Recreation Worker

Job overview

We are seeking creative, motivated and enthusiastic individuals to join our Recreation Team. Our supportive service offers excellent opportunities for growth through training and coaching. Joining our team means turning your interests and hobbies into a powerful way to promote wellness and recovery for adults in acute mental health care.

As the post holder, you will play a key role in supporting the Recreation and Occupational Therapy teams to deliver meaningful therapeutic activities and foster recovery across our two sites: the Radbourne Unit and the newly built Carsington Unit (Kingsway Site).

Your responsibilities will include carrying out delegated duties, welcoming service users to the recreational service and planning, organising and facilitating engaging group activities.

We currently have one part-time position available at 22.5 hours per week, including regular weekend shifts. Our team operates seven days a week, including evenings, with working hours between 9–5 or 12–8 pm.

If you’re passionate about making a difference, we encourage you to contact the team for more information or to arrange an insight visit

Main duties of the job

You will support the team in providing a quality recreational/leisure service to enhance a service user’s stay in hospital.

The role involves carrying out delegated duties, introducing service users to the recreational service, organising, planning and facilitating recreational activities.

You will be supervised in order to promote social inclusion and enhancing the autonomy of the service user.

This will involve initiating and sustaining a respectful, consistent and reliable approach with the service users, that enhances their ability to build social networks and work in partnership with other agencies.

The purpose of a Recovery and Resilience service is to provide a high standard of person-centred care.

The service will be recovery focused. It will promote compassionate treatment and care in a safe and therapeutic setting for people in an acute stage of their illness. It will enable supported and sustainable transition from inpatient to community services.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please review the Job Description and Person Specification, please click ON APPLY FOR THIS JOB - this link will take you to the TRAC Recruitment Site, you will need to register if you do not already have an account.

You will contribute towards the delivery of a quality recreational service, working as a member of the recreational team with the support and supervision of the Recreation Co-ordinator.

• Build awareness of the recovery philosophy and the social inclusion agenda, promoting autonomy and enabling choice.
• Support service users by prompting them to attend recreational activities, where necessary and maintaining specified levels of engagement.
• Carry out a wide range of individual and group activities, as directed by the Recreation Co-ordinator.
• Undertake a range of activities, working flexibly in accordance with the needs of service users and the service as a whole.
• Assist with the administrative duties including statistics and production of publicity information.
• Demonstrate effective time management when preparing and running activities.
• Assist in facilitating service user responsibility, choices and participation, within the recreational activities.
• Contribute to environmental risk assessments, reporting findings to the Recreation Co-ordinator..
• Report any changes in occupational functioning that may indicate either positive or negative effects of treatment.
• Assist in the co-ordination of care by communicating effectively and ensuring that Trust professional guidelines for record-keeping are followed -writing notes as required.
• Ensure that assessment and treatment is delivered in a person centred manner ensuring the gender, sexual orientation, ethnic, cultural and spiritual needs of service users are adhered to.
• Participate in a multi-professional/agency approach to care, valuing the interface of professional roles and responsibilities.
• Use effective interpersonal skills that relate to service users, carers and team members on an equal and respectful basis.
• Participate in the development of the recreational service, attending appropriate staff meetings.
• Demonstrate awareness of the Trust Policy for Clinical Supervision; receiving regular clinical supervision.
• With the support of the Recreation Co-ordinator, ensure good practice is maintained by identifying practice that requires change or development, or that does not meet required standards.
• Be aware of and work within all legislative requirements relevant to occupational therapy (Mental Health Act, Code of Practice, Human Rights Act, Disability Discrimination Act etc), and ensure that Child and Adult protection procedures are followed.
• Maintain safety standards and procedures.
• Attend, co-produce and co-deliver elements of Recovery Education and Psycho-Social Education.
• Assist service users/carers to participate in developing and shaping the service where possible.
• Develop an awareness of how clinical and resource management information is used to inform decisions that meet service user, team and organisational objectives.
• Participate in clinical audit and research activity as necessary.
• Build awareness of the PALS Service and Service User Monitoring.
• Participate in incident investigation and reporting.
• Ensure personal development promotes good practice, prevents poor practice, and intervenes in unacceptable practice.
• Participate in the development, education and training of multi-disciplinary team colleagues and students as required.
• Attend relevant statutory training as identified by the Trust.
• Participate in the Staff Development review process and develop Personal Development Plans.
• Function within the parameters of own professional role.
• The post holder may be asked to undertake duties not directly highlighted within this job description. This will only be done when the skills and experience of the post holder meet the requirements of the role.
• Knowledge and experience of a wide range of recreational and leisure activities.
• Under the supervision of recreational co-ordinator, balancing different tasks eg admin, practical activities, time management etc.
• Within acute mental health service setting the ability to use and interact with service users to motivate, empathise and reassure, to promote their engagement in recreational activity.
• To communicate effectively within the Multi-professional team, Service Users and Carers..
• Physical effort – The post holder requires a degree of physical fitness to undertake light physical effort – ie a combination of sitting, standing and walking. The walking may be between the occupational therapy area and wards
• Work in a flexible way to cope and respond to competing demands and needs relating to the acute inpatient environment.
• Facilitating activities in ward environment.
• Facilitating activities for larger groups in an open environment.
• Ability to work flexibly Monday to Friday, evenings and weekends.
• Develop established links with ward and occupational therapy teams.

“As an employer and sponsor licence holder, to be able to provide sponsorship to overseas nationals via the Skilled Worker route we must ensure that we adhere to the sponsorship requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration. Please note that as the current salary threshold is £25,000 it is unlikely we will be able to offer sponsorship as without 2 years previous NHS Service at Band 3 you will commence at the bottom of the pay band which currently does not meet the minimum salary requirement for sponsorship for this post (bank service is excluded). For details on eligibility criteria for a Skilled Worker visa, please follow this link to the gov.uk website Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK(www.gov.uk)”

Applicant requirements

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.