Newly Qualified Occupational Therapist

Job overview

Are you a newly qualified or early career Occupational Therapist looking to begin your career in community mental health? Or perhaps you already have experience and are looking for your next challenge?

We're looking for a compassionate and motivated Occupational Therapist to join our brand-new Intensive Case Management (ICM) and Rehabilitation Pathway across Buckinghamshire.

This is an exciting opportunity to work with adults and older adults with complex mental health needs, supporting them to build independence, develop everyday living skills and achieve meaningful recovery within their own communities.

As part of a supportive multidisciplinary team, you'll deliver person-centred, recovery-focused Occupational Therapy using flexible and creative approaches. You'll spend most of your time working directly with people in their homes and local communities, helping them overcome barriers, reduce hospital admissions and achieve their personal goals.

Whether you're joining us as a newly qualified OT or bringing previous experience, you'll receive excellent support, structured development and the opportunity to help shape an innovative new service.

Main duties of the job

As a Band 5 Occupational Therapist, you'll manage your own caseload while receiving regular supervision and support from experienced Occupational Therapists and the wider multidisciplinary team.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Delivering high-quality Occupational Therapy assessments and interventions for adults with complex mental health needs.
• Supporting people to develop the skills, confidence and independence needed to live fulfilling lives within their communities.
• Providing assertive outreach by meeting people where they feel most comfortable, including their homes and community settings.
• Building therapeutic relationships with individuals who may find traditional services difficult to engage with.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues across health, social care and voluntary services to provide joined-up care.
• Contributing to recovery planning, risk management and discharge planning.
• Maintaining accurate clinical records and participating in service development, quality improvement and audit.

This is a predominantly community-based role where no two days are the same. You'll have the opportunity to work creatively and make a genuine difference to people's recovery journeys. Applicants must have a full valid driving licence and have access to a vehicle for work. Adjustments can be considered in line with the Equality Act 2010 where required.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You'll be joining a newly established, fully integrated multidisciplinary team that's committed to delivering innovative, person-centred mental health care across Buckinghamshire. Working alongside Occupational Therapists, Nurses, Consultant Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Support Workers and Clinical Leads, you'll be part of a collaborative team where every profession plays a key role in supporting recovery.

Our Intensive Case Management and Rehabilitation Pathway has been designed to provide flexible, assertive outreach for adults and older adults with complex mental health needs who may struggle to engage with traditional services. Rather than expecting people to come to us, we meet them where they are—building trusting relationships and providing support in their homes, local communities and other settings where they feel comfortable.

As a team, we share responsibility for supporting our service users through regular multidisciplinary discussions, collaborative decision-making and a strong focus on continuity of care. You'll have the opportunity to work creatively alongside colleagues from a range of professional backgrounds, developing holistic interventions that address mental and physical health, social needs and recovery goals together.

This is a unique opportunity to join a brand-new service from the outset, helping to shape how the pathway develops while working within a supportive team that values collaboration, innovation and recovery-focused practice. Successful applicants will receive a comprehensive induction and evidence-based training package to support them in delivering high-quality care.

Please note if you are based outside of the UK you will need to hold HCPC registration in order to be considered for this role.

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview, and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

We are aware that some candidates may choose to use AI tools to support their application. We kindly remind applicants that submissions should remain an honest and accurate representation of their experience and must take care to ensure the use of AI tools does not generate an application that does not accurately reflect their knowledge, skills and values.

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.