Senior Education Mental Health Practitioner - East SuffolkNHS
Job summary
Passionate about the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people? National conversation increasingly focuses on young people's mental health, now is the time to be at the forefront of the development of these services. We are excited to be recruiting a Senior Education Mental Health Practitioner to work in an innovative service in Suffolk: the Mental Health Support Team (MHST). MHSTs are based within education settings, ensuring children and young people receive faster access to earlier mental health support. You will be one of the key senior clinicians in this service.
This role is suitable for a range of professional backgrounds and we encourage applicants from nursing, social work, occupational therapy, psychotherapy, experienced (two years post-qualified) EMHPs and CWPs. This list is not exhaustive: If you have the relevant qualifications, experience and skills in children and adolescent mental health we encourage you to have a conversation with us and consider applying.
Main duties of the job
In this role you will support and provide a high-quality service to children and young people (and their families) experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties, through early intervention and offering the right support at the right time. You will work across a range of education settings.
You will be responsible for supervision of Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) and potentially for Trainee EMHPs which will include supporting them through their training and beyond. You will offer assessment and direct delivery of evidence-based interventions to support children and young people referred to the service. You will need to utilise skills and knowledge of CBT and child and adolescent mental health practice. You will also implement whole school/college approaches to mental health through collaboration and coproduction with the school/college community.
Job description
A job in the Suffolk MHSTs will inevitably be challenging and demanding at times, but it will also be immensely rewarding and provide you with great opportunities to make a genuine difference to the lives of others. You will join a team that has developed a caring, creative and hard-working environment; your ideas about how this new service continues to develop and grow will be highly valued.
There is a big emphasis within the team around CPD and we will ensure that you continue to access training and supervision to develop your own practice and further your career ambitions.
Successful candidates will also gain a place on the 'Postgraduate certificate in Supervision of low intensity CBT with children and young people' course at the University of East Anglia, where they will be given training in the theory and research that underpins EMHPs work and supported in the development of supervisions skills and their own work within the context of the MHSTs.
We would welcome any informal conversations about these roles. Please do contact us for more information.
We have two full time vacancies both are in the Central Suffolk and North-West Ipswich area.
Please note we also have another advert for West Suffolk area.
Interviews are anticipated to take place in mid September 2026
For further details regarding the role, please see attached job description and person specification.
About us
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.
Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.
Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you'll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We're an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.