Main area: Mental Health Support Team
Grade Band: 6
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (As this is a school based service delivery, the post holder will be expected to take their annual leave in the school holidays other than in urgent circumstances.)
Job ref: 351-SPS1323-CLK
Site: CYPMH MH Support Team East Lancs
Town: Burnley
Salary: £37,338 - £44,962 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 11/02/2025 23:59
Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism and community based services for the populations we serve.
As an integrated mental health, learning disability and community Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including:
1. Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, forensic services including low and medium secure care.
2. Specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
3. Community physical health and well-being services for children and adults.
The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,000 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health and general nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers.
Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust supports flexible working, believing that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, home/remote working, and flexi-time.
Main Area: Mental Health Support Team for Children and Young People in Education (MHST)
We are looking for an enthusiastic, suitably qualified and experienced person with the ability, commitment and passion to support children and young people with their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
In line with the government’s priority to increase access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the MHST delivers evidence-based early interventions for children and young people, working across educational and healthcare sectors.
The Mental Health Practitioner will work in educational settings, schools and colleges, as part of NHS led Mental Health Support Teams and will be based in either East Lancashire or Blackburn with Darwen.
The post holder will undertake appropriate mental health assessment and short-term clinical intervention of children and young people referred to service and provide a range of appropriate, evidence-based clinical interventions informed by assessed individual need.
Main duties of the job
1. Assess and deliver, under supervision, outcome focused, evidence-based interventions to children and young people in education settings experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
2. Working in partnership, support children, young people and their families in the self-management of presenting difficulties, principally anxiety and low mood.
3. Supporting and facilitating staff in education settings to identify and where appropriate manage issues related to mental health and wellbeing whilst improving access to mental health services.
4. To support schools in developing strategies/activities to promote emotional well-being and positive mental health to the school community.
5. Operate at all times from an inclusive values base, which recognises and respects diversity.
6. Signpost referrals to the relevant service.
7. Undertake assessments of risk to self and others.
8. To use the acquired skills, knowledge and abilities to deliver a service based within education settings that builds on and reinforces but does not replace those initiatives that already exist within these environments.
Working for our organisation
Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.
At ELCAS (East Lancashire Child and Adolescent Services) our vision is to be a centre of excellence providing high quality Child and Adolescent psychological and mental health services that exceed people’s expectations.
We have been accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Quality Network for Community CAMHS (QNCC) since 2016. In 2019 the CQC rated us as Outstanding in providing Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led services, and as Outstanding overall.
For more information, please visit our website via Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification for more information about this role.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential criteria
* Experience of working with children and young people, their families and others.
* Experience of working and liaising with a wide variety of agencies and stakeholders.
* Experience of working with children and young people who have social, emotional, behavioural difficulties, neurodiversity and/or learning difficulties/disabilities.
* Experience of working with anxiety disorders & affective (mood) disorders.
* Experience of the delivery of specific therapeutic interventions to children, young people or their families.
* Access to private transport for work purposes.
Desirable
* Experience of working with children and their families in a healthcare and/or education setting.
* Experience of monitoring and recording outcome measures for children's emotional wellbeing.
* Experience of navigating complex social systems and environments, who may have conflicting priorities or agendas.
Education
Essential criteria
* Successful completion of relevant IAPT Course.
* Membership with accredited body and hold accreditation.
Desirable
* Specialist qualification in other appropriate therapy eg. FT/DBT.
* Qualification in clinical supervision.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Essential
* Knowledge of educational environments.
* Knowledge of safeguarding issues.
* Knowledge of capacity and consent issues including Gillick competence.
* Ability to carry out 1:1/group therapeutic mental health interventions with children and/or families.
* Ability to deliver presentations and teach others about mental health issues.
* Ability to conduct mental health assessments of children and young people.
* Ability to make an assessment of risk and to record and communicate it appropriately.
* Ability to take appropriate action to mitigate or manage risk.
Desirable
* Knowledge of the functional operation of specialist CAMHS teams.
* Knowledge of educational environments including Specialist Learning Environments (SEN/PRU’s).
* Ability to conduct group parenting programmes.
Person specification
Education
* RMN/CQSW/DipSW/ BSc.OT or other relevant qualification including IAPT/EMHP.
* Accredited/accreditable to a professional body.
* Specialist Qualification in DBT, FT or other appropriate therapy - Degree or equivalent qualification, or have undertaken a program of formal training in Clinical Supervision.
Knowledge
* Knowledge of educational environments.
* Knowledge of safeguarding issues, capacity, consent and Gillick Competency issues.
* Good assessment skills selecting treatment from a range of options with clear clinical reasoning skills.
Experience
* Previous evidence of experience in CYP mental health.
* Evidence of working with childhood, emotional and psychological development.
* Confident in delivering group work and group presentations.
Please note that further communication from Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft) will normally be to the email address given on the application form. You should also ensure that email addresses and telephone numbers are provided for your referees, to enable LSCft to contact them.
Please be aware the use of artificial intelligence (AI) when submitting an application is monitored and if you have used AI to generate an application, you are required to declare this on your application form. AI-generated content may lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description. Personalisation is essential when submitting an application form to convey your skills, knowledge, and experiences effectively.
Please ensure that you read the person specification attached below as your application will be measured against this document. Applications from job share partners are welcome and other forms of flexible working will be considered for all posts.
For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).
You are advised to consider applying for LSCft vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within three weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.
LSCft is committed to celebrating difference as an asset and we know that recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds helps to create a more flexible, creative and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from people regardless of age, disability (particularly those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion or belief or sexual orientation. Our goal is for the Trust to be truly representative of the communities we serve so we are particularly keen to receive applications from people in under-represented groups. If there is anything you’d like to discuss in relation to your application then please ask.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
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