South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Senior Educational Mental Health Practitioner
The closing date is 20 October 2026
Areyou an experienced Mental Health Practitioner looking for an excitingopportunity to make a difference in the lives of young people within theKirklees area? Would you like to be part of a diverse and innovative servicewho offer mental health support in an educational setting?
We areseeking applicants to join our Mental Health Support Team who cover the schoolsand colleges in Kirklees. This is an exciting time to join our team who deliverevidence based interventions to children within our schools with mild tomoderate mental health conditions. Focusing on early intervention we alsoprovide training and workshops to schools using the whole school approach,which enables schools to provide a culture of wellbeing for all their pupils.
Youwill be part of a supportive and resilient team within a trust which placesstaff health and wellbeing at the top of its agenda. Our team sits within our CAMHS service whichmeans that we can provide expert CPD opportunities, further training andsupervision from a diverse range of experienced practitioners.
All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged tohave their up-to-date flu vaccination to protect staff and patients.
Main duties of the job
This role would suit an experienced healthcare professional with experience in assessing and working with young people with mild- moderate mental health concerns and preferably experience deliveringCBT interventions and delivery of supervision.
As a band 6mental health practitioner you will be expected to confidently manage acaseload of young people including triaging, consulting with schools/ parentsand assessing CYP with a range of mental health issues and making decisions asto what support they may need.
You will supportthe senior leadership team and be involved with service development of theMHST, taking initiative to identify opportunities to improve the service.
You will beexpected to draw on your experience to lead case management supervision andsupervise the junior staff within the team.
You will be ableto make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the servicesreferral protocols, refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or backto the referral agent as necessary.
At the time of advertising, this role does meet theminimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates towork in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application.
About us
Weare a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental healthand learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale,Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and arethe lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.
Our mission isto help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do thisby providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employstaff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make adifference to the lives of service users, families and carers.
We encourageand welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we valuediversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.
Beinga foundation Trust means were accountable to ourmembers, who can have a say in how were run. Around 14,300 local people(including staff) are members of our Trust.
Joinus and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improvingthe mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet andhelp each year.
Weare committedto safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people andvulnerable adults and expects all colleagues and volunteers to share thiscommitment.
We do reserve to right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.
Job responsibilities
JOB SUMMARY
Thepost holder will work as part of the Kirklees Mental Health Support Team (MHST)to manage a defined case- load witha focus on providing comprehensive assessment, consultation and evidence-basedinterventions, for children and young people (CYP) with mental healthdifficulties and their parents/carers.
This post will involvesupporting Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP)s with developing their clinicalpractice, psychological formulation and school engagement.
The post holderwill be expectedto provide Case Management and Clinical SkillsSupervision to a number of trainee/EMHPs within theservice (training may be provided).
The post holder will be able to work flexiblyacross a range of education providers, be a keen contributer to joint workinginitiatives and adaptive to change in a ever-growing service. Kirklees MHSTs are delivered througha partnership involving CAMHS (South West Yorkshire Partnership FoundationTrust) as the lead provider, Educational Psychology services (Kirklees Council)and Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust as wrap around services.
KEY RESULTAREAS:
Thepostholder will:
1.1 Care/service/functionprovision:
Work in partnership to deliver a range of evidence-basedmental health interventions with children and young people (CYP) as well as some parent-led interventions.
Facilitate evidence-basedgroup interventions with CYP and/or parents.
Offer specialist mental health-based consultation,advice and guidance with professionals.
Be responsible and ensure the effectiveco-ordination of clinical care provided includingconsideration to safeguarding and clinical risk issues where indicated.
Support clinical staff toidentify children and young people with emerging mental health needs aswell as psychological formulation.
Promote overall access toKirklees MHST where appropriate.
Establish therapeutic relationships with children, youngpeople and their familiesand implementevidence based therapeutic interventions.
Plan and organiseinterventions ensuring that reviews are held within the required time frames.
