Trainee Children's Wellbeing Practitioner

Islington CAMHS are looking to recruit three trainee CWPs to continue to improve children and young people’s mental health services in Islington. The training forms part of the service transformation initiative delivered by Health Education England as part of the Children and Young
People’s Psychological Trainings. Trainees will be employed by Whittington Health, managed and supervised by a CAMHS clinician to train for a one-year post graduate qualification (PG Diploma Child and Young Persons Psychological Wellbeing Practice) through University College London.
There will also be opportunity to meet current CWPs for any questions.
This is a training position; the post holder will undertake online and face to face training at University College London alongside working face to face in service for Islington CAMHS. They will be taught to deliver evidence based guided self-help interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties. The post holder will use their newly developed skills to support children and young people who are referred into the service and trainees will receive supervision to support their professional development. 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.
The post holder will attend all university London based taught and self-study days required by the education provider in person and online, as specified within the agreed national curriculum and work in the service for the remaining days of the week using their newly developed skills. The CWPs therefore must work full time and be available for all training days from January 2026.
The post-holder will work within Islington CAMHS 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.
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population, working hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
To support staff development and wellbeing we offer monthly Lunchtime Learning CPD, whole service EDI Forums and group reflective spaces for staff identifying as ethnically marginalised and under-represented. We also have an EDI Lead within our service. Our mission statement can be found: Islington CAMHS Mission Statement
1. THERAPEUTIC SKILLS
1.1. Assess and deliver, under supervision, outcome focused, evidence-based interventions to children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
1.2. Working in partnership, support children, young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties and their families in the self-management of presenting difficulties.
1.3. Work in partnership with children, young people and families in the development of plans for the intervention and agreed outcomes.
1.4. Support and empower children, young people and families to make informed choices about the intervention.
1.5. Operate at all times from an inclusive values base, which recognises and respects diversity.
1.6. Accept referrals within agreed national and local protocols.
1.7. Undertakes accurate assessment of risk to self and others.
1.8. Adhere to the service referral protocols. Under supervision, signpost unsuitable referrals to the relevant service as necessary.
1.9. Through close case management and supervision, escalate cases where the level of need becomes beyond scope, or more severe ensuring adherence to other relevant elements of service delivery.
1.10. 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.
1.11. 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.
1.12. Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or CYP in treatment, where appropriate.
1.13. 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 dat