Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP)

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Title:

Educational Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP)

Reports to:

EMHP supervisor

Responsible for:

No direct line management

Role purpose and role dimensions:

The postholder will work as an autonomous responsible practitioner as their training affords and within the scope of their local job description to:

- deliver evidence-based interventions for children and young people in educational settings with mild to moderate mental health needs including anxiety, behaviour and low mood.

- help children and young people within these settings who present with more severe problems to access more specialist services

- engage in whole school work which supports and facilitates staff in education settings to identify, and respond to issues related to mental health and wellbeing by building on existing good practice

- work with and within education settings to afford better access to specialist mental health services

- attend team meetings as required and contribute to the initiation, development and implementation of new responses to changing needs and demands upon the team

Key external contacts:

• Schools (including PRUs)
• CAMHS
• Local Authorities (All London boroughs and nationally)
• Local Health Service
• New Rush Hall Group
• Charitable organisations such as Child Bereavement UK and Papyrus

Key internal contacts:

Educational Psychology Service

Behaviour and Inclusion

School improvement Team

Social Care

Youth Offending Service

SEN Team

EWS

Early Intervention Service

Family Support Workers (Early Help)

Financial dimensions:

N/A

Key areas for decision making:

N/A

Other considerations:

This post will involve working within the Redbridge Educational Wellbeing Team (REWT) which is part of the Educational Psychology Service.

This post will usually involve travelling to multiple locations all over Redbridge, mainly between school settings and council offices.

Key elements:

Undertake therapeutic assessment and intervention

• Assess and deliver outcome focused, evidence-based interventions in educational settings for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties in collaboration with families and schools.
• Undertake and record accurate assessments of risk and operate clear risk management processes in line with locally agreed procedures including the safeguarding protocols of the educational setting and Local Safeguarding Board guidance.

• Signpost children with more complex needs to a locally identified appropriate relevant service

Engage in training and supervision

• Continue to apply learning gained on the EMHP training program directly to practice.
• Actively engage in regular supervision sessions. 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 practitioner, supervisor and service are delivered.
• Respond to and implement supervision suggestions by supervisors in practice.
• Engage in and respond to personal development supervision to improve competences and practice.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings in appropriate formats through agreed channels.

Contribute to whole school approaches to ensure young people are included with their mainstream settings.

• To work closely with Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) and Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health (EWMH) Designated Senior Leads (DSLs) in Redbridge schools, modelling and setting up interventions
• Share knowledge and good practice
• To contribute to project work or running small group interventions. This may involve conducting research and attending training provided by the borough and external providers

Participate in and provide knowledge and advice within consultation and multi-disciplinary meetings.

• Organising, attending and chairing meetings.
• Working with classroom teachers, teaching assistants, parents and other professionals involved with the child.
• Working with other key professionals such as Social Workers or Educational Psychologists

Maintain effective records and produce clear reports of interventions and inform interventions.

• Taking minutes, setting agendas and circulating material.
• Keeping clear, professional and coherent records of all activity in line with service protocols and use these records and outcome data to inform decision making.
• Complete all requirements relating to data collection.

To work within a multi-professional team and attend relevant meetings.

• Presenting research, being part of a peer support team, attending team meetings, reading groups, reading and commenting on research papers. Completing training, provide training to colleagues both in EPS and other Redbridge teams (e.g. Social Care and Health)
• Attend multi-disciplinary and multi-agency meetings relating to referrals or children and young people in treatment

To participate in and contribute to the Teams professional development, support and performance management programmes in accordance with the Development Plan and Redbridge borough requirements.

• Responsible for keeping up with changes in psychological theory and practise and be part of considering organisational changes to meet demands.

To contribute to the initiation, development and implementation of new responses to changing needs and demands upon the team.

• Develop individual or group clinical materials or training materials under direction of the wider team.
• Attending school meetings
• Providing support to schools and families
• Consulting with the school EP and EWMH DSL

General accountabilities and responsibilities

Green Statement

This will involve:

Seeking opportunities for contributing to sustainable development of the borough, in accordance with the Councils commitment to making Redbridge a cleaner, greener place to live. In particular, demonstrating good environmental practice (such as energy efficiency, use of sustainable materials, sustainable transport, recycling and waste reduction) in your job.

