Job summary
- Main area
- Psychological Therapy
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent: 3 days per week will be study days
- Hours
- Full time
- Term time hours
- Job ref
- 334-CLI-8219043
- Employer
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Christopher Wren House
- Town
- Croydon
- Salary
- £33,262 - £36,027 per annum inclusive HCAs (Outer)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 21/10/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner
NHS AfC: Band 4
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.
We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’.
We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.
The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.
As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.
Job overview
In line with the governments priority to increase access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) role is an exciting opportunity to deliver evidence-based early interventions for children and young people, working across both educational settings and healthcare sectors in England.
We are seeking to recruit 4 graduate level practitioners to provide guided self-help therapy and parenting interventions. These posts are salaried at NHS Agenda for Change band 4 for a one year post graduate diploma in Education Mental Health Practice through Kings College London. Further intensive supervision and on the job training will be provided by an experienced supervisor within each team.
There will be a strong expectation for trainees to continue in post on successful completion of the one-year training, with a salary increase to NHS Band 5 scale for the second year onwards.
Successful candidates will be employed on a full-time basis within a Mental Health Support Team delivering individual, group and workshop-based mental health interventions within a borough-based cluster of schools.
The post is currently being recruited to within the existing service structure. The service may be subject to a future procurement process, and any subsequent changes will be managed in accordance with NHS employment policies and relevant legislation.
Main duties of the job
This is a training position post holder will undertake training at Kings College London alongside working in service for CAMHS Croydon MHST. They will be taught to deliver evidence based guided self-help interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties. The post holder will use their newly developed skills to support children and young people who are referred into the service and trainees will receive supervision to support their professional development.
Applicants will need to be ready to start work in early/mid-January 2027 and posts cannot be offered to candidates unless they can guarantee this start date.
During training, the post-holders will work under close supervision to gain experience across healthcare and educational settings to enable them to gain the level of competence required to deliver high-quality, evidence-based early interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems.
Shortlisted candidates will also need to submit an application form to KCL for a place on the Diploma in Education Mental Health Practice. The application form details are attached/linked below and will need to be completed at the same time as your application for a post.
Working for our organisation
Croydon MHST is a friendly and supportive team who have developed a close partnership with local schools in providing low
intensity interventions, creating workshops and groups and adapting services to meet the needs of schools, young people and families in
Croydon in line with CYP-IAPT principles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Essential
- Qualification:
- Undergraduate degree, upper second class or above, in Psychology OR related subject (e.g., Psychology, Education, Childhood development, Social Work etc), OR any subject with further training or experience in a relevant field (e.g., Teaching/TA; Learning Support; HCA; Youth Work; Counselling etc)
OR
- Relevant professional experience in CYP Mental Health/Education/Mentorship (to be considered on a case-by-case basis)
- Strong communication skills
- The ability to work cohesively within small teams
- Motivation to learn and to be challenged
- The ability to use feedback and adapt accordingly
- Good organisational skills
- Experience of working within a mental health setting and / or school pastoral care
- Experience of working with children and an understanding of how to talk with them
- Commitment to using data and relevant measures to assess clinical outcomes
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Undergraduate degree, upper second class or above, in Psychology OR related subject (e.g., Psychology, Education, Childhood development, Social Work etc), OR any subject with further training or experience in a relevant field (e.g., Teaching/TA; Learning Support; HCA; Youth Work; Counselling etc)
Experience
Essential criteria
- Previous experience of working with children and young people
- The ability to use feedback and adapt accordingly
- Experience of working with children and an understanding of how to talk with them
- Commitment to using data and relevant measures to assess clinical outcomes
Desirable criteria
- Good organisational skills
Knowledge and skills
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of the educational system in England
- Knowledge of children and young people gained through academic study in child development, child wellbeing or mental health
- Ability to learn in a variety of settings and using a variety of learning methods, including remote delivery of teaching
- Ability to study as a self-motivated learner who can formulate their own progress towards learning objectives and negotiate pathways to achievement with supervisory teams
- Ability to personally manage a sensitive, traumatic and potentially emotionally distressing caseload
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Charlie Aretuemhen
- Job title
- MHST Clinical Service Lead Croydon
- Email address
- [email protected]
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