Emotional Health and Wellbeing Practitioner Cambridge Cambridge, East of England, England
Job description
We are looking for a motivated and clinically confident qualified professional to join our small supportive team in Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust.
The Emotional Health and Wellbeing Practitioner Team (EHWP) is a multi-disciplinary team and sits in the Emotional Health and Wellbeing Service (EHWS) which includes Children’s Wellbeing Practitioners and the Mental Health Support Teams. The EHWP team is an Early Intervention Service and sits in the Getting Advice quadrant of the Thrive Model.
The post holder will be working in the Cambridge and Huntingdon area and will need to be able to visit schools and other settings in and around Cambridge and Huntingdon as well as other areas of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough as needed.
You will be working in Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust and able to work full time hours (Monday to Friday) although part time hours may be considered. We are currently working towards a blended work pattern of home working and visiting schools for face to face training and other support. The team will regularly get together in an office space for peer support and team working. Your own wellbeing is important and the EHWP Team and wider service encourage and support people to recognise this.
The aim of EHWP Team is to support professionals to understand children and young people's lived experiences in order to view and respond to their emotional world from a new perspective.
The role is varied and includes offering consultation calls for professionals who have a concern about a child’s emotional wellbeing, helping them to identify and understand the needs of the child and how best to support them. This may be recommending strategies and resources that can be used or signposting to appropriate services.
The role also involves facilitating training sessions in topics such as Attachment, Risk and Resilience and Emotional Intelligence. Most of the work is with Education Professionals but is not limited to this area.
Having an understanding of Developmental Trauma, Attachment Theory, Child Development, and Systemic Theory will support you to work confidently in this role. We are also keen to develop learning and share knowledge within the team and wider service.
Please note that this team is professional facing with no direct work with children or families. This enables us to focus on supporting those who work with the child or young person, giving them time and space to understand and meet the emotional needs of those children and young people.
Rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, we are proud to provide high quality innovative services across most of the east of England that enable people to receive care closer to home and live healthier lives.
There’s one reason why our services are outstanding – and that’s our amazing staff - who, for the seventh year running, rated us incredibly highly in the national staff survey.
If you share our passion for innovative and high-quality care delivery, then please submit your application and join us on our exciting journey as a leading-edge specialist community provider. All are welcome to apply and our promise to you is a culture which prioritises staff engagement and development.
You are required to have a Professional Qualification such as Registered Nurse, Social Worker, Psychologist or Therapist with a Clinical background and be registered with a Governing Professional Body when you apply for this role.
You will work in a multi disciplinary team supporting Professionals who have a concern about a child's emotional wellbeing and offering learning opportunities to education staff. The EHWP Team work across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough alongside the other Teams in the wider EHWS and have close working relationships with other services and agencies outside the NHS.
The EHWP Team is a supportive and welcoming team to work in, along with the wider service that it sits within. The wellbeing of the EHWP Team and wider service is a priority for the EHWS.
As a qualified and competent professional you will be able to work independently, taking responsibility for your own practice as well as working closely with colleagues. You will be expected to share your skills and knowledge and encouraged to learn from others in order to deliver a high standard of support, advice and guidance to those Professionals who access the service. You will be confident in your safeguarding knowledge and able to act upon any concerns raised in the course of your work.
The core work for the EHWP Team is to offer advice and guidance for any professional who has a concern about a child or young person's emotional wellbeing. This is achieved by having booked appointments for consultation with the EHWP Team. These appointments are a time for the Professional to think with the EHWP about what their concerns are, what is already in place to support the child or young person, what the possible causes of the emotional need may be, what the child's voice is and what the next steps could be to support that child or young person.
Offering learning opportunities and training for education staff is another way other EHWP Team help to increase awareness and knowledge of children's emotional and mental health needs within a wider community of Professionals. As an EHWP you will be confident in your knowledge of Developmental Trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Attachment, and Emotional Intelligence. This knowledge can be gained whilst working within the EHWP Team but you will need at least a basic awareness of these topics when applying and be confident to facilitate face to face training to groups of professionals.
Positive staff wellbeing in schools is linked to positive children's wellbeing. All EHWPs offer support to education staff to promote reflective practice around how their work in schools affects their own emotional wellbeing.
The EHWP Team regularly facilitate Mental Health Forums for Mental Health Leads in education settings. EHWPs network and engage with attendees, facilitating group work and reflective discussions at the forums.
Training and forums for education staff are undertaken in schools around the county. You will therefore be expected to travel to education settings in the Cambridge area and at times in other areas of the county and Peterborough.
This is what professionals who have used our service have said when asked what was most helpful about their consultations with one of the Emotional Health and Wellbeing Practitioners:
I felt listened to, (the Practitioner) really took on board what was being said, really thinking about what path to take to benefit the young person. Said resources would be shared and they were - really quickly
Brilliant service, please do not ever stop as it is so essential to us
This is such an important service to us as a school. Everyone I have spoken to has been friendly, experienced and very knowledgeable. Even if it is to just confirm that we are doing the right thing with a pupil. Nothing is ever too much of a hassle. Information is sent quickly and is supported with recommendations for external links. I would recommend this service to everyone who can access it!
This is what the EHWPs say about their job:
'It's so refreshing to be part of such a supportive team focused on not only the wellbeing of children and young people but the wellbeing of the team and wider service to ensure we are happy and can work to the best of our ability''
We are an extremely supportive team of colleagues – and because we come from such varied professional disciplines I think we are always learning from each other
