Job overview
***Only applicants with an existing Education Mental health Practitioner Qualification will be considered***
Wigan Mental Health Support Team (MHST) in schools is designed to help meet the mental health needs of children and young people in education settings. Wigan MHST is made up of senior clinicians and higher-level therapists, and Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs).
The Education Mental Health Practitioner role supports school staff to feel confident in recognising and responding to emerging mental health difficulties. Wigan MHST works with the mental health support services that already exist, such as counsellors, educational psychologists, Startwell, targeted youth support, Wigan Family Welfare, school nurses, pastoral care staff and educational welfare officers.
Our Band 5 Education Mental Health Practitioner will be offered regular clinical and case management supervision to support our MHST core functions;
Delivering evidence-based interventions for children and young people with mild to-moderate mental health problems.
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 to get the right support and stay in education
Main duties of the job
To be supported through supervision to deliver whole school mental
health initiatives alongside young people, school staff, senior leads
and parents.
To provide 1:1 brief intervention for mild to moderate mental health
problems, developing support plans for children and young people
on a regular basis and discuss in clinical supervision any issues that
needs addressing.
To provide low level intervention including behavioural activation, CBT informed worry and anxiety management interventions, graded
exposure, sleep and stress management, behavioural experiments.
Working for our organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 6,400 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 160 locations.
We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.
Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.
Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.
Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification
Staff benefits
1. Pay Enhancements:
Band
Saturday (midnight to midnight) and any week day after 8pm and before 6am
All time on Sundays and Public Holidays (midnight to midnight)
1
Time plus 47%
Time plus 94%
2
Time plus 41%
Time plus 83%
3
Time plus 35%
Time plus 69%
4 – 9
Time plus 30%
Time plus 60%
2. 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
3. Excellent pension
4. Cycle to work scheme
5. Salary sacrifice car scheme
6. Wellbeing programme
7. fuelGenie Fuel Cards (for applicable roles)
Person specification
Core Competencies
Essential criteria
8. Successful completion of an IAPT ‘Education Mental Health Practitioner’ course.
Desirable criteria
9. Experience of developing and delivering whole school approaches to mental health.
Core Competencies
Essential criteria
10. Experience of delivering evidence based mental health interventions including low intensity cognitive behavioural therapy interventions to CYP and parents.
Desirable criteria
11. Experience working within educational settings through consultation and training to increase mental health awareness within the staff group.
Core competencies
Essential criteria
12. Understanding and knowledge of psychological models of brief intervention.
Desirable criteria
13. Evidence of continuing professional development in the field of child and adolescent mental health
The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.
Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.
The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications
A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application. The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.
We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.
Sponsorship
We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – click .
If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.
The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it.
Do you have experience outside the NHS?
We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.
We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment.