Job summary
Come and join our friendly, supportive team making a difference to the lives of children and young people.

NELFT is the largest providers of MHSTs in England. Our North East, Southend, Essex and Thurrock services cover 144 schools currently.

The Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) deliver evidence-based individual interventions and group interventions in educational settings for children experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties aged 5 to 18 years old. The teams also have a strong focus on whole school approaches to improve mental health outcomes for children and young people.

Main duties of the job
We are looking for an experienced Mental Health Practitioner with a UK Professional Registration to join our MHST. MHST's are a new service designed to support Children and Young People (CYP) with mild to moderate mental health and emotional difficulties within education settings; ensuring they receive faster access to early intervention mental health support. In this post, you will be a senior clinical team member, holding a clinical caseload and supervising junior staff and trainee EMHPs. You will work alongside partner agencies to develop and co-produce training materials and support the delivery of whole school approach models for mental health.

About us
NELFT NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and community services for over 4.9 million people living in the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, and across Essex.

We work to ensure our patients, their friends and family, feel confident that their health needs are well met. With an excellent reputation for research and development, our skilled health professionals are at the cutting edge of evidence-based innovation, opening up the possibilities for better ways of working and delivery of care.

Job description
Job responsibilities
The South East Essex Mental Health Support Team (MHST) covers a large geographical area incorporating the districts of Southend, Castlepoint, Rochford and Canvey Island. We are an early intervention and prevention evidence-based service and as a team we are supportive and passionate in what we deliver. We are a friendly team of professionals who come from multidisciplinary backgrounds. We recognise the need for a healthy work life balance, and we will consider flexible working applications in line with the trust policies and process. We encourage Continual Professional Development (CPD) and are keen to support our staff to grow and progress.

We are a welcoming, compassionate and considerate team, that work incredibly hard to support one another to improve the mental health of our community.

Our localities cover large areas so you will need access to a vehicle and have the ability to travel efficiently across the county.

Main duties of the job

• Work in partnership with schools CYP, and families in the development of plans for the intervention and agreed outcomes.
• Support the Locality Clinical Lead with the formulation and treatment and management plans for schools, parents, CYP using a range of specialist psychological interventions appropriate to the service, individual and group.
• Effectively manage a caseload of CYP with mild to moderate mental health difficulties, complete thorough assessments, risk assessments, care plans and reviews.
• Provide caseload management and supervision to Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioners, Education Mental Health Practitioner's and Senior Mental Health Practitioner's.
• Support in the delivery of evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
• To work as part of a Multi-Disciplinary Team within your locality but also with other MHSTs within Essex.
• To be able to work as part of a team and autonomously.

The successful applicant will be enrolled on the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Services supervisor course. This training is funded as part of the MHST program and a fundamental requirement for the post.

Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes, Essex.

Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

Working for Us
Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

We are seeking to recruit Supervisors to specifically support the supervision of the Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP) within the MHSTs. These post holders must have a good understanding of CBT and have clinically practiced using this model. We want our post holder to be able to lead by example in clinical practice and be able to support junior staff to develop their skills and knowledge of the evidence bases for our low intensity interventions.

The Senior Clinician
The Senior Clinician will be a graduate qualified health care professional, and ideally have formal CBT training for example:

• Qualified CBT Therapist
• Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)
• Children and Young People-IAPT (CYP-IAPT)

Or will have substantial Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) clinical experience which includes CPD in delivering evidence-based psychological interventions.

Applicants need to be fully registered/accredited with the appropriate professional or regulatory body (e.g. HCPC, NMC, BABCP).

This Senior Clinician and Supervisor role will work closely with the MHST Locality Clinical Leads, the MHST Operational Manager, and other clinical colleagues/partner agencies.

The role is predominantly supervisory. However, the post holder will deliver clinical interventions, both targeted and under the Whole School Approach, to maintain professional registrations and continue to develop. The post holder will need to remain current in evidence-based interventions and have a good working knowledge of CBT. Supervisors are also key to service development in progressing and adapting interventions to ensure we are an inclusive service and contributing to research and development of the MHST's nationally.

Please see person specification and job description for full details and responsibilities required for this role.

This role appeals to clinicians who want to lead and influence practice while staying clinically grounded. It offers the opportunity to use CBT expertise to supervise and develop EMHPs, shape highquality, evidencebased interventions, and support children and young people at scale through the wholeschool approach. Candidates may also value the balance between supervision and clinical work, strong collaboration across MHST leadership, and the chance to contribute to service development, inclusion, and national MHST research and innovation—all while maintaining professional registration and growth.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Please refer to JD

Desirable

• Please refer to JD

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 details
Employer name
NELFT North East London Foundation Trust

Address
Skyline Plaza
Southend on Sea
Essex
SS2 6BB
United Kingdom

Employer's website
https://www.nelft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Operational Manager
Marlene Raji
recruitment@nelft.nhs.uk

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