The Opportunity
Salary: NJC Grade 7 £28,624 to £31,067 per annum. Upon successful completion of the course, you will move up to NJC Grade 8 £31,586 to £34,314.
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: 37 hours per week, full time, Monday to Friday 09:00-17:00
Location: Worthing, Mid-Sussex, Crawley, Bognor and Chichester
Closing date: 13th April 2025
Interview date: 29th April-1st May
Please note: Successful candidates will need to be available to start in September 2025.
As a Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) you will be offered a full-time training position.
You will be expected to work under supervision as part of a dynamic integrated mental health team. This approach requires creativity, flexibility, and adaptability, and above all a passion for working with Children and Young People in educational settings.
To succeed at this role, you will need to demonstrate the ability to study as a self-motivated learner at post-graduate degree level and learn in a variety of settings.
Alongside this, you will have a great passion and enthusiasm for CBT-informed, evidence-based early interventions for mental health problems. You will be self-motivated and a team player with integrity, openness, and an awareness of others. You will need excellent time management, organisational, and communication skills.
The Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner role will:
* Work closely alongside a team of mental health professionals delivering a wide range of evidence informed interventions, under supervision.
* Develop and practice evidence-based skills under supervision to work directly with Children, Young People, and families.
* Develop and practice evidence-based skills under supervision to carry out holistic and child-centred mental health assessments, including risk assessments.
For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.
Trainee/Qualification Information
Our trainee positions are full time roles starting from £28,624 per annum, rising to £31,586- £ 34,314 per annum once qualified.
You will attend university twice a week and work towards a Post Graduate Diploma in Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP), which will be undertaken at a local Higher Education Institute (Sussex University). Your placement work will be in education settings in West Sussex.
The remainder of the week is placement and work based. You will learn:
* How to complete low intensity, CBT-informed 1:1 therapeutic mental health assessments and interventions with children and young people and/or their families
* How to support schools with their whole school approach to wellbeing by delivering groups and workshops.
You will need a minimum bachelor's degree (2:1 or 2:2), or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard (in any academic subject) to enrol onto the Post Graduate Diploma in Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) course.
About Us
Working as part of Education & Skills, Thought-Full, The Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) are an exciting new initiative and an important strand of the Government's 2017 Green Paper 'Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision'.
We fulfil 3 core functions:
1. Supporting the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school approach.
2. Delivering evidence-based interventions in schools for mild to moderate mental health issues.
3. Giving timely advice to school and college staff, and liaising with external specialist services, to help children and young people to get the right support and stay in education.
The Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) is a new professional role which delivers CBT-informed, evidence-based early interventions for children and young people and parents / carers in educational settings in England such as schools and colleges.
Rewards and Benefits
For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
The reference number for this role is CAFHE05681.
To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and complete the application form.
In your application form please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please use the key skills in the job description and refer to these in your application, as this will be used for shortlisting) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV.
Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, five years referencing and an occupational health check.
Equity, inclusion, and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.