Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner
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Job Overview
Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner to Start in September 2026
Upon successful and timely completion of the training, this post will be upgraded to a permanent band 5 contract.
Band 4 Trainee EMHPs work closely with the children, young people, and families who use our services. They are expected to be kind and responsive but professional and informative, contributing to the quality of the services we provide by:
- Keeping the people who are using our services as safe as possible through the use of sound clinical skills and effective risk assessments.
- Ensuring the best possible clinical outcomes by using up-to-date skills and adhering to evidence-based policies and procedures.
- Ensuring the people using our services have a good experience by respecting, empowering, and working in partnership with people throughout the care planning process.
This course involves university study and clinical work as a practitioner working with children, young people, and parents/carers. Candidates will need to apply for the EMHP role with CNWL and the training at UCL via the training portal at the same time. Please use this link for the UCL application:
- [UCL Application](UCL Application)
To find out more about the course, please visit the following link:
- [Educational Mental Health Practitioner PG Dip | Prospective Students Graduate - UCL – University College London](Educational Mental Health Practitioner PG Dip | Prospective Students Graduate - UCL – University College London)
To find out more about working in CAMHS, please [CLICK HERE](CLICK HERE for one of our CAMHS video) for one of our CAMHS videos.
Main duties of the job
Harrow Mental Health Support Team
Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP)
As a Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner, you will be expected to work under supervision as part of a dynamic mental health team in a creative environment where evidence-based interventions, new ideas, ways of working, and supporting children and young people are actively encouraged. This approach requires flexibility and adaptability, and above all, a passion for working with children and young people in educational settings. Over the course of the training year, the post-holder will, under supervision, develop knowledge and practice skills to employ a range of evidence-based interventions for common mental health problems via direct individual and group support for children, young people, and their parents, in line with the university expectations.
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Please note: Continued employment in this post is conditional on the successful completion of the course and a 13-week probationary period. The successful candidate will be required to be available to commence training from September 2026. The successful candidates will be expected to attend university and to travel to the University site as required in the first year to complete their training.
This post is one of 4 positions available.
Applicants must be willing to travel to and around Harrow as well as to the university training site in London on a regular basis.
Working for our organisation
The purpose of the team is to:
- Provide evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues.
- Support the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school or college approach.
- Give 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.
CNWL are committed to progressing and supporting their staff with career development and training, and ensuring staff health and wellbeing and job satisfaction.
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust, we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues, and of course patients and service users when working in our healthcare settings.
Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities
The Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner role will:
- Work closely alongside a team of mental health professionals delivering a wide range of evidence-informed interventions, under supervision.
- Develop and practice evidence-based skills under supervision to work directly with children, young people, and families.
- Develop and practice evidence-based skills under supervision to carry out holistic and child-centred mental health assessments, including risk assessments.
The Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner is required to:
- Demonstrate the ability to study at degree level or have an equivalent level of relevant experience, with a proven record of previous learning or formal study in child development, wellbeing, or mental health.
- Graduate route (level 6)
- Applicants that may not hold an honours degree must have proven successful study at level 5; or successful part completion of an Honours degree.
- Postgraduate route (level 7)
- Honours Degree graded at 2.2 or above.
- Experience of working with children and young people, their families, and others.
- Experience of working and liaising with a wide variety of agencies and stakeholders.
- Experience of working with children and young people who have social, emotional, and/or mental health difficulties.
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Please note that if we receive a high volume of applications, the job posting may be closed earlier than the stated deadline.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Ability to study at degree level.
- Proven record of previous academic attainment.
- Successfully secured a training place on the EMHP course at UCL/Anna Freud (PG Dip Educational Mental Health Practitioner).
Skills / Competencies
Essential criteria
- Demonstrates adaptability and a capacity to learn across diverse settings with diverse communities, using various learning approaches.
- Self-motivated as a learner, capable of independently structuring progress toward learning objectives, and adept at negotiating pathways to achievement in collaboration with supervisory teams.
- Displays a proficiency in transferable skills, fostering a flexible and dynamic approach to learning and goal attainment.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of the educational system in England.
- Knowledge of child development, child wellbeing, and/or mental health across a range of cultural backgrounds.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Previous experience of working with children and young people.
Specific Attributes
Essential criteria
- Ability to personally manage sensitive and potentially emotionally distressing caseload material.
- Effective communication skills.
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
- Self-motivated.
- Capacity to work well in teams.
- Good time management and organisational abilities.
- Effective oral and written communication skills.
- Computer literate.
- Capable of accommodating travel demands associated with the role.
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