Job description

The Sutton Mental Health Support Team is an original trailblazer team, started in January 2019 and comprises of 4 qualified Education Wellbeing Practitioners (EWPs), a band 7 CBT therapist/ mental health nurse and the advertised post, which is the most senior post within the MHST. The team works with a cluster of schools in the borough of Sutton, offering both direct interventions within the schools and the implementation of a whole schools approach to mental health. EWPs work primarily with parents of primary school age children and with young people referred by secondary schools, offering low-intensity CBT and parenting interventions for mild – moderate anxiety, low mood and behaviour difficulties. The band 7 post provides additional clinical input for more moderate mental health presentations, consultation to school staff and support within each MHST and school cluster, working closely with team members to provide a coordinated service. There is also a dedicated self-harm nurse attached to Sutton CAMHS who also works closely with the MHST to provide a joined up service for schools.

The advertised post is an exciting and varied role with good scope for creative and innovative working within a new national initiative to increase mental health input directly into schools. There is a very strong peer support network across the service as well as clinical supervision being offered by the borough 8B lead and service development supervision being offered by the consultant psychology lead. There is a huge amount of opportunity for developing skills and being at the forefront of an innovative service. We are looking for an enthusiastic, proactive and creative psychologist who is keen to expand their skills and learn on the job, with strong support offered at all levels.

We pride ourselves on running an inclusive schools service and would be willing to consider a term time only plus 4 weeks contract if preferred. This equates to 0.93wte and allows for around an additional 20 days annual leave during the school holidays (on top of usual annual leave allowances), ideal for working parents.

The postholder will offer supervision to the other MHST team members, consultation and reflective practice groups for school staff and will take a lead in supporting the whole school approach. The whole school approach work involves working collaboratively with schools at a preventative level and meet need as it arises within the wider school setting. There are plenty of opportunities for running school staff training sessions; parent workshops and coffee mornings; groups and working jointly with the other MHSTs across Sutton and the other boroughs.

The postholder will also provide more specialist clinical interventions for children and young people who do not meet CAMHS thresholds. There is an opportunity to complete EMDR training in order to pick up specialist EMDR cases within the cluster if desired.

The MHSTs exist within an overall network of child mental health resources that coordinates early help, target help and specialist interventions for children and young people according to presentation and need. There are also good opportunities for linking in with local CAMHS and the Single Point of Access within the borough. As these services are all run by the Trust, this makes for smoother linking in and liaison across teams.

The postholder will be responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the Sutton MHST and supervision of the staff, including taking responsibility for managing risk and safeguarding issues. The role will also include taking a link liaison role with the schools who are within the Sutton cluster and working jointly with the other MHSTs and wider CAMHS teams to ensure joined up service delivery.

Applications will be welcomed from qualified psychologists who already have good previous experience of working in Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services. A strong understanding and experience of using CBT and parenting principles will be needed in order to effectively supervise the four EWPs in the team.

This post will require:

• Qualification as a Clinical / Counselling / Educational Psychologist, registered with the HCPC
• Good experience of working in CAMHS or other children & young people services
• Experience of supervising trainees or other junior staff
• Good CBT skills and knowledge of parenting principles * Strong communication skills
• The ability to work cohesively and collaboratively both within a small team and within the wider school and CAMHS systems
• Strong organisational skills and an interest in service development
• Experience of or strong interest in delivering mental health interventions in school settings
• Commitment to using data and relevant measures to assess clinical outcome

SWLSTG MH Trust is a lead provider within the South West London Trailblazer programme and currently runs eight Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) across Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth, in addition to three teams of Children’s Wellbeing Practitioners (CWPs). Each MHST works within a cluster of schools / colleges offering a schools based early intervention service, as well as supporting the implementation of a whole schools approach to mental health across the cluster.

About our locations:
Our Trust headquarters is located within the impressive grounds of Springfield University Hospital in Tooting and we also operate in nearly 100 other locations throughout the UK. This is easily accessible via the Northern Line (Tooting Bec Station) and via private transport. The Trust provides subsidised parking fares for all our substantive staff. Our main site is located immediately next to Tooting High Street where staff can easily access a range of shops, cafés and restaurants. We often run training sessions and CPD opportunities from this site.

The Sutton MHST offers interventions and support to a cluster of schools within the borough. The cluster lead school is Greenshaw High School and the MHST also covers Overton Grange and Cheam secondary schools as well as a further eight primary schools. Some travel between schools and base is to be expected but this can be managed by public transport, owning a car is not necessary.

• To promote and ensure highly specialist psychological services and skills to the team
• To collaboratively work with schools to implement a whole school approach to mental health, including staff consultation and training as appropriate.
• To provide advice and consultation on clients’ psychological care. To work within Trust and professional guidelines, to a clear CAMHS job plan.
• To offer clinical supervision to the EWPs and the band 7 post, with a focus on CBT models and parenting approaches. Providing clinical input to supervisees’ PADRs.
• Within supervision, team meetings and other fora, to support and promote the use of measures to evolve clinical practice and enhance user experience.
• To offer direct interventions with 5 to 11 year olds and their parents in primary schools plus 11 to 18 year olds in secondary schools, including those who may have experienced trauma and who exhibit behaviours that may be challenging
• To lead on the management of clinical risk or safeguarding issues within the team
• To seek opportunities to include service user perspectives in how services are delivered.
• To utilise research skills for practice evaluation and service development, as required by the service and set out in the job plan.
• To work with the consultant clinical lead and school cluster lead to provide a clear team focus and goals for increasing mental health access and support across the cluster of schools.