Wellbeing Practitioner

Anna Freud; Greater London; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 35,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

6% pension scheme

Job summary

Anna Freud is seeking a Wellbeing Practitioner to support young people and their families within a world-leading mental health charity. This fixed-term role centers on delivering a structured eight-week intervention in schools, homes, and community settings, with face-to-face engagement and collaboration with schools and education staff.

You will work within MindWorks, applying trauma-informed and mentalisation approaches while contributing to an important research trial.

Qualifications

• Proven therapeutic experience in supporting young people in community and education settings.
• Qualifications in psychology or a related mental health field.
• Cultural competence across diverse contexts and anti-discriminatory practice.
• Strong communication and collaboration across stakeholders with supervision.
• Organisation, safeguarding and research commitment, managing workload and records.

Responsibilities

• Deliver a structured short-term intervention (about eight weeks) to young people and their parent or carer.
• Work across schools, family homes and community settings.
• Provide direct clinical support and work systemically with families and education staff.
• Contribute to MindWorks trial using evidence-based, trauma-informed and mentalisation approaches.

Skills

Therapeutic experience

Communication skills

Collaboration

Cultural competence

Safeguarding

Education

Psychology or related mental health field training

Job description

Join an innovative mental health research trial supporting young people.

Anna Freud is seeking a Wellbeing Practitioner to join our world-leading mental health charity for children, young people and their families. Our mission is to close the gap in wellbeing and mental health by advancing, translating, delivering, and sharing the best science and practice with everyone who impacts the lives of children, young people and their families. More information about Anna Freud is available on our website.

Please note: there is a mandatory training period (1-10 December 2026), therefore the start date is 1 December 2026, which is non-negotiable.

Our EDI commitment

We are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and being an equal opportunities employer, whereby equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are core to our recruitment practices. All candidates who meet the job criteria will be considered for employment, regardless of ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic background, caring responsibilities and care experience.

We ask candidates to share their diversity dimensions with us to help us identify, tackle and prevent bias across the employee lifecycle. We believe a diverse workforce enhances our ability to support mental health and wellbeing, allowing us to better meet the needs of the children, young people and families we serve.

As a Disability Confident employer, disabled candidates meeting our criteria are guaranteed an interview. Applications are submitted anonymously and assessed using a fair evaluation process based on the criteria set out in our job profiles.

What We Offer

We offer a range of staff benefits, including wellbeing offers such as free counselling through our Employee Assistance Programme. We are proud to have staff-led Diversity Networks offering unique opportunities for learning, connection and impact.

MindWorks is a research programme designed as a randomised controlled trial to test a specialist intervention for young people at risk of school exclusion due to challenging behaviour. Grounded in CBT and systemic approaches and underpinned by a strong anti-racist framework, the programme recognises the impact of structural inequality and works closely with schools, families and communities, with young people recruited directly through education settings.

Please note: the role is known internally as Practitioner.

What You'll Do

You will deliver a structured, short-term intervention (typically over eight weeks) to young people and their parent or carer, combining therapeutic work with collaboration across the wider school network, including trusted adults. The role is outreach-based, primarily taking place in schools, family homes and community settings. It involves providing direct clinical support, working systemically with families and education staff, and contributing to a wider research trial while applying evidence-based, trauma-informed and mentalisation approaches.

What You'll Bring

Essential requirements

• Proven therapeutic experience in supporting young people in community and education settings, working systemically with families and other key adults.
• Relevant qualifications and expertise: training in psychology or a related mental health field, with the ability to deliver evidence-based interventions for children and young people.
• Cultural competence and inclusion: ability to work effectively across diverse cultural contexts, applying inclusive, anti-discriminatory practices within clinical work.
• Strong communication and collaboration: skilled at building relationships, communicating complex ideas clearly, and working with multiple stakeholders while using supervision effectively.
• Organisation, safeguarding, and research commitment: capable of managing workload across settings, maintaining accurate records, applying safeguarding standards, and engaging fully with research trial requirements.

Key details

Hours: full-time, 35 hours per week.

Salary: £32,136 FTE per annum, plus 6% contributory pension scheme.

Location: community sites, schools and colleges, and Anna Freud (4-8 Rodney Street, London N1 9JH). Face to face delivery predominantly. Ability to travel is essential and travel expenses will be paid. The schools taking part in the Mindworks trial for the first term (September - December 2026) are based in Dagenham, Borehamwood, Tilbury and Bedfordshire. You will be allocated to a school in one of these areas for the term and must be willing to commute daily. From January 2027, school recruitment will be focused on the London / Greater London area.

Contract type: starting on 1 December 2026, fixed-term until end of July 2028.

Next steps

Closing date for applications

midday (12pm), Wednesday 30 September 2026. Please note that we may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications.

Notification of interview

shortlisted applicants will be notified no later than Friday 02 October 2026. During shortlisting, applicants are anonymously assessed using the criteria visible in the Job Profile. Please note: due to the high volume of applications received, we will not be able to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

Interviews

will be held remotely on Wednesday 7 October 2026

Questions?

Please email [e-mail] with any job enquiries, or if you require assistance or experience difficulties when applying. Please note that successful candidate(s) will be asked to evidence their Right to Work in the UK post-job offer – we do not hold a sponsor license therefore we are unable to provide Visa sponsorship.