Senior Occupational Therapist

Job overview

We are looking for an innovative and enthusiastic Occupational Therapist to work in the Psychological Skills Service. There will be an expectation to work across county depending on service/client need – your base will be determined upon successful recruitment.

In the Psychological Skills service, occupational therapists understand how developmental trauma impacts on brain development leading to difficulties in sensory modulation, praxis, and cognitive development.  These difficulties contribute to later mental health and a person’s ability to engage in meaningful occupations including psychological therapy.

In PSS, the primary role of OT is to work with individuals to understand what is getting in the way of them doing the things they need and want to do, to be able re-establish quality of life. OT also supports the person to access and use other therapies that may be indicated by PSS colleagues.

Main duties of the job

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

*DVLA have a number of reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website

• PSS OTs are additionally trained in Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI), which means they can assess for, and help people identify, learn and develop skills in relation to their own sensory processing patterns – including modulation and praxis* challenges and how these link to self-regulation.
• This will help individuals to understand how these can influence participation in daily activities and contribute to their overall health and wellbeing.  We then think about how we help individuals manage these or learn skills so that they can participate in daily occupations (activities) and reach their goals.  These skills and strategies may be taught by a support worker in our service, with regular supervision from the OT.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

1. The post holder will provide specialist occupational therapy assessments and interventions underpinned by the Model of Human Occupation and the principles of recovery and enablement/reablement.

2. The post holder will provide specialist assessment and interventions based on Ayres Sensory integration (ASI) Develop individualized treatment plans based on assessment findings and client goals.

3. The post holder will use specialist skills and specialist clinical reasoning to manage a caseload with complex needs, working with a high degree of autonomy and referring to senior staff when necessary.

4. The post holder will provide individual and group interventions based on theories related to Ayres sensory Integration.

5. The occupational therapist will contribute to the delivery of specialist occupational focused interventions i.e. sensory.

6. The post holder will plan and implement specialist individual and/or group interventions collaboratively, to enable service users to achieve valued goals and satisfactory occupational performance outcomes.

7. The post holder will promote social inclusion and physical and mental well-being using evidence-based practice.

8. To promote the added value of occupational therapy and act as an ambassador for the profession within the team.

9. The post holder will provide supervision to junior staff (Support Workers).

10. The post holder may be expected to provide guidance and/or leadership to qualified and unqualified staff from other disciplines.