Job overview
The Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) are designed to help meet mild to moderate mental health needs of children and young people in education settings. They are made up of senior clinicians, CAMHS Practitioners and Education Wellbeing Practitioners (EWPs). They will be based across education settings as an additional resource within a whole-system approach to promote resilience and wellbeing, support earlier intervention, enable appropriate signposting and deliver evidence-based support, care and interventions.
The MHST will partner with their education settings to design a bespoke
offer, based on the school’s individual needs and will work with the mental health services that are already in place, such as counselling,
educational psychology, school nurses, pastoral care, educational welfare officers, VCSEs, the local authority, including children’s social care, and
NHS Children and Young People Mental Health Services (CYPMHS).
Our MHST currently works with 15 schools across Croydon. The successful candidate will be employed by Croydon CAMHS and will be expected to liaise with CAMHS teams when appropriate. The MHST deliver emotional wellbeing interventions using Guided Self Help strategies.
Main duties of the job
As an qualified EWP you will have successfully completed training as a trainee EMHP. You will be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge and capabilities to work as a qualified EMHP, as an autonomous and responsible practitioner within your scope of practice, alongside education and health colleagues.
You will be confident in providing manualised 1-1 and group interventions based on Guided Self Help with young people and families in anxiety, low mood and behaviours that challenge.
You are expected to liaise and work effectively with the wider network around the child including educational, social care, family and health.
Support and facilitate activities under the PHE whole school approach framework.
Improve access to mental health and wellbeing support, working with cultural diverse populations and adapting services to improve access.
Working for our organisation
Croydon MHST is a friendly and supportive team who have developed a close partnership with local schools in providing low
intensity interventions, creating workshops and groups and adapting services to meet the needs of schools, young people and families in
Croydon in line with CYP-IAPT principles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
There is a requirement to work with schools remotely and face to face in delivering low level Guided Self Help to Young People and Families. This will be across various educational settings within the Croydon wave 1 school cluster, remote working from home and Croydon CAMHS.
EWPs play a key role as members of the Mental Health Support Team, who will have the responsibility for delivering schools' whole school approach to mental health and emotional wellbeing for children and young people.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. •Successful completion of the HEE commissioned 1yr ‘Education Mental Health Practitioner’ post graduate diploma (A) Professional registration with the BPS or BABCP as EMHP (A/I)
Desirable criteria
2. Evidence of CPD -Continuous Professional Development in Child and Adolescent Mental Health or Family work training
Experience
Essential criteria
3. Experience of working with children and young people, their families and others in educational and health settings with mild to moderate mental health problems.
4. Experience of delivering specific therapeutic interventions to children, young people or their families (e.g. Guided Self Help, CBT, parent work)
5. Experience of liaising and working effectively with the wider network around the child including educational, social care, family and health.
6. Experience of working with cultural diverse populations and adapting services to improve access.
7. •Experience of assessing children and young people who present with more severe problems to rapidly access more specialist services. Ability to conduct other group therapeutic interventions with children and their families
Desirable criteria
8. Experience of liaising and working effectively with the wider network around the child including educational, social care, family and health.
9. Experience of assessing and meeting the communication needs of the schools to deliver psycho-education on mental health or emotional wellbeing to different groups including parents, teaching staff and young people.
10. Experience of adapting resources to be able to delivery online/ via phone/ google classroom
Abilities
Essential criteria
11. Ability to carry out 1:1 therapeutic mental health interventions with children and families.
12. Ability to conduct group parenting and group young person programmes
13. Ability to work within educational settings to increase mental health awareness within the staff group
14. Ability to make an assessment of risk and to record and communicate it appropriately and to take appropriate action to mitigate or manage
Desirable criteria
15. Ability to conduct other group therapeutic interventions with children and their families
16. Ability to teach others about mental health issues
17. Ability to think and work systemically.