CAMHS Occupational Therapist

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a qualified, competent, confident, and enthusiastic Occupational Therapist to join the Wellbeing in Newham Schools Team. You will be responsible for supporting with the delivery of the Mental Health Occupational Therapy provision within schools alongside the Band 7 OT within the team. As a specialist Occupational Therapist, this role will entail assessing and delivering interventions for young people that present with mental health needs from an OT lens. Expertise on supporting the wellbeing of those with additional needs is paramount for this role.

In line with the government’s priority to increase access and availability of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the Wellbeing in Newham Schools Team is an exciting opportunity to deliver evidence-based early interventions for children and young people, working across both educational settings and healthcare sectors in England.

The successful candidate will work across a range of primary and secondary education systems, collaborating with school staff, young people, and parents in supporting mental health and well-being needs. The postholder will be able to confidently utilise specialist OT skills to ensure that young people referred to the service receive robust holistic assessments and interventions, and can support in identification of additional needs that may need investigation with other agencies.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will work collaboratively with a wide number of agencies, voluntary services and community interest groups to develop the ability of young people to be able to engage in occupations that are both necessary and meaningful for their mental-wellbeing. The ability to utilise creative and innovate approaches to care is paramount for this role. As part of a team with a novel OT provision, the post-holder will confidently support the lead occupational therapist in deliverance of whole school approaches such as school wide trainings, group interventions, and provide bespoke OT consultation sessions with school staff.

You will have a demonstrable track record of supporting mental health and well-being needs of young people and families. Specialist knowledge on how sensory, cognitive, and physical needs impact on mental well-being is necessary for this role. The successful candidate will be able to adapt their communication, so to engage children and young people across the developmental spectrum. You will exemplify strong risk management skill-sets.

As a band 6 OT within the team, supervision from the senior OT, and support from the clinical leads/ wider team will be provided to ensure continuous growth of your specialist skill-sets. We offer an exciting and dynamic environment where your ideas and career development will be valued. Innovative ideas that you may have for the OT provision within the team will be accepted.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The successful candidate will have

• Prior experience of working within pediatric OT services supporting children with well-being and mental health needs.
• Extensive knowledge of various paediatric conditions.
• Concrete understanding of MOHO and CanMOP models of practice and how to utilise these models to support development of interventions.
• Sound knowledge of OT interventions across the spectrum of mental illness and knowledge of which interventions are appropriate and how to apply these in a low intensity / early intervention space
• Ability to support Band 7 OT with triaging occupational therapy referrals, prioritising these, completing evidence-based assessments and interventions to address key occupational areas of self-care, productivity and leisure
• Ability to confidently deliver whole school trainings, group interventions, and consultation spaces within educational settings.
• Ability to use client-centred approaches to co-producing negotiated occupational goals and evaluate these with service users collaboratively.
• Enthusiasm for and experience of extending brief low intensity forms of help offered to children and parents around mental health needs in education settings
• A high degree of professional autonomy and self-management and will be required to account for their professional practice through appraisal and audit
• Motivation to implement initiatives to benefit pupils their families and education staff
• Understanding of educational environments
• Understanding of CBT concepts

The community served is multi-ethnic and culturally diverse and we welcome applicants who are skilled at working with the richness and complexity of this multicultural context.

Please also see attached the full job description

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.