Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are one of the UK’s new frontline efforts to address the growing concerns regarding children and young people’s mental health. Their mission is simple: to make sure students get the right mental health support, right where they spend most of their time – their school.  The main objective of the MHSTs is to offer tailored support to schools, and students locally.  

Brief History 

MHSTs were developed in response to the 2017 Green Paper, Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health, a key government document acknowledging that school-based support was critically needed. The NHS Long Term Plan (2019) formalised this commitment. The first “Trailblazer” teams were launched in 2018/19, pioneering a new service model that focuses on prevention and early intervention, bridging the historical gap between the education system and the NHS. 

The MHST Team 

MHSTs offer holistic support for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health difficulties (predominantly around Low Mood, anxiety, behaviour challenges and emotion regulation) across all education settings. The teams consist of 4 Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs), Senior Wellbeing Practitioners, Supervisors from a range of professional backgrounds (Social Work, Nursing, Clinical Psychology, CBT Therapy, Family Therapy) and Assistant Psychologists who work closely with schools, parents, young people and professionals to promote positive wellbeing. Each team serves a population of around 8,000 children and young people. In Kent and Medway, we have 24 teams covering around 50% of schools.  

Three Ways MHSTs Make a Difference 

These multidisciplinary teams work across primary, secondary, and further education settings, delivering three core functions: 

1. To work in collaboration with education staff to develop and implement a Whole School Approach (WSA) to emotional wellbeing and mental health. This includes identifying priorities for WSA and supporting with the delivery of these (e.g. mental health awareness assemblies to reduce stigma, workshops for parents and carers, and supporting staff wellbeing). 

2. To offer support and guidance to schools, promoting joint working with other services to ensure that children and young people are able to receive the support that they need. This may include training and consultation with education professionals, joined-up problem solving, liaison with other services and signposting. 

3. To offer evidence-based, time-limited, targeted support for difficulties such as low mood, worry and anxiety, low self-esteem/confidence, and to support understanding behaviour. This may be in a group or one-to-one. It may be with children and young people, or it may involve working with parents and carers. 

The National Commitment 

The government has recognised the success of this model and has made a major commitment to its future: the MHST programme is set to expand to cover 100% of all pupils in schools and colleges in England by 2030. This expansion is central to the “Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England” vision (published in July 2025), which aims to shift care from hospitals to the community, embrace digital transformation, and focus proactively on prevention rather than just treating sickness. This long-term strategy aims to embed mental health support into the daily lives of every student, ensuring that help is always accessible. 

For more information, please follow the link below:  

https://www.nelft.nhs.uk/kent-emotional-wellbeing-team

Day in the life of an EMHP 

Disclaimer: This account is based on an interview with, Lucy, an EMHP in the Kent MHST, noting that EMHP roles vary across NHS Trusts and regions. 

Lucy described her EMHP role which includes working with young people and their families by delivering low intensity cognitive behavioural interventions. Below, the interview highlights Lucy’s experience and includes her own description of a typical day. 

9 AM – 12:30PM: Initial Assessment and Intervention Sessions 

With five assigned schools, Lucy’s schedule is dynamic. Typically, at 9.00AM, an initial assessment is conducted with a new client. Lucy described the assessment as exploring “what their presenting difficulty is” and involves “formulating and assessing whether they’re suitable for the service”.  For the remainder of the morning, Lucy shared that she typically has “2-3 sessions with existing clients delivering CBT informed interventions.”. 

1PM – 3 PM: Delivering Three Core Functions 

Lucy commented that her “afternoons vary”. It can involve delivering “targeted group interventions” or universal “whole school approach” activities, such as delivering workshops which provide psychoeducation on topics such as anxiety. Parent workshops focus on “empowering parents and boosting their confidence”. Enquiry Reviews also make up an afternoon – these are termly meetings with the school’s designated mental health lead in which individual cases are discussed as well as planning whole school approach activities. Lucy reports that in these meetings, the service “strives to support the young people discussed, whether that be through our service or signposting to more appropriate support”. 

3 PM -5 PM: Admin Tasks, Supervision & Team Meetings 

A crucial, often unseen, component is admin. Lucy noted the importance of making time for admin including “writing clinical notes, sending out letters, and responding to emails”. In addition to “squeezing in some prep work” for upcoming groups. Lucy shared her appreciation for “different professional spaces”. She described 1:1 supervision as a “personalised space” to “reflect on practice and get the support from another professional”. Lucy added that group supervision is useful for strengthening “clinical skills” and for “troubleshooting”. Lucy values being in a “diverse team of professionals”, utilising weekly meetings to “draw on the knowledge and expertise” to inform her own practice. Lucy emphasised the importance of having access to different professional spaces, as well as making time for her own self-care, to stay grounded within the role. 

Lucy shared a final positive reflection on her experience in the EMHP role: 

“The importance and impact of our service is demonstrated to me every day, through the interactions I have with young people, families and school staff. Having the opportunity to be a part of a young person’s journey, to support them and watch them grow throughout the intervention is a great privilege.”