Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner/Qualified EMHP
Come and join our team in North Cumbria.
We are looking for 2 practitioners with the vision and expertise to make a difference to the lives of children and young people. The successful candidates will be employed on a full-time basis as recruit-to-train EMHPs or qualified EMHPs depending on qualifications.
One practitioner will be based in our West locality team and working in schools in the Whitehaven, Workington, Maryport, Cockermouth area. The other will be based in the East team and will work in schools in Carlisle, Solway coast, and Penrith areas. The service bases are situated in Carlisle, Cockermouth, and Workington.
In line with the government's priority to increase access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, opportunities have arisen for 2 Qualified/Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) to deliver evidence-based early interventions for children and young people as part of the North Cumbria Mental Health Support Team.
Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are a national programme jointly delivered with the Department for Education, NHS England, and Health Education England.
All applicants must demonstrate in their application their ability to work at degree level and have relevant experience in child development, emotional wellbeing, and mental health. For those applying for trainee positions, it is a condition of the role that you will attend University, which is funded by Barnardos, and complete the course.
Main duties of the job
The programme has three core functions:
* Delivering evidence-based interventions for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health needs.
* Supporting the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach.
* Giving 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.
MHSTs support the promotion of wellbeing and good mental health with a particular focus on early intervention. They work with existing social, emotional, mental health, and wellbeing support within education settings, building relationships with each education setting and with children, young people, parent-carers, and partners in the local system to co-design and evaluate the support offer required.
About us
We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with and for equality, diversity, and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place, and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic, and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.
Job responsibilities
Job Purpose:
To provide advice, support, and services to children, young people, and their families in accordance with the aims and objectives of the service.
Specifics of Service attached as applicable.
Key Responsibilities:
For Service Users:
* To work with children, young people, and their families, on a one-to-one or group basis, using a variety of interventions, to identify needs and achieve positive outcomes.
* To work in partnership with parents/carers to empower them and enable them to achieve better outcomes for their children.
* To work cooperatively with children’s services, health agencies, and other community-based services to provide the most effective service for children, young people, and families.
* To apply safeguarding and child protection procedures.
For Resources:
* To be responsible for equipment/resources used in day-to-day work.
* To be responsible for case note recording, contributing to case reports.
* No management/supervisory responsibility for staff, students, or volunteers other than to help and advise colleagues as necessary.
* To promote, monitor, and maintain health, safety, and security in the working environment.
This Job Description and Person Specification reflect the duties of the post as they exist at this time and may be subject to change based on the needs of the Department Programme. The post-holder may be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the salary and competence requirements of this post from time to time as required.
Person Specification
Additional training information
* Supporting colleagues in education to identify and manage issues related to mental health and wellbeing.
* On successful completion of training, the trainee EMHP will be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and capabilities to work as a qualified EMHP as an autonomous and responsible practitioner within their scope of practice, alongside education colleagues.
Qualifications
* Demonstrable ability to work at postgraduate academic level e.g. minimum 2.2 degree or equivalent in a related subject OR
* Proven record of previous academic attainment and good basic literacy and numeracy qualifications.
Experience
* If you have not qualified as an Education Mental Health Practitioner, it is an essential part of the role that you complete the training programme for this post starting in September 2025, which 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 of the programme will be provided through a combination of two taught days with Northumbria University, two days in service, independent self-guided study days, and experience gained in education wellbeing and mental health services.
* During training, the post-holder will work under supervision to gain experience across healthcare and educational settings to enable them to gain the level of competence required to deliver high-quality, evidence-based early interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems.
* The training course is divided into six modules, developing skills and knowledge in areas such as:
o Working with children, young people, and their parents/carers to support self-management including the development of plans for specific interventions and agreeing outcomes;
o Learning to manage own caseload, gaining the necessary skills to practice a range of interventions such as guided self-help;
o Preparing and presenting caseload information to supervisors;
o Working with colleagues to provide better access to specialist mental health services and supporting referrals where required.
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.
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