Job summary
Note:Please apply directly through the West Sussex County Council website. Link
below in "Supporting Links"
Salary: £36,363 - £39,152 per annum (£21,817 - £23,491 pro rata)
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Part-Time 22.2 hours per week
Location: County Hall, Horsham.
Interview date: 22/04/2026
Launched in July 2025 as part of the development of the West Sussex Childrens Psychological Hub, the Horizon Service plays a vital role within the wider Restore Service, alongside CATs and the Solutions Service. The Horizon Service is made up of two specialist teams, Horizon Intervention and Horizon Suicide Prevention, working together to promote the emotional and mental wellbeing of children across West Sussex.
Our teams support children, families, and professionals by providing expert consultation and advice, delivering high quality training, and offering direct therapeutic intervention. The Horizon Service is grounded in a strong value base. We believe that with the right support, children can recover, thrive, and achieve positive outcomes. We strive to restore hope and empower those we work with through:
- Hope - Believing in recovery and the potential for positive change
- Empowerment - Building on strengths and supporting resilience
- Compassion - Listening, respecting, and centring the child's voice
- Collaboration - Working together across systems for lasting impact
- Inclusion - Embracing neurodiversity and tailoring support to individual needs
Main duties of the job
We are currently looking for a dedicated Emotional Support Practitioner. As an Emotional Support Practitioner within the Horizon Suicide Prevention Team, you will work collaboratively with professionals across childrens services and education to strengthen understanding of suicidality and the factors affecting childrens mental health. You will deliver short, intensive, traumainformed and neuroaffirming interventions that support emotional regulation, build resilience and develop safety plans tailored to each childs lived experience. Working closely with families, you will help build confidence and capacity, so they feel supported and able to respond safely when a child is experiencing suicidal thoughts.
In this role, you will play a key part in supporting the team around the child while delivering psychologically informed, evidence-based individual sessions. These sessions will draw on best practice approaches, including trauma-informed strategies, emotional regulation techniques, resilience-building interventions, and safety planning tailored to each child's needs.
Note - the role will involve Countywide travel.
About us
Here at West Sussex County Council, we are ambitious for our children and our workforce. We are committed to improving our services for the children and families in West Sussex we support. You will join us as at a key time on our improvement journey. That's why we need professionals, like you, who really want to be part of the positive change that is happening for children. Be part of an ambitious improvement plan and make a significant difference to children and families in West Sussex. There has never been a more rewarding time to join.
Note:Pleaseapply directlythrough the West Sussex County Council website. Link
below in "Supporting Links"
Job description
Job responsibilities
As an Emotional Support Practitioner within the Horizon Suicide Prevention Team, you will work collaboratively with professionals across childrens services and education to strengthen skills in recognising suicidality, understanding the bio-psycho-social factors influencing mental health, and developing formulations that reflect each childs lived experience and presenting emotional needs.
You will deliver short, intensive intervention packages directly to children, using Trauma-Informed and Neuro-Affirming approaches to support emotional regulation and resilience. Interventions will include child-centred safety planning, collaborative coping strategies, and practical tools to reduce immediate risk and promote wellbeing. Alongside this, you will work closely with families to build confidence and capacity, ensuring they feel safe and supported when a child is experiencing suicidal thoughts. The Horizon Suicide Prevention Team forms part of the Restore Psychological Hub, which champions enhanced psychological thinking and evidence-based practice. We foster collaboration, trust, and reflection across teams and within our work with children and families, creating a shared understanding that drives effective support.
In this role, you will play a key part in supporting the team around the child while delivering psychologically informed, evidence-based individual sessions. These sessions will draw on best practice approaches, including trauma-informed strategies, emotional regulation techniques, resilience-building interventions, and safety planning tailored to each childs needs.
The postholder will work within organisational, policy, and legislative requirements and must demonstrate emotional resilience when managing casework involving families who may present distressing circumstances or challenging behaviours.
Our team is based in Horsham, but most service delivery takes place in the community and family homes. You must be able to travel independently throughout the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. There is a regular and intrinsic requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.
Job description
Job responsibilities
As an Emotional Support Practitioner within the Horizon Suicide Prevention Team, you will work collaboratively with professionals across childrens services and education to strengthen skills in recognising suicidality, understanding the bio-psycho-social factors influencing mental health, and developing formulations that reflect each childs lived experience and presenting emotional needs.
