Mental Health Support Teams provide direct mental health support to education settings they work with. The teams aim to promote the early detection and prevention of mental health problems across the whole school/college and strengthen links between schools/colleges and mental health services.

The teams provide direct, ongoing support around mental health and wellbeing. This includes:

• Providing direct interventions to pupils with mild to moderate mental health conditions, such as anxiety, low mood or behavioural difficulties.
• Where young people require specialist support, making onward referrals to health and wellbeing services for children and young people.
• Providing training, education and advice to school staff to help them better support their pupils around mental and emotional wellbeing.
• Championing mental wellbeing and resilience across the whole school community, providing guidance around issues such as bullying and coping with exam stress.
• The service sits alongside and complements any existing mental health support that schools have access to.

EMHPs represent the majority of the MHST workforce. Under supervision, EMHPs deliver and assess outcome focused, evidence-based interventions to children and young people with mild-to-moderate mental health problems, and their families, parents and carers.

They support the senior mental health lead to introduce or develop their whole school/college approach and give timely advice to education setting staff, and liaise with external specialists, to help children and young people stay in education.

They also liaise with supervisors to agree appropriate signposting and referrals for children and young people. EMHPs will play an important role in supporting and working with education to identify and manage issues related to mental health, and work with them to improve access to mental health services.

EMHPs undertake training, including casework within some schools as part of a training year, before becoming fully operation the following year.