Occupational Therapist

Job overview

We are looking for an enthusiastic Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join Putney & Roehampton Integrated Recovery Team. We will also consider Band 5’s who have completed their Preceptorship and are looking at transition to a Band 6 role through our Preceptorship Plus programme.

This satisfying and rewarding role sits within our Community Service Line, which includes all community based mental health teams, such as our Integrated Recovery Hubs, Recovery and Support Teams and Early Intervention services. Our teams are expanding with new and exciting roles post Transformation, and this is providing an environment in which Occupational Therapists (OTs), can at last, fully use their innovation and creativity to support clients with complex mental health needs to recover and step down from Mental Health Services.

Main duties of the job

We are using the Model of Human Occupation to provide standardised assessments.  We have a manualised evidenced based intervention called GLOW (Graduated Living Outside of the Ward), to provide an individualised intervention and have developed an 8-week group intervention, based on Recovery Through Activity, to promote recovery goals, with the focus of stepping down from services and reconnecting our clients with community resources. We are committed to ensuring that all our community OTs receive basic training in Sensory Profiling, so that we can support clients with additional sensory needs.

The post involves working closely with our colleagues in the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT), in particular, working with Recovery Support Workers and Employment Specialists, with whom we have a close professional relationship, invested in supporting clients with their occupational goals. We are committed to offering an excellent service and actively promote Occupational Therapy within the teams.

The OT will also promote working with our partners in the Involvement Team, to encourage service users and carers to feel supported and involved in the development with our services and their experiences, as well as developing relationships with wider and external community organisations, such as social prescribers and peer support workers.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide Occupational Therapy four days a week with a maximum of one day duty cover in the team.
• To manage an OT caseload of clients with complex needs, using evidence based /client centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.
• To take responsibility for completing standardised assessments using The Model of Human Occupation and other frameworks as agreed by the Therapy Leads.
• To offer manualised interventions, both group and individual for example, GLOW (Graduated Living Outside of the Ward) and IPEL (Increasing Participation in Everyday Life)
• To offer Sensory Profiling to clients with sensory challenges
• To participate in the planning, development and evaluation of OT services within the Community Team, holding responsibility for defined projects.
• To engage with the OT referrals process, identifying and prioritising the need for OT specific interventions.
• To provide leadership to junior staff through supervision and appraisal.
• To regularly supervise OT students on practice placement (expected standard is two students per year).
• To provide professional leadership to the Recovery Support Workers and engage in co-working pathways.
• To promote recovery and social inclusion.
• To work alongside the Involvement Team to actively promote service-user engagement and co-production.
• To work collaboratively with the Employment Specialist in the team, to enhance a positive vocational outcome for clients.
• To contribute to the maintenance and development of the Trust OT Service
• To contribute to streamline working from admission to discharge in keeping with the principles in the Adult Services Recovery Care pathway.
• To advocate for and promote the contribution of occupational therapy as a valuable resource with helping people to manage the impact of their symptoms on their ability to cope with daily occupations.
• To act as the designated ‘Disability Champion’ leading the multi-disciplinary team in Disability Equality matters within the service and other areas as required.