Job summary

Are you looking for the next stage in your career? Do you hold a Post Graduate Diploma in Education Mental Health? Do you have experience working with children and young people in an education setting? If this is you, we would love to hear from you!

This is a great time to join our expanding service to meet the needs of schools and our communities.

As an Education Mental Health Professional (EMHP), you will be based within our Mental Health Support Team (MHST), working alongside various mental health professionals.

You will work in education settings and in the community delivering a range of evidence informed interventions, under supervision. You will undertake mental health assessments (including risk assessments) and interventions based on the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) model.

You will work directly with children and young people of primary and secondary school age, and in some cases their parents and carers. You will support MHST work to develop and deliver whole school approaches to emotional wellbeing and mental health.

Main duties of the job

Key Skills:

• Ability to carry out low-intensity, CBT-informed 1:1 therapeutic mental health assessments and interventions with children and young people, and/or their families, in line with EMHP training.
• Ability to work flexibly with a range of professionals and other adults including teachers, parents / carers, social workers, and other mental health professionals in the best interests of the child or young person, communicating complicated or sensitive information effectively.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to quickly build effective therapeutic rapport with a child, young person and / or their parents.
• Ability to effectively manage an allocated caseload.
• Ability to positively make use of clinical and peer group support supervision.
• Ability to complete and maintain data recording and paperwork appropriate to the work undertaken. Ability to assess risk and to record and communicate it appropriately and take necessary actions.

Qualifications and/or experience:

• Minimum Bachelor's degree (2:1 or 2:2), or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard (in any academic subject).
• Post Graduate Diploma in Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP).
• Evidence of prior experience working with children and young people.
• Experience of working within an education setting.

About us

At West Sussex County Council (WSCC) we have an opportunity for a Education Mental Health Practitioner to make a real difference in supporting Mental Health in Children. You will be working within Education & Skills, Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) where there are exciting new initiatives and an important strand of the Governments 2017 Green Paper Transforming Children and Young Peoples Mental Health Provision.

We fulfil 3 core functions:

• Delivering evidence-based interventions in education settings (primary and secondary schools and colleges) for mild to moderate mental health issues.
• Supporting the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school or college approach.
• Giving timely advice to school and college staff, and liaising with external specialist services, to help children and young people to get the right support and stay in education.

For more information, please visit ourEducation, Children and Familiespage on our West Sussex County Council (WSCC) website.