.

There will be four Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) trainees who will play a key role in delivering the schools’ overarching approach to providing mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people. EMHPs report to Higher‑Level Therapists/Supervisors and are supported by a Clinical Manager, a full‑time Administrator and an Assistant Psychologist.

Successful candidates will be offered a fully funded full‑time educational programme specifically for the role, gaining credits towards a diploma‑level qualification plus guaranteed employment on completion of training with a starting salary as qualified projected to be based on the NHS AfC Band 5 scale (Band 4 during the training year).

Applicants must pass the training course to remain employed with BICS as qualified EMHPs.

Please click here to download the Job description for this role.

Responsibilities

• Deliver evidence‑based early interventions for children and young people in educational and healthcare settings.
• Provide school‑wide support and coordinate the delivery of mental health and wellbeing services.
• Support self‑management for children, young people and their parents/carers, including developing plans and agreeing outcomes.
• Manage own caseload, applying a range of interventions such as guided self‑help.
• Prepare and present caseload information to supervisors.
• Work with colleagues to improve access to specialist mental health services and support referrals where required.
• Assist education colleagues to identify and manage mental health and wellbeing issues.

About you

To be successful all applicants must demonstrate the ability to work at degree level and have an equivalent level of relevant experience with a proven record of previous learning or formal study in child development, wellbeing or mental health. It is also essential that applicants have experience working with children and young people and an understanding of the educational system in England is highly desirable.

The training programme for this post is 12 months in duration and will consist of academic and supervised practice learning across mental health services and educational settings such as primary and secondary schools and further education colleges. Delivery will be through taught days at UCL in collaboration with the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, placement with BICS and independent self‑guided study days.

During training the post‑holder will work under supervision to gain experience across educational settings to achieve competence to deliver high‑quality evidence‑based early interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems.

What we offer

• 31 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme which provides a guaranteed income in retirement together with security for your dependents
• Work‑life balance options may include hybrid working, flexitime, job share, home working or part‑time
• A vast range of lifestyle discounts from major retailers, supermarkets, energy suppliers and more
• Broad range of payroll benefits including cycle‑to‑work, eye‑care vouchers, travel and gym membership
• Excellent training and development opportunities
• Employee well‑being training programmes including confidential employee assistance

How to apply

Read the job description and person specification before clicking Apply to commence the online application form. If you would like any further information about the role before applying please contact Sarah Konn.

All posts with the council are subject to a probationary period of six months, during which you will be required to demonstrate to the council satisfaction of your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if a sufficient number of applications are received. Therefore please apply as soon as possible. Please check the email account (including junk mail folders) that you use to submit your application as any further communication regarding your application will be sent electronically. If you do not hear from us within four working weeks of the closing date for this post then regrettably you have not been shortlisted.

Key Requirements

• Intern experience (if applying for this level)
• Healthcare Attorney, Apache Tomcat, Commerce, Cost Estimation, Arabic
• Full‑time employment
• Experience: years
• Vacancy: 1