Senior Practitioner
| Posting date: | 12 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £35,564.56 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 03 April 2026 |
| Location: | Workington, Cumbria |
| Remote working: | On-site only |
| Company: | Barnardo's |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 22638 |
Summary
An opportunity has arisen for a senior practitioner to join the North Cumbria Mental Health Support Teams (MHST).
Are you a practitioner who is trained in low intensity CBT or high intensity CBT who is passionate about supporting other staff by offering clinical supervision alongside continuing to work therapeutically with children and young people in education settings, to support their emotional health and wellbeing? If, yes, then this role is for you!
We wish to appoint someone who wants to make a difference to the emotional wellbeing of children and young people in schools. We're seeking mental health professionals who have direct experience of working with evidence-based therapies in child mental health. The role involves offering supervision to other qualified staff and providing therapeutic support to children, young people and their parent-carers and working in partnership with education settings.
The successful candidates will be employed on a full-time basis to deliver mental health support across a range of educational settings in North Cumbria. You will need to have 2 years post qualifying experience by December 2026.
The North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) commission Barnardo's to provide 4 MHST's. The service operates as 2 locality teams across North Cumbria, covering Egremont/ Whitehaven/ Workington/ Cockermouth/ Maryport/ Keswick and one covering Carlisle / Penrith/Eden /Solway Coast. There is 1 post available in the West locality teams.
The service bases are situated in Workington, Cockermouth and Carlisle. The office bases for post holders will be agreed following interview.
Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are a national programme.
The programme has three main commitments:
Delivering evidence-based interventions for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health needs
Supporting the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach
Giving timely advice to school and college staff, and liaising with external specialist services, to help children and young people to get the right support and stay in education
MHST's enable the promotion of wellbeing and good mental health with particular focus on early intervention. They work with existing emotional and mental health support within education, building relationships with each setting and with children, young people, parent-carers, and partners in the local system, to co-design and evaluate the offer required.
Children's Mental Health and Wellbeing is a key component of Barnardo's Corporate Strategy and Mental Health Support Teams are part of this strategy.
Please be aware, Barnardo's use generic Job Descriptions and Person Specifications when recruiting to posts. However, when completing the application form for this role, applicants must provide evidence to demonstrate how their skills, experience and, if required, qualifications, relate to the essential requirements as set out in the Additional Information Sheet.
Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
About Barnardo's
We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.
Our basis and values
Are you a practitioner who is trained in low intensity CBT or high intensity CBT who is passionate about supporting other staff by offering clinical supervision alongside continuing to work therapeutically with children and young people in education settings, to support their emotional health and wellbeing? If, yes, then this role is for you!
We wish to appoint someone who wants to make a difference to the emotional wellbeing of children and young people in schools. We're seeking mental health professionals who have direct experience of working with evidence-based therapies in child mental health. The role involves offering supervision to other qualified staff and providing therapeutic support to children, young people and their parent-carers and working in partnership with education settings.
The successful candidates will be employed on a full-time basis to deliver mental health support across a range of educational settings in North Cumbria. You will need to have 2 years post qualifying experience by December 2026.
The North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) commission Barnardo's to provide 4 MHST's. The service operates as 2 locality teams across North Cumbria, covering Egremont/ Whitehaven/ Workington/ Cockermouth/ Maryport/ Keswick and one covering Carlisle / Penrith/Eden /Solway Coast. There is 1 post available in the West locality teams.
The service bases are situated in Workington, Cockermouth and Carlisle. The office bases for post holders will be agreed following interview.
Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are a national programme.
The programme has three main commitments:
Delivering evidence-based interventions for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health needs
Supporting the senior mental health lead in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach
Giving timely advice to school and college staff, and liaising with external specialist services, to help children and young people to get the right support and stay in education
MHST's enable the promotion of wellbeing and good mental health with particular focus on early intervention. They work with existing emotional and mental health support within education, building relationships with each setting and with children, young people, parent-carers, and partners in the local system, to co-design and evaluate the offer required.
Children's Mental Health and Wellbeing is a key component of Barnardo's Corporate Strategy and Mental Health Support Teams are part of this strategy.
Please be aware, Barnardo's use generic Job Descriptions and Person Specifications when recruiting to posts. However, when completing the application form for this role, applicants must provide evidence to demonstrate how their skills, experience and, if required, qualifications, relate to the essential requirements as set out in the Additional Information Sheet.
Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
About Barnardo's
We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.
Our basis and values
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.