Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner

Job overview

In line with the governments priority to increase access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) role is an exciting opportunity to deliver evidence-based early interventions for children and young people, working across both educational settings and healthcare sectors in England.

We are seeking to recruit 4 graduate level practitioners to provide guided self-help therapy and parenting interventions. These posts are salaried at NHS Agenda for Change band 4 for a one year post graduate diploma in Education Mental Health Practice through Kings College London. Further intensive supervision and on the job training will be provided by an experienced supervisor within each team.

There will be a strong expectation for trainees to continue in post on successful completion of the one-year training, with a salary increase to NHS Band 5 scale for the second year onwards.

Successful candidates will be employed on a full-time basis within a Mental Health Support Team delivering individual, group and workshop-based mental health interventions within a borough-based cluster of schools.

The post is currently being recruited to within the existing service structure. The service may be subject to a future procurement process, and any subsequent changes will be managed in accordance with NHS employment policies and relevant legislation.

Main duties of the job

This is a training position post holder will undertake training at Kings College London alongside working in service for CAMHS Croydon MHST. They will be taught to deliver evidence based guided self-help interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties. The post holder will use their newly developed skills to support children and young people who are referred into the service and trainees will receive supervision to support their professional development.

Applicants will need to be ready to start work in early/mid-January 2027 and posts cannot be offered to candidates unless they can guarantee this start date.

During training, the post-holders will work under close 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.

Shortlisted candidates will also need to submit an application form to KCL for a place on the Diploma in Education Mental Health Practice. The application form details are attached/linked below and will need to be completed at the same time as your application for a post.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Essential

• Qualification: Undergraduate degree, upper second class or above, in Psychology OR related subject (e.g., Psychology, Education, Childhood development, Social Work etc), OR any subject with further training or experience in a relevant field (e.g., Teaching/TA; Learning Support; HCA; Youth Work; Counselling etc)
• Undergraduate degree, upper second class or above, in Psychology OR related subject (e.g., Psychology, Education, Childhood development, Social Work etc), OR any subject with further training or experience in a relevant field (e.g., Teaching/TA; Learning Support; HCA; Youth Work; Counselling etc)

OR

• Relevant professional experience in CYP Mental Health/Education/Mentorship (to be considered on a case-by-case basis)
• Strong communication skills
• The ability to work cohesively within small teams
• Motivation to learn and to be challenged
• The ability to use feedback and adapt accordingly
• Good organisational skills
• Experience of working within a mental health setting and / or school pastoral care
• Experience of working with children and an understanding of how to talk with them
• Commitment to using data and relevant measures to assess clinical outcomes

Applicant requirements

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.