Niamh Jones - Senior Education Mental Health Practitioner, Healthy Minds team, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
Niamh Jones is a Senior Education Mental Health Practitioner within the Healthy Minds team at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
The Healthy Minds Team provide a free and confidential NHS service for children and young people who attend a school or college in South Tyneside and/or are registered with a local GP to improve mental health outcomes for children and young people.
As part of her progression from a trainee to a qualified Senior EMHP Niamh undertook the Clinical Supervision for Children and Young People programme within the Children and Young Peoples Psychological Trainings suite at Northumbria University.
Why did you decide to undertake the training course?
I was keen to undertake the programme as I believe it would broaden and deepen my knowledge and give me the experience that would allow me to progress from an EMHP to a senior practitioner.
Completing the course has broadened and deepened my knowledge, allowed me to progress to the next stage in my career and given me great insight into managing and supporting others in their roles.
What has your overall experience been like at Northumbria University?
Northumbria was my local university offering the programme and while most of the delivery was online, there was great support from the Northumbria team that really helped me to get the most out of the training.
The course has given me the confidence, learning and experience that I need for my current job role. I would definitely choose to study with Northumbria again.
What advice would you give to someone considering a degree apprenticeship?
I would say go for it, the suite of programmes on offer can really strengthen your CV, open doors for you and help you to progress in your career.
What does your role look like since completing the course?
I work within a mental health support team delivering low intensity interventions, predominantly low intensity cognitive behavioural therapies. In addition, I work closely with my wider team to deliver whole school work that will make mental health support more accessible to everyone.
I also now supervise five other practitioners clinically, helping them with their knowledge and understanding as well as the practicalities of the role.
About Northumbria Children and Young Peoples' Psychological Trainings suite of programmes
The Children and Young Peoples’ Psychological Trainings programmes are a result of a national NHS project – delivered in collaboration with universities across the UK – designed to restructure and transform mental health services for young people.
The programmes are evidence-based have been created specifically to meet the needs of those using the services our practitioners work in for example, one of the most dominant therapies taught across the suite is low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy.
The programmes available at Northumbria University include:
- Education Mental Health Practitioner
- Enhanced Evidence-Based Practice
- Senior Wellbeing Practitioner
- Clinical Supervision
- Trauma-informed Practice
- Transformational Leadership
- Community Wellbeing Practitioner
Delivered by experts in their field, and those who helped to write the national curriculum, the programmes are suited to a range of learners from those seeking to join the profession at entry level up to those who are actively working in children’s mental health and are looking to progress to the next level in terms of broadening the types of support they can offer, supervising and supporting others and delivering training to those in strategic roles to ensure they have high performing and effective teams.
For enquiries about the CYPPT suite how we can work with your business, please contact business.enquiry@northumbria.ac.uk
For more information about the modules specifically please contact the module leaders listed below.
