Mental Health Support Team Practitioner​/Senior Wellbeing Practitioner

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior Wellbeing Practitioner (SWP) or Mental Health Practitioner, with a background of working with education settings, to work in Lewisham CAMHS Mental Health Support Team (MHST). The post holder will be an SWP due to complete the approved 2-year SWP Post Graduate Diploma in Jan 2027 OR a registered Mental Health Practitioner who has undertaken a recognised qualification in one of the core mental health professions.

The post holder will use their knowledge, skills, and experience to supervise trainee and qualified Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) and contribute to the general service development and functioning. The post holder will also manage a defined caseload with a focus on providing focused assessment and evidence-based intervention for children and young people (CYP) with mild to moderate mental health difficulties and their parents/carers.

Part of this role will include being a named MHST Link Practitioner to a group of schools/colleges, regularly liaising with education staff, external agencies, CAMHS colleagues and other local services.

• To manage a defined caseload of children and young people presenting with emotional health and wellbeing difficulties in schools
• To co-ordinate and deliver individualised care packages / programmes for children and young people and evaluate these programmes, ensuring high standards of practice in accordance with national guidelines and trust policy.
• To provide specialist mental health advice, consultation and signposting using an outcome-based triage model to education settings
• To demonstrate the ability to work as an autonomous specialist practitioner in relation to their specialist area and in clinic which will include the reading and recording of the clinical observations of each child and the ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of treatment packages.

The MHSTs are a new service designed to help meet the mental health needs of children and young people in education settings. They are made up of senior clinicians, CAMHS Practitioners and Education Wellbeing Practitioners (EWPs). They are based across education settings as an additional resource within a whole-system approach to promote resilience and wellbeing, to support earlier intervention, enable appropriate signposting and deliver evidence-based support, care and interventions.

The MHSTs is partnered with their education settings to design a bespoke offer, based on a school's individual needs and works with the mental health services that are already in place, such as counselling, educational psychology, school nurses, pastoral care, educational welfare officers, VCSEs, the local authority, including children's social care, and NHS Children and Young People Mental Health Services (CYPMHS).There

are currently three MHSTs in Lewisham, working across 39 schools. The successful candidate will be employed by Lewisham CAMHS where the MHST deliver emotional wellbeing interventions using Guided Self-Help strategies. The MHST are a friendly and supportive team who have developed a close partnership with Lewisham schools in providing low intensity interventions, creating workshops and groups and adapting services to meet the adapting services to meet the needs of schools, young people and families in Lewisham in line with CYP-IAPT principles.

• To engage therapeutically with clients and their carers in a variety of settings, as appropriate to the needs of the client and to be able to assess the risk of working in particular areas.
• To be able to assess and manage risk in children and young people and to do this on an on-going basis
• To take case management responsibilities when appropriate in clinical meetings, giving clear clinical advice with regard to assessment, Risk Assessment, formulation and treatment of identified clients.
• To recognise responsibility and act according to Trust and national guidelines alongside protocols with the relevant education settings in safeguarding children and adults.
• To respond to the needs of clients and their carers in an honest, non-judgemental and open manner, which respects the rights of individuals and groups.
• To demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities for all people.
• To understand the impact of social & cultural diversity on patients and carers needs and on their experiences of mental illness and mental health services.
• To respond to the diverse needs of the specialist client…