MHST Supervisor and Senior Clinician

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, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are a new government initiative to increase children and young people’s access to emotional well-being and mental health support. They are part of the national Children and Young People’s Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP-IAPT) programme.

MHSTs are based in schools and colleges and will support more than 470,000 children and young people nationally. 

MHSTs are a resource in addition to existing support in any particular education setting. MHSTs have three main functions:

1. Targeted Intervention

2. Whole School Approach

3. Consultation and Liaison

We invite you to visit our website for a more detailed explanation of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) and their services.

Kent and Medway Mental Health Support Teams | NELFT NHS Foundation Trust

The teams build on the support already in place from school counsellors, nurses, educational psychologists, and the voluntary sector to treat those with mild to moderate mental health issues in school. They will help children and young people with more severe needs access the right support and provide a link to the NHS (in Kent, this is CYPMHS, and in Medway, this is YPMHS).

Main duties of the job

This Senior Clinician and Supervisor would work closely with the MHST Clinical Lead, the MHST Operational Manager, and other clinical colleagues/partner agencies. The post holder will also be required to undertake the EMHP supervisor training (provided by Kings College London or Sussex University), working alongside other clinicians and supervisors from other MHST sites.

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 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

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 MHSTs nationally.

Part of the post's requirement is that the post holder enrols on the Kings College London EMHP supervisor course or the Sussex University EMHP supervisor course, which will be supported and funded as part of the role.

Working for our organisation

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).

Starting with NELFT

NELFT places great 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 embark on a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks. This thorough process includes mandatory training, systems training, and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process, new starters will have the opportunity to meet the executive team and 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 CEME Campus, Rainham, Essex, RM13 8EU (please note: to travel to this destination, you must make the Dartford crossing and be aware of the ULEZ charges). Candidates must have business insurance when travelling by car to claim travel and above expenses charges.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Who are we seeking?

Clinical Leadership and Supervision

We are seeking to recruit Supervisors (band 7) 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.

We are looking for Nurses, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, CBT Therapists, and Family Therapists (BABCP / HCPC/UKCP). This job is suitable for newly qualified psychologists and provisionally BABCP-accredited CBT therapists (support will be provided accordingly).

We are keen to have a diverse team from different backgrounds (Clinical Psychologist, Counselling Psychologist, CBT therapist, Social Worker, Mental Health Nurse) with a common interest in children's mental health and wellbeing.

CANDIDATES MUST HAVE A GOOD LEVEL OF COMPETENCE IN DELIVERING CBT-INFORMED INTERVENTIONS.

Successful applicants may be required to attend future EMHP supervisor training courses, depending on their current supervisor skills, qualifications, and experience. We secure and ensure these spaces are funded so our workforce can deliver high-quality evidence-based interventions.

You will be entitled to annual leave and bank holiday entitlement based on years of NHS services. Due to service needs, annual leave will predominantly need to be taken during school holiday periods. Following line management discussion and agreement, a maximum of a week can be considered within term time.

We have vacancies in the following localities: North Kent (DGS) and Tunbridge Wells Teams. 

If you are an overseas qualified nurse and want to start your journey to becoming a UK-based registered nurse with the NMC. In that case, you can check whether you are eligible to be supported through our Capital Nurse consortium. Please visit . Whilst NELFT is happy to welcome overseas nurses, we are unable to consider your application directly. You should submit your interest and apply through the Capital Nurse London group.

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for some job roles, and this will be identified through filtering questions at the start of any job application on the Trac recruitment system.

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

qualification

Essential criteria

Relevant graduate qualification with recognised professional body A minimum of a second-class Bachelor’s degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in a relevant academic subject ( Psychology, Education, Childhood development, Social Work etc)

Desirable criteria

A minimum of a second-class Bachelor’s degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in a relevant academic subject ( Psychology, Education, Childhood development, Social Work etc)

Experience

Essential criteria

2 years post Grad experience of working in CYP mental health settings and or equitable relevant experience Experience in NHS or equivalent service. Experience in offering CBT therapeutic Interventions within a CYP Mental Health Setting with children and young people with mental health difficulties.

Desirable criteria

Experience of supervising others CAMHS or other relevant mental health experience

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Registration / Provisional registration with recognised body

Desirable criteria

BPS or BABCP Registration

Desirable

Essential criteria

Experience in NHS or equivalent service.

Desirable criteria

Experience in NHS or equivalent service.

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

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