You will deliver short, intensive intervention packages directly to children, using Trauma-Informed and Neuro-Affirming approaches to support emotional regulation and resilience. Interventions will include child-centred safety planning, collaborative coping strategies, and practical tools to reduce immediate risk and promote wellbeing. Alongside this, you will work closely with families to build confidence and capacity, ensuring they feel safe and supported when a child is experiencing suicidal thoughts. The Horizon Suicide Prevention Team forms part of the Restore Psychological Hub, which champions enhanced psychological thinking and evidence-based practice. We foster collaboration, trust, and reflection across teams and within our work with children and families, creating a shared understanding that drives effective support.
In this role, you will play a key part in supporting the team around the child while delivering psychologically informed, evidence-based individual sessions. These sessions will draw on best practice approaches, including trauma-informed strategies, emotional regulation techniques, resilience-building interventions, and safety planning tailored to each childs needs.
The postholder will work within organisational, policy, and legislative requirements and must demonstrate emotional resilience when managing casework involving families who may present distressing circumstances or challenging behaviours.
Our team is based in Horsham, but most service delivery takes place in the community and family homes. You must be able to travel independently throughout the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. There is a regular and intrinsic requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Relevant degree in health, youth work, education for the Children and Young Peoples Workforce, Social Work or equivalent, or demonstrable equivalent comparable experience. Professional registration where appropriate.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of forming effective working relationships with children and families and providing a range of direct work interventions in working with children, young people and their families to achieve change, such as Solution Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Family Functioning Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
- Experience of collaborative working with a range of professionals, demonstrating an awareness of differing roles and responsibilities and effective methods of collaboration, e.g. health, housing, learning, statutory, voluntary and independent sector.
- Requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.
- Valid and full driving licence.
Desirable
- Experience working with children facing complex mental health challenges such as eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
- Understand the impact of childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences on the development and behaviour of children and young people.
- Understand systems, procedures, legislation and national policy developments regarding children and families, and their implications for practice.
Key Skills
Essential
- Skills in engaging children, young people, their families and external agencies to build strong, trusting relationships and work collaboratively to achieve positive change.
- A willingness to work in a creative and empathetic way to reduce the risk of suicide and promote positive mental health outcomes.
- An ability to apply a strengths based approach while navigating and collaborating within complex networks.
- Ability to analyse and interpret information to identify and prioritise needs, risks and safety concerns, and to escalate appropriately to relevant mental health and social care teams when required.
- Ability to negotiate and implement effective plans, delivering direct interventions that draw on evidence-based approaches to support and stabilise young people at risk of suicide.
- Ability to work in an empowering way with young people and families in crisis, managing conflict, containing your own and others anxieties, and maintaining a focus on collective strengths and capabilities while working within professional boundaries
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Relevant degree in health, youth work, education for the Children and Young Peoples Workforce, Social Work or equivalent, or demonstrable equivalent comparable experience. Professional registration where appropriate.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of forming effective working relationships with children and families and providing a range of direct work interventions in working with children, young people and their families to achieve change, such as Solution Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Family Functioning Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
- Experience of collaborative working with a range of professionals, demonstrating an awareness of differing roles and responsibilities and effective methods of collaboration, e.g. health, housing, learning, statutory, voluntary and independent sector.
- Requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.
- Valid and full driving licence.
Desirable
- Experience working with children facing complex mental health challenges such as eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
- Understand the impact of childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences on the development and behaviour of children and young people.
- Understand systems, procedures, legislation and national policy developments regarding children and families, and their implications for practice.
Key Skills
Essential
- Skills in engaging children, young people, their families and external agencies to build strong, trusting relationships and work collaboratively to achieve positive change.
- A willingness to work in a creative and empathetic way to reduce the risk of suicide and promote positive mental health outcomes.
- An ability to apply a strengths based approach while navigating and collaborating within complex networks.
- Ability to analyse and interpret information to identify and prioritise needs, risks and safety concerns, and to escalate appropriately to relevant mental health and social care teams when required.
- Ability to negotiate and implement effective plans, delivering direct interventions that draw on evidence-based approaches to support and stabilise young people at risk of suicide.
- Ability to work in an empowering way with young people and families in crisis, managing conflict, containing your own and others anxieties, and maintaining a focus on collective strengths and capabilities while working within professional boundaries
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
