South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Education Mental Health Practitioner
The closing date is 24 June 2026
Our CAMHS Future in Mind MHST (Mental Health Support Team) is a growing and developing service which provides early intervention to improve the lives of children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems.
We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic and qualified Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) to join our friendly and supportive team. Applicants must hold an EMHP postgraduate qualification and be registered with a professional body such as BPS or BABCP.
The successful applicant will be allocated a number of education settings alongside their Senior Practitioner in which they will have the opportunity to develop strong working relationships and provide support to the school community. With appropriate supervision, you will work as an autonomous practitioner, offering Low Intensity CBT interventions whilst also promoting a Whole School Approach to mental health and wellbeing.
Informal enquiries are encouraged, please contact 01977 735901 or WakefieldCAMHS.mhst@swyt.nhs.uk.
Main duties of the job
* Deliver evidence based interventions to children, young people, parents/carers through individual and group work.
* Carry out holistic and child-centred mental health assessments.
* Develop and deliver psychoeducation sessions to children, young people, parents/carers through assemblies, classroom, and parent sessions.
* Ensure children/young people play an active part in decision making about the support they need.
* Provide advice to education staff to support children/young people getting the right help at the right time.
* Support education settings in developing and embedding whole school approaches to mental health through collaboration and co-production within the school settings.
* Participate in the delivery of training programmes for education staff and settings.
* Develop local knowledge of services particularly in relation to mental health to enable effective signposting and planning.
All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to have their up‑to‑date flu vaccination to protect staff and patients.
At the time of advertising this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application.
About us
We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the West Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.
Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, by providing high‑quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non‑clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.
We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.
Being a foundation Trust means we are accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.
Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.
We do reserve the right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.
Job responsibilities
JOB SUMMARY
The Children and Young Peoples Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (CYP IAPT) is a transformation programme delivered by Health Education England and partners that aims to improve existing children and young peoples mental health services (CYP MHS) working in the community. Child Wellbeing Practitioner training will benefit from being integrated fully within CYP MHS and linked to the CYP IAPT collaborative, which brings a valuable organisational infrastructure.
As part of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) will work in both education and healthcare settings to support children and young people with mental ill health. The new roles support the Governments priority of increasing access to and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people.
The post is for a team player who has already qualified through the Education Mental Health Practitioner framework.
JOB PURPOSE
This role is within the Children and Young People Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (CYPIAPT). The post-holder will work within a CYP mental health service delivering, under supervision, high‑quality, brief outcome‑focused evidence‑based interventions and guided self‑help for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
The training and service experience will equip the post holder with the necessary knowledge, attitude and capabilities to operate effectively in an inclusive, value‑driven service.
This post will work under the direction of the Senior CAMHS Practitioners within the project, across education settings within the Wakefield District.
Principal responsibilities
* Assess and deliver, under supervision, outcome‑focused evidence‑based interventions to children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
* Work in partnership, support children, young people and their families in the self‑management of presenting difficulties.
* Work in partnership with children, young people and families in the development of plans for the intervention and agreed outcomes.
* Support and empower children, young people and families to make informed choices about the intervention.
* Operate at all times from an inclusive values base, which recognises and respects diversity.
* Accept referrals within agreed national and local protocols.
* Adhere to the service referral protocols. Under supervision signpost unsuitable referrals to the relevant service as necessary.
* Under supervision, undertake accurate assessments of risk to self and others, through close case management and supervision, escalating cases where the level of need becomes beyond scope or more severe ensuring adherence to other relevant elements of service delivery.
* Provide a range of information and support for evidence based psychological treatments, primarily guided self‑help. This work may be face‑to‑face, by telephone or via other media.
* Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the overall number of children and young people contacts offered, and sessions carried out per week in order to improve timely access and minimise waiting times.
* Attend multi‑disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or CYP in treatment, where appropriate.
* Keep coherent records of all activity in line with service protocols and use these records and outcome data to inform decision making. Complete all requirements relating to data collection.
* Assess and integrate issues relating to transitions, education and training/employment into the overall therapeutic process.
* Work within a collaborative approach involving a range of relevant others when indicated.
* Work in collaboration with children, young people and communities to enhance and widen access.
For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.
We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI-generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Relevant qualification or experience within an educational setting.
Knowledge
* Good working knowledge of nationally agreed routine outcome measures within the CYP‑IAPT Programme.
* Working knowledge of the educational system.
* Knowledge of children and young people gained through academic study in child development, child wellbeing or mental health.
* Knowledge of safeguarding issues and legal framework.
* Knowledge and experience of capacity and consent issues when working with young people.
* Knowledge of the whole school approach to mental health.
* Knowledge of other neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions; both in type and severity.
* Knowledge of service pathways and remits and ability to navigate these processes.
* Knowledge of how contextual factors affect children and young peoples mental health and impact this can have on delivering effective interventions.
* Excellent oral and written communication skills.
* Ability to deliver low intensity evidence based interventions under supervision to children and young people.
* Ability to devise and deliver group-based interventions to children and young people.
* Ability to deliver parent‑led interventions where children have a mental health need.
* Ability to keep clinical records to a high standard.
* Skilled at engaging and building relationships with children, young people and parents.
* Ability to work collaboratively with young people, parents, colleagues and partner agencies.
Experience
* At least one year experience of delivery of low intensity evidence based CBT interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues.
* At least one year experience of work within both health and educational settings.
* Experience of consultation and liaison with education and multidisciplinary colleagues.
* Experience of service development.
* Experience of forging new working relationships within complex interagency framework.
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.
Employer name
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
J-18808-Ljbffr