Ensure that all members of themulti-disciplinary team, their colleagues, service users and appropriate others are informed/updated of changes involvingcurrent care plans, progress, mentalstate, and psychosocial factors in line with best practice.
Liaise with and advise CYP and families, localauthority and other statutory bodies and third sector agenciesincluding childrens safeguarding as necessary.
Communicate sensitive information to carers and relatives.
Use a range of inclusivecommunication styles and channels as appropriate to the task.
Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating toreferrals or patients in treatment, where appropriate.
Care plan and manage owncaseload
Maintain accurate written recordson the electronic record systemof the Trust
Undertake mental health assessments, with anagreed plan of action and/or care and low moderate intervention.
Set and monitor Goal Based Outcomes withCYP/parents.
Undertake complex risk assessments and develop aformulation of risk which will lead to the development of risk managementplans which have taken into consideration a range of possibleoptions.
Undertake and continuously re-evaluate complexbio-psycho-social assessments and develop a working formulationwhich will lead to the development of personalised care packages in line with evidence based and routineoutcome measures.
For full job description, please see attached supportingdocuments.
We are aware that an increasing number of applicantsare using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job applicationforms. Over reliance on AI-generated content in application forms isstrongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process beforeselecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI toenhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs applicationform.
Person Specification
Personal Attributes
- Able to work autonomously and as part of a team.
- Commitment to multi-agency approach.
- Ability to work and make decisions under pressure.
- Calm, confident, innovative, creative and assertive.
- Clarity of decision making.
- Willingness to be flexible and adaptable in accordance with changing service priorities.
- Commitment to challenging discrimination and improving accessibility of services.
- Ability to cope calmly in a crisis.
- To demonstrate good self-care and encourage the same in team members.
- A current driving licence and access to a car during the working day is essential (reasonable adjustments will be considered for any applicants who are unable to drive due to a disability).
Training
- Experience delivering training to a diverse audience (or group work).
Special Knowledge & Skills
- A good understanding of evidence -based, low intensity interventions for mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
- An understanding of mental health and wellbeing support within community settings.
- Understanding of safeguarding responsibilities and the importance of
- multi-agency work for children and families in the community.
- Understanding of CYP-IAPT principles including the use of evidence-based therapies and Routine Outcome Measures.
- Excellent communication skills including the ability to engage with children/young people of all ages experiencing a wide range of mental health presentations.
- Ability to communicate with a wide range of professionals from various settings.
- Ability to work effectively with partner services & external partners to promote and adapt change processes.
- Good verbal and communication skills.
- Ability to manage own caseload.
- Good negotiation skills, and problem-solving skills.
- Effective record keeping and report writing skills to include care planning and risk assessments.
- Have good team working skills. Be able to work across disciplines with an ability to predict and manage inter-disciplinary tensions and foster good working practices.
- A good understanding of the green paper initiative and the function of a MHST.
Experience
- Substantial post qualification experience, some of which must be working with children, young people and their carers in a mental health or community setting.
- Experience of working in Primary Care/ MHST Services / or CAMHS.
- Experience of managing a case-load of children and young people
- with a range of moderate mental health needs.
- Experience in assessment and risk management and ability to implement evidence-based practice.
- Experience of delivering evidence-based psychological therapy e.g. CBT.
- Experience of working with parents (or with adults).
- Experience of working in or in conjunction with an educational setting.
- Experience of providing clinical supervision.
- Proven ability to work with other agencies and disciplines and in partnership with other organisations.
- Experience working within Early Intervention and Prevention Services.
- Experience of service delivery via digital platform.
Qualifications
- or
- Registered mental health practitioner (NMC, HCPC)
- or
- Registered social worker
- or
- KSA equivalent accreditation (www.babcp.com/Accreditation/Provisional-Accreditation/Knowledge-Skills-and-Attitudes).
- Successful completion of the CYP-IAPT CBT/EMHP supervisor training or willing to undertake.
Physical Attributes
- Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).
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.
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
#J-18808-Ljbffr…