Important Information for Current Barnet Council Employees

Where possible, employees who have access to Oracle are encouraged to apply via the Opportunity Marketplace (Internal Career Site). This helps to ensure applications are correctly identified as internal and avoids potential delays during the recruitment process.

About Barnet Council

Barnet is a borough with much to be proud of. Our excellent schools, vibrant town centres, vast green spaces and diverse communities all help make it a great place to live and work. As a council we want to build on these strengths as we move into the future. We are growing and developing as an organisation to meet the challenges facing our borough and we are committed to working with partner organisations and residents to make Barnet even better. As an organisation, our staff are committed to Our Values: Learning to Improve, Caring, Inclusive, Collaborative – which drive everything we do.

About the Role

In line with the government’s priority to increase access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) provide 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 excited to be able to welcome four new trainee EMHPs (Education Mental Health Practitioners) to BICS (Barnet’s Integrated Clinical Service) who will sit in one of our multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) connected to one of Barnet’s Child and Family Early Help Hubs. They will play a key role within the team, supporting schools to adopt an overarching approach to providing mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people.

In Barnet, our MHST support is fully embedded into our wider mental health service BICS. BICS is a multidisciplinary mental health service supporting children, young people and their families with mild to moderate mental health difficulties across the borough in education, community and children’s social care settings. BICS sits within Barnet’s Family Services, working closely with our multi-agency colleagues. Our MDTs are made up of CWPs (Children and Young People’s Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners), EMHPs (Education Mental Health Practitioners), SWPs (Senior Wellbeing Practitioners), Psychologists, Systemic Psychotherapists, Integrative Psychotherapists, Creative Therapists and CBT Therapists. They deliver evidence based mental health interventions across education and community settings, provide consultation and advice, step up to specialist services where appropriate, and deliver workshops, groups and training across Family Services, education and community settings. Including supporting a whole school and college approach as part of delivering on the government’s MHST in schools initiative which is embedded into these BICS MDTs.

EMHPs report to Senior Clinical Practitioners who, while having their own caseload, are crucial to supporting the EMHPs to complete their training whilst delivering a service and developing their clinical skills and knowledge. Each MDT is overseen by Clinical Managers and supported by our wider BICS service.

Successful candidates will be offered a fully funded full-time educational programme specifically for the role, gaining credits towards a diploma level qualification. All four roles would be offered on a fixed term basis to cover the length of the training course. The application is a dual process, and anyone applying also has to complete the UCL application (available on the UCL website) meeting criteria for eligibility.

Please note that appointment to a permanent, fully qualified role, is subject to successful completion of the Educational Mental Health Practitioner PG Dip. 

Educational Mental Health Practitioner PG Dip | Prospective Students Graduate - UCL – University College London

About You

To be successful, all applicants must demonstrate in their application the ability to work at degree level and have an equivalent level of relevant experience, with a proven record of previous learning or formal study in child development, wellbeing or mental health. It is also essential that applicants have relative experience of working with children and young people, and an understanding of the educational system in England is highly desirable.

The training programme for this post is 12 months in duration and will consist of academic and supervised practice learning across mental health services and educational settings, such as primary and secondary schools, and further education colleges.

Delivery of the programme will be provided through a combination of taught days within UCL in collaboration with The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, experience gained in placement with BICS, and independent self-guided study days.

During training, the post-holder will work under supervision to gain experience across 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.

The training course is divided into 6 modules, developing skills and knowledge in areas such as:

Working with children, young people and their parents/carers to support self-management including development of plans for specific interventions and agreeing outcomes;

Learning to manage own caseload, gaining the necessary skills to practice a range of interventions such as guided self-help;

Preparing and presenting caseload information to supervisors;

Working with colleagues to provide better access to specialist mental health services and supporting referrals where required;

Supporting colleagues in education to identify and manage issues related to mental health and wellbeing.

On successful completion of training, trainee EMHPs will be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge and capabilities to work as a qualified EMHP as autonomous and responsible practitioners within their scope of practice, alongside education colleagues. With an expectation to apply for professional registration with either the BABCP or BPS.

Barnet is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Barnet operates stringent safer recruitment procedures.

If shortlisted, you will be required to bring photographic ID to your interview to prove your identity.

Please Click Here to download the job description

What we offer

31 days annual leave, plus public and bank holidays
Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme, which provides a valuable guaranteed income in your retirement together with security for your dependents
Work-life balance options may include hybrid working, flexitime, job share, home working, part-time
A vast range of lifestyle discounts from major retailers, supermarkets, energy suppliers and more
Broad range of payroll benefits including cycle to work, eye care vouchers, travel and gym membership
Excellent training and development opportunities
Employee well- being training programs including confidential employee assistance

How to apply

Read the job description and person specification before clicking ‘Apply’ to commence the online application form. If you would like any further information about the role before applying, please contact Sarah.Konn@Barnet.gov.uk

System notice: Some dates shown on our online application system (such as “Apply Before”) appear in US date format (MM/DD/YYYY) due to Oracle system settings.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful tool to support your application as a reasonable adjustment, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn, escalated to counter Fraud for further investigation and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Barnet Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Barnet operates stringent safer recruitment procedures, this may include AI Detection Screening, Biometric ID/Right to Work Checks, Qualification and Registration Checks, Up to 6 years of Employment Data and Insights to Accelerate Screening (Konfir), Up to 5 years of Employment History References, DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) Checks, Credit Checks and Social Media, Sanctions and Occupational Health Screening.

To deliver Barnet Council’s commitment to equality of opportunity in the provision of services, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers. As such we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

Barnet Council embraces all forms of flexible working (including part-time, compressed hours, and hybrid working) and is committed to offering employees a healthy work-life balance. Candidates are encouraged to talk about relevant requirements and preferences at interview. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

Barnet Council is a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

All posts with the council are subject to a probationary period of six months, during which time you will be required to demonstrate to the council satisfaction your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if sufficient number of applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

Please ensure you regularly check the email account (including JUNK MAIL folders) that you use to submit your application, as any further communication regarding your application will be sent electronically. Should you not hear from us within four working weeks of the closing date for this post, then regretfully in this instance, you have not been shortlisted.