In line with the government’s priority to increase access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the new 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.

Barnet Council’s Family Services have been successful in gaining further funding to expand existing MHSTs. This is part of the government’s green paper ambitions to transform mental health support in England. This will build on the prevention and early intervention work in schools and is a key and permanent part of developing early help support within Barnet’s Integrated Clinical Services (BICS) for children and young people’s mental health.

BICS, including the MHSTs, is provided by the local authority. The successful applicant will be part of teams based primarily in schools in the east and south of the London Borough of Barnet.

Our new MHST includes a Youth Engagement Officer role, who will:

• plan, project manage and deliver exciting new co-production projects in the field of children and young people’s mental health and emotional resilience;
• work with and for young people to support them in getting involved in BICS to influence service delivery and quality improvement;
• engage and support young people with diverse needs having their voice heard;
• build relationships with a range of providers and stakeholders across the children and young people’s mental health services; and
• support education settings in the borough to develop sustainable and meaningful engagement activities for children and young people and their parents/carers.

The post-holder must have previous experience of empowering diverse networks of children and young people; working with children and young people, ideally in an education setting; an understanding of mental health needs and wellbeing issues as pertaining to children and young people; a successful track record of working effectively with a range of external organisations and professionals, including senior managers and commissioners, to champion the views of children and young people and influence change at a strategic level; and a broad understanding of London Borough of Barnet’s population, mental healthcare provisions, and education setting range.

The Youth Engagement Officer reports to the Wellbeing Operational Manager. MHSTs are overseen by a Clinical Manager and are also supported by a full-time Administrator, Assistant Psychologist, and Wellbeing Operational Manager.

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.