MHST Education Mental Health / Children's Wellbeing Practitioner


Location
Ashford, England
Salary
£32,073 - £39,043 per annum (pro rata if P/T)
Profession
Mental health professionals
Grade
Band 5
Deadline
15 Oct 2026
Contract Type
Permanent
Posted Date
01 Oct 2026
Medical Protection — the side of locally employed doctors from £83

Job requirements

Essential

12 listed

Requirements the employer expects applicants to meet.

  • skills

    Ability to work within educational settings to increase mental health awareness within the staff group

  • skills

    Ability to make an assessment of risk and to record and communicate it appropriately.

  • Personal

    Able to travel to meet the requirements of the post

  • Knowledge

    Knowledge of safeguarding issues

  • communication

    Excellent written communication skills

  • Previous experience

    Experience of working with children and young people, their families and others in a healthcare or school setting.

  • Previous experience

    Experience of working with children and young people who have social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties

  • Previous experience

    Experience of working with anxiety and affective disorders

  • Previous experience

    Experience of the delivery of specific low intensity therapeutic interventions to children, young people or their families (e.g. CBT, solution focused brief therapy)

  • Previous experience

    Ability to conduct other group therapeutic interventions with children and their families

  • Education and Qualification

    Qualified Education Mental Health Practitioner or CYP Wellbeing Practitioner Post Graduate Qualification or Degree level Mental Health Nursing, Social Work, Occupational Therapy or equivalent substantial

  • Education and Qualification

    Registered with a relevant professional body or pending completion

Desirable

7 listed

Additional qualities the employer would prefer.

  • Previous experience

    Experience of working with children and their families in an education setting

  • Previous experience

    Experience of monitoring and recording outcome measures for children’s emotional wellbeing

  • Previous experience

    Experience of navigating complex social systems and environments, who may have conflicting priorities or agendas

  • Previous experience

    Experience of working with looked after children

  • Previous experience

    Experience of working with other vulnerable groups

  • Education and Qualification

    A further relevant degree qualification

  • Education and Qualification

    Teaching qualification

Job overview

Applicants must be a qualified and registered Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) or a qualified and registered Children and Young People Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP) with experience of working with in CYP Mental Health Services in the provision of both individual and group treatments.

Mental health professionals with post graduate experience of working with young people with emotional and mental health issues and with experience of delivering evidenced-based CBT interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues such as anxiety, low mood and behavioural problems to CYP both individually and in groups may also apply.

MK MHST works with Young people with mild to moderate mental health presentations attending school.

The purpose of the team is to

  • Provide evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues.
  • Support the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school or college approach.
  • Give 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.

Main duties of the job

You will be part of an established Mental Health Support Team (MHST) created to improve access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people and to deliver evidence based low intensity interventions into schools enabling life long aspirations. You will work alongside other EMHPs and CYPWPs, Senior Wellbeing Practitioners and Team Leaders.

The post holder will undertake assessments of children and young people and deliver evidence based low intensity group and individual interventions to children and young people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression and/or behavioural difficulties and their families and carers. You will also provide training and consultation to schools and other agencies about mental health in children and young people and support schools in identifying specific areas of need as part of the whole school approach to mental health.

Please note this post is based at Milton Keynes Headquarters which is currently situated on the hospital site. However a consultation is currently underway with staff regarding moving the Headquarters to the Open University within Milton Keynes in the new year. If this moves goes ahead as proposed the successful candidate would be based at the Open University site.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • To deliver low intensity evidence-based intervention for children and young people in education setting with mild to moderate mental health problems
  • To help children and young people within these settings who present with more severe problems to rapidly access more specialist services
  • To support and facilitating staff in education settings to identify and where appropriate manage issues related to mental health and wellbeing
  • To work with and within education environments to afford better access to specialist mental health services

Please see attached job description for more details

Applicant requirements

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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Applying for this NHS job

This advert is for MHST Education Mental Health / Children's Wellbeing Practitioner with Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust in Ashford, England. It is listed as a Band 5 Mental health professionals role. The advertised salary is £32,073 - £39,043 per annum (pro rata if P/T). The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 15 Oct 2026.

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