The organisation:

Mind in West Essex is a mental health charity. We are an independent organisation affiliated to Mind (the national association for mental health), an organisation with which we share common values and principles.  We embrace diversity and understand that being an inclusive organisation and recognising different perspectives, will enable us to provide excellent services.  We are committed to ensuring all our employees are treated fairly and equitably at work and promoting equity in physical and mental health for all.

The Service:

Following on from the government’s green paper Dec 2017 ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision.’ Mind in West Essex has successfully implemented the Trailblazer programme, establishing a Children and Young People’s (CYP) Mental Health Support Team.  

The CYP Mental Health Support Team works with children, young people and their families, experiencing mild to moderate mental health issues such as low mood and anxiety. The Mental Health Support Team works with educational settings to develop the whole-school approach to mental health, and to strengthen the links between education, health services and families across West Essex.  

Purpose of the Job:

The post holder will work within Mind in West Essex providing low intensity CBT based interventions in:

·        Child Anxiety; indirect work with parent/carer

·        Challenging Behaviour; indirect work with parent/carer

·        Adolescent anxiety; direct work with young person

·        Adolescent Low Mood; direct work with young person

The post holder will also deliver evidence-based group sessions in:

• Emotional regulation for primary aged children
• Child Anxiety for parent/carers of primary aged children
• Challenging Behaviour for parent/carers of primary aged children

The post holder will work with children, young people and parents with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities.

• Delivering evidence-based intervention for children and young people, with mild to moderate mental health problems, in an education setting.
• Helping children and young people within these settings who present with more severe problems to rapidly access more specialist service.
• Supporting and facilitating staff in education settings to identify, and where appropriate, manage issues related to mental health and wellbeing.
• Working with and within educational environments to afford better access to specialist mental health services
• To support educational establishments in developing a whole-school approach to mental health
• To engage with partnership organisations and stakeholders in co-production

Key Task Areas and Responsibilities:

The successful post holder will;

Clinical and Client Care

• Be supervised and supported to assess and deliver outcome focused, evidence-based interventions in educational settings for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties through guided self-help.
• Have skills in supporting children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties, their parents/carers, families and educators in the self-management of presenting difficulties. 
• Demonstrate evidence-based skills under supervisory support of working in partnership with children, young people, their families and educators in the development of plans for the specific intervention and agreeing outcomes. 
• Demonstrate the skills required in order to enable children and young people in education, and where appropriate parents/carers to collaborate and co-produce their own agreed plan of care.
• Show evidence in a variety of forms that at all times assessment and intervention is provided from an inclusive values base, which recognises and respects diversity.
• Discuss with supervisors and agree to accept appropriate referrals for children and young people in educational settings, according to agreed local and national and local referral routes, processes and procedures. 
• Under supervision, show accurate assessments of risk to client self and others.
• Where risk is identified to implement appropriate procedures to maintain safety.
• Learn, understand, rationalise and adhere to the protocols within the educational service to which the post holder is attached.
• Engage along with more senior staff in the signposting of referrals for children and young people with more complex needs to the relevant service. 
• Engage in robust managerial and clinical supervision, identifying the scope of practice of the individual post-holder within the role, and working safely within that scope.
• Practice a range of interventions related to provision of information and support for evidence based psychological treatments.
• Practice, evidence, reflect on and demonstrate an ability to manage one’s own caseload in conjunction with the requirements of the team. 
• Attend multi-disciplinary and multi-agency meetings relating to referrals or children and young people in treatment, where appropriate, both for personal educational benefit in discussion with supervisors, or to provide direct assistance. 
• Keep coherent records of all training and clinical activity in line with both health and education service protocols and use these records and outcome data to inform decision making.
• Complete all requirements relating to data collection. 
• Show evidence of working within a collaborative approach, involving a range of relevant others when indicated. Specifically, work in collaboration with teachers and other educational staff, parents, children, young people and the wider community to enhance and broaden access to mental health services.
• Contribute to the development of individual or group clinical materials or training materials and go on to develop further such materials as falls within own degree of competence.
• Develop and maintain an up to date awareness of the entire Mind in West Essex offer.

Training & Supervision

·        Prepare and present case load information to supervisors within the service on an agreed and scheduled basis, to ensure safe practice and the governance obligations of the trainee, supervisor and service are delivered. 

·        Respond to and evidence the implementation of improved practice following supervisor feedback. 

·        Engage in and respond to personal development supervision to improve competencies and practice.

·        Disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and supervisory discussions.

·        Attend additional training relevant to the post, either online or in-person.

Professional

·        Ensure the maintenance of standards of own professional practice according to Mind in West Essex and the educational settings. Ensure appropriate adherence to any new recommendations or guidelines set by the relevant departments. 

·        Ensure that confidentiality is always protected.

·        Ensure that any risks or issues related to the safety and wellbeing of anyone the post-holder comes into contact with during their professional duties are communicated and shared with appropriate parties in order to maintain individual safety and the public interest. 

·        Ensure clear objectives are identified, discussed and reviewed with supervisor and senior colleagues on a regular basis as part of continuing professional development. 

·        Be aware of the outcomes required of the Mental Health Support Team and work towards these.

·        Participate in individual performance review and respond to agreed objectives. 

·        Keep all records up to date in relation to Continuous Professional Development and the requirements of the post and ensure personal development plans maintains up to date specialist knowledge of latest theoretical and service delivery models/developments. 

·        Attend relevant educational opportunities in line with identified professional objectives.

General:

• To understand, promote, keep up to date and comply with all policies and procedures and guidelines of the organisation (in particular Safeguarding and Data Protection).

• To undertake any other tasks, duties or projects which may arise from time to time and as directed by your line manager. 

Person Specification:

Essential Criteria:

• PG Dip Educational Mental Health Practitioner. 
• Registered with the BABCP/BPS or be eligible for registration.
• No criminal record that prevents work with our client group or which would harm our reputation.
• Valid UK driving licence and/or access to transport across West Essex and Hertfordshire. Note: on occasions travel may be to more than one venue in a day.

This Job Description will be subject to review in light of changing circumstances and is not intended to be rigid or exhaustive but should be regarded as providing guidelines within which an individual operates.