Senior Mental Health Practitioner (INTERNAL)

Do you want to make a difference to children and young people’s Mental Health? If so, apply now!

East Sussex County Council is seeking Senior Mental Health Practitioners to join Me & My Mind, our growing Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), delivering early intervention and Whole School Approaches (WSA) to mental health across primary, secondary, post 16, alternative provision and special schools.

This is an exciting opportunity to take on a varied, influential role, combining clinical practice, supervision, school partnership working and service development, as part of a well established, supportive and multi disciplinary service.

As a Senior Mental Health Practitioner, you will play a key role in delivering the core functions of the MHST by providing clinical, managerial, and case supervision to Educational Mental Health Practitioners and trainees. You will hold a small caseload, delivering evidence-based one-to-one and group interventions for children and young people with moderate mental health needs, while also acting as a key link practitioner for a group of schools by supporting referrals, offering consultation, advice, and signposting. In addition, you will promote and embed a whole-school approach to mental health through workshops, training, and staff consultation. Working collaboratively with education colleagues, families, and partner agencies, you will help develop responsive and effective mental health provision, while also contributing to service development, innovation, and evaluation through the use of outcome measures and school feedback.
 

What we're looking for:

You will be a qualified and registered mental health professional, such CBT high or low‑intensity practitioner (full list available on the job description and person specification) with:

• Experience supporting children and young people with mental health difficulties
• Experience in clinical risk assessment and decision‑making
• Experience of delivering evidence‑based interventions
• Experience of providing clinical and/or managerial supervision

• Ability to influence and support cultural change

Additional information:

• The role requires travel across East Sussex (a driving licence or ability to meet travel requirements is essential)
• This post involves working directly with children and young people and is subject to relevant safeguarding checks
• Base and area of work is to be confirmed
• This role is a secondment to cover maternity leave

Please download the job description and person specification for more information.

To apply for this role, please follow the ‘Apply Now’ button above and upload your CV and a Supporting Statement. We will be using your Supporting Statement to shortlist so please be sure to address how you meet all the criteria in the person specification, drawing on any relevant work/life experience, education, or personal interests.

For guidance on how to write an application see our how to apply page  and our statement on the use of AI.

Interviews will be in person at County Hall on Tuesday 28 July 2026 . Please ensure you are able to make this date, as we may be unable to offer an alternative. 

Candidates who meet certain criteria are given priority when we shortlist. See our priority status page for details.  

Why join us?

• Be part of a forward thinking service making a measurable difference to children, families and schools
• Access to training and development, including clinical supervision training with Sussex University if applicable
• Opportunities to influence whole school mental health systems 
• A supportive, multi‑disciplinary working environment
• Flexible working and a strong focus on wellbeing, inclusion and sustainability

We offer a diverse range of benefits to help and support you during your employment. More information can be found on our benefits page. 

For an informal discussion about this opportunity contact Lucy Hill, Service Manager at [email protected] or Fiona Skinner, Clinical Practice Manager at [email protected] to request a MS teams call or phone call.

Choose East Sussex!

This is a secondment opportunity which is only available to existing ESCC employees. Please review the Secondment Policy (Secondments and Acting Up arrangements | ESCC Intranet) for more information.