Senior Education Mental Health Practitioner

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience

Job overview

Passionate about the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people? National conversation increasingly focuses on young people's mental health, now is the time to be at the forefront of the development of these services. We are excited to be recruiting a Senior Education Mental Health Practitioner to work in an innovative service in Suffolk: the Mental Health Support Team (MHST). MHSTs are based within education settings, ensuring children and young people receive faster access to earlier mental health support. You will be one of the key senior clinicians in this service.

The vacancy is in our East Suffolk MHST, based in Ipswich.

This role is suitable for a range of professional backgrounds and we encourage applicants from nursing, social work, occupational therapy, psychotherapy, experienced (two years post-qualified) EMHPs and CWPs. This list is not exhaustive: If you have the relevant qualifications, experience and skills in children and adolescent mental health we encourage you to have a conversation with us and consider applying.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will support and provide a high-quality service to children and young people (and their families) experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties, through early intervention and offering the right support at the right time. You will work across a range of education settings.

You will be responsible for supervision of Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) and potentially for Trainee EMHPs which will include supporting them through their training and beyond. You will offer assessment and direct delivery of evidence-based interventions to support children and young people referred to the service. You will need to utilise skills and knowledge of CBT and child and adolescent mental health practice. You will also implement whole school/college approaches to mental health through collaboration and coproduction with the school/college community.

Working for our organisation

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you'll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We're an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A job in the Suffolk MHSTs will inevitably be challenging and demanding at times, but it will also be immensely rewarding and provide you with great opportunities to make a genuine difference to the lives of others. You will join a team that has developed a caring, creative and hard-working environment; your ideas about how this new service continues to develop and grow will be highly valued.

There is a big emphasis within the team around CPD and we will ensure that you continue to access training and supervision to develop your own practice and further your career ambitions.

We would welcome any informal conversations about these roles. Please do contact us for more information.

The vacancy is 35 hours per week substantive post

Please note we also have another advert for a 6 month FTC hour per week post in the same team.

Interviews are anticipated to take place in mid January 2026

For further details regarding the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria

• Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner qualification
• A relevant degree, e.g. Psychology with either a Post Graduate Cert/Dip in Mental Health or Equivalent

Desirable criteria

• Accreditation with BABCP or equivalent professional body

Experience
Essential criteria

• Experience of screening, assessing and treatment prescribing

Desirable criteria

• Experience of delivering training and developing other's

Skills
Essential criteria

• Ability to use outcome measures for both clinical and audit purposes

Knowledge
Essential criteria

• Models of assessment, screening and risk assessment and risk management

Please be aware that, due to the high number of applications for certain roles, this vacancy may close earlier than the advertised closing date. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

YOUR APPLICATION

We can provide all our job application materials in alternative formats so that these are accessible to everyone. Should you require any documents within this job pack in an alternative format, please do not hesitate to contact us at

PLEASE NOTE: If you use a hotmail, msn or yahoo e-mail account, you will need to check your "junk" mail regularly as these email providers will divert any communication from this Trust/NHS JOBS straight into your " junk" inbox.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.

As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post may be 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 certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

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