Data Protection/Confidentiality

This will involve:

Complying with the Data Protection Act 1998 treating all information acquired through your employment, both formally and informally, in strict confidence and in accordance with Caldicott principles.

Complying with the Code of Conduct, other practice guidelines and the rules and protocols defining employees access to and use of the Councils databases and systems. Any breaches could result in disciplinary measures.

Maintaining client records and archive systems in accordance with departmental procedure, policy and statutory requirements.

Conduct and Whistleblowing

This will involve:

Complying with the requirements of the Code of Conduct and maintaining high standards of personal conduct, honesty and integrity. You have a duty to raise any impropriety or breach of procedure to the appropriate level of management. Employees making such disclosures (whistleblowing) are protected and may make them without fear of recrimination.

Safer Working

This will involve:

Commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. Where you work in such a post the Council will require a DBS Disclosure check and references will be taken up prior to employment.

Equalities

This will involve:

Complying with the Councils strong commitment to achieving equality of opportunity and outcomes in its services to the community and in the employment of people. You are expected to understand, comply with and promote Council policies in your work, to undertake any appropriate training and to challenge any prejudice and discrimination.

Customer Care

This will involve:

Complying with corporate and service area customer service standards and promoting the development of high quality, individualised and customer-led services.

Health and Safety

This will involve:

Being responsible for your own Health & Safety, as well as that of colleagues, service users and the public. Employees should co-operate with management, follow established systems of work, use protective equipment where necessary and report defectives and hazards to management.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Successful completion of the HEE commissioned
• Education Mental Health Practitioner post graduate diploma or similar CYP IAPT training.

Desirable

• Undergraduate degree, upper second class or above, in Psychology, Child Development, Child Wellbeing, Education or Mental Health

Experience

Essential

• Minimum Knowledge experience and skills:
• Substantial relevant working experience with children or young people (0-25) in a health or educational setting
• Evidence of understanding of educational systems and practice in England
• Ability to work with young people and their families to carry out assessment and intervention for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health needs including anxiety, low mood and behavioural needs
• Ability to apply a CBT based guided self-help approach with young people and parents.
• Commitment to collaborative working with other professionals and parents
• Belief in involving children and young people in decisions regarding their education and clear commitment to supporting the development of children and young people
• Ability to personally manage a sensitive, traumatic and potentially emotionally distressing caseload and demonstrate appropriate coping mechanisms
• Ability to learn quickly and adapt to change
• Understanding of inclusive practices which promote person centred approaches
• Experience of participating in multi-disciplinary meetings
• Able to describe and discuss different ways of problem solving in educational settings
• To give examples of working with diverse groups of people
• Awareness of safeguarding practices when working with children and young people
• Ability to make an assessment of risk and to record and communicate it appropriately. Ability take appropriate action to mitigate or manage risk
• Resilient and adaptable with the ability to organise work within an environment of conflicting priorities whilst managing time and prioritising work to meet agreed deadlines.
• Customer service:
• Excellent negotiation and problem-solving skills
• High level of enthusiasm and motivation
• Communicating and influencing others:
• Ability to communicate new ideas and deliver on subsequent plans
• Ability to train and be confident in front of small audiences
• Working together:
• Experience of working with senior Local Authority and School staff
• Ability to work as part of a team and lead as required
• Analysis and Judgement:
• Ability to reflect and identify need for support
• Ability to be motivated, innovative, resourceful and responsive to changing times
• Satisfactory Enhanced DBS check
• The ability to understand the difficulties and pressures associated with caring for children/vulnerable adults and to demonstrate appropriate coping mechanisms

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.

Employer details

Employer name

London Borough of Redbridge

Address

Lynton House

255-259 High Road

Ilford

IG1 1NN

Employer's website

https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/Jobs (Opens in a new tab)