Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner Trainee

HCRG Care Group are looking to recruit Children’s Wellbeing Practitioners to continue to improve children and young people’s mental health services in Essex. This is a training position where you will undertake training through Anna Freud alongside working in our Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Services. The Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP) role has been developed by NHS England as part of the Children and Young People’s Psychological Trainings (formerly CYP Improving Access to Psychological Therapies – CYP IAPT) programme.

The course focuses on working within community and primary care settings to increase access to support for children, young people and families. You’ll be trained as a CWP to offer evidence-based interventions like low intensity support and guided self-help. This course enables you to support children and young people with mild to moderate:
Anxiety (working with primary and secondary school pupils, parents and carers) Low mood (adolescents) Common behavioural difficulties (working with parents and carers). Applicants will need to be ready to start work in early-mid January 2027. Positions cannot be offered to candidates unless they are available for the start date. Please note that applications for this position is a dual process.

Prospective candidates must apply to the university course at the same time as application to this role. A standard recruitment process will follow, with our shortlisted candidate information being shared with the university. The university will check their application portal, confirm candidates’ course eligibility and report this to the service. The service will create a final shortlist with this information and will offer to the applicant successful at the job interview (subject to final university checks).

You will need a Driving license and use of vehicle for work purposes.

You will feel valued as a Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner Trainee within HCRG Care Group, receiving access to exclusive rewards and benefits including:

• A salary of £28,500 with access to our group pension
• Free tea, coffee and milk at your base location
• Membership of My Reward Hub, giving you access to discounts on every day purchases like grocery shopping as well as cashback and voucher offers for treats for you and those special to you
• Access to your wages as you earn them to help cover life’s emergencies and avoid overdraft fees or high interest rates
• Online and face to face help with your mental and physical wellbeing – from healthy recipes and activity challenges through to post trauma support, legal, debt and life management help, as well career coaching and counselling
• Access to eLearning, bespoke career pathways and opportunities for continuing professional development through our ‘Outstanding’ learning and development team, The Learning Enterprise
• An open, just culture where you’re encouraged to have and implement ideas which can help us deliver our purpose: changing lives through transforming health and care – backed up by at least £100,000 of ring fenced innovation funding each year

We are seeking to recruit 4 graduate level practitioners to provide guided self-help therapy and parenting interventions. These posts are fully funded for a one year. You will learn:

• Evidence-based and collaborative practice
• Availability and awareness of evidence-based interventions
• Goal-focused, client-centred interventions using feedback tools to facilitate collaboration between professionals, young people and families, leading to more personalised care
• Giving children, young people and families a voice and influence
• Cross-agency collaboration between health, social care, voluntary and independent sectors
• Working with partner organisations to reduce stigma of mental health and improve understanding of the importance of emotional wellbeing
• Making services accountable by monitoring and sharing outcome data with young people, families and commissioners.
• Be trained to offer consultations and training to colleagues from partner agencies.
• Be introduced to a range of outcome and feedback measures used in CYP Psychological Trainings (PT), and review and…