Technical Instructor

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a Technical Instructor to join our forensic inpatient services.  We are currently a service undergoing significant growth and expansion having developed a new leadership structure to ensure a strong culture of staff support and development.

The Shaftesbury clinic is a small forensic inpatient unit that holds 52 beds across 4 wards including a male MSU, a male LSU, a women’s MSU and the newly developed ward for those with intellectual disabilities and autism.  We have a sizeable OT team of 17 staff, allowing a broad service offering to our patient group.  We are fortunate to have an LD and sensory lead working across our wards, to uplift the skills and understanding within the team of sensory assessments and approaches.  We are currently exploring how we embed sensory approaches into our OT pathways.  We have activity workers aligned to each ward who run ward based activity programmes as well as cross ward activities. Our patient’s mental health is supported though our small team of clinical exercise therapists contributing to our physical health and exercise offering.

Main duties of the job

We have two technical instructors within the team who support patients in developing skills that support their rehabilitation, and transition back into the community.  This postholder will have opportunity to engage in both individual and group work with patients from across the service.  Due to patients having an average of two years stay there is opportunity to develop longer term therapeutic relationships and to work alongside the OT team to support patient in developing their interests and exploring what will make their daily lives more meaningful.

Our service currently offers a vocational project, a recovery college, a recovery through activity group, a gardening project, music sessions, healthy eating and physical exercise initiatives, alongside individual work.  We are however expanding our programme in line with best available evidence, with particular focus on developing pathways into the community and increased coproduction.  We are developing links with our OT team in the forensic outreach service and FIND (intellectual disabilities) community team looking at opportunities for partnership working.

This post holds significant opportunity for development and innovation, while being held in the structure of a large and supportive team.  The team places high value on continued professional development with regular CPD and training opportunities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To work effectively as a member of a team in providing a programme of ward, department and community-based creative, vocational, educational and re-motivational activities.
• To monitor service users’ progress, taking into account their environment, with the ability to adjust their own clinical interventions accordingly.
• To implement and evaluate OT and team interventions that support service users to achieve their agreed goals.
• According to service needs, to be responsible for a designated case load, under OT supervision.
• To work with service-users both on a 1:1 basis, and as a co-facilitator to deliver groupwork, planned with a registered OT.
• To maintain a flexible working approach, and to undertake appropriate delegated tasks as required to contribute to the safe and smooth running of the service.
• To form professional relationships with service-users and communicate with them in a way that respects their views, autonomy and culture.
• To instruct and guide individuals/groups of service users in the use of therapeutic activities.
• To report effectively to the team on service-user performance/progress in areas of self-care, productivity and leisure.
• To provide relevant information, written and oral, for documents relating to service user progress.
• To establish working relationships with outside agencies in order to facilitate service user engagement in community-based vocational, educational and creative activities.
• To correspond with external agencies on clinical matters.