Job summary

We are currently looking for a Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join the team in West Kent CMHT - based at Highlands House in Tunbridge Wells and Albion Place based in Maidstone. This is an exciting time as we look to expand the Occupational Therapy provision across the area with both virtual and in person interventions.

We are restructuring the service to put a new emphasis on delivering interventions, of which Occupational Therapy is identified as key to service provision. We have an established team of OTs that we are looking to expand as we provide more group and individual interventions to our service users.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for an occupational therapist with a core mental health occupational therapy background with demonstrable skills and interest in working with service users who have complex mental health needs. You must have experience of working with mental health service users as a qualified practitioner. We are looking for a practitioner with good communication and liaison skills who is forward thinking and enthusiastic regarding innovative ways of working.

You will be part of a group of occupational therapists within the larger team and will be supported by a band 7 clinical lead occupational therapist and operational team managers. You will also have the opportunity to provide supervision and support to junior OT staff as well as support workers.

About us

Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.

We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people across the county.

The Trust (rated Good overall by the CQC and Outstanding for care) has 3,283 staff working in 66 buildings across 33 locations, covering an area of 1,450 square miles.

You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.

The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Occupational Therapy Leadership, supported by the wider occupational therapy staffing, have been instrumental in developing clinical care pathway occupational therapy specific interventions. The post holder will be using their core occupational therapy skills to deliver Occupational Therapy interventions and with this manage a caseload of those requiring Occupational Therapy and support from secondary mental health services. The post holder will work closely with other Occupational Therapy Colleagues as well as the rest of the MDT to deliver comprehensive mental health support to those requiring input from the Community Mental Health Team.

Our clinical care pathways focus on initial interventions for people newly referred to services, interventions for people with personality disorders and interventions for people with enduring conditions. This is supported by our Allied Health Professions Strategy focused on enabling independence, transforming transitions and influencing health and wellbeing in order to help individuals rebuild their lives. The care pathways will be delivered by various professionals, and it has been recognised that occupational therapists play a key part in this process. Interventions delivered include a range of occupational therapy groups and individual occupational therapy assessment and treatment. We are currently delivering groups virtually, but are looking forward, over the coming months to delivering both virtual and face to face group interventions. We have developed groups to support those develop skills and techniques in managing their emotions, others facilitating the development of life skills and to improve ADLs as well as supporting people to look past their diagnosis and reflect on their recovery journey and set goals to work towards their future aspirations. In addition to this there has been a focus on occupational therapists joint working with support workers to facilitate transitions to primary care. As well as delivering one to one OT interventions there are opportunities to develop a range of skills and deliver focussed interventions to individuals with personality disorder with support from colleagues in psychology.

There will be opportunity to develop skills in leadership and there will be an expectation that the post holder will be involved in the development and supervision of junior staff.

A commitment to continued professional development is essential. We offer ongoing clinical and professional supervision and access to relevant courses to support you in developing your career.

Please see job description for further details.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• HCPC Registered
• Degree in Occupational Therapy

Desirable

• Trained as a Practice Educator

Experience

Essential

• Experience completing OT assessment and group work skills
• Experience working in the community
• Experience of managing a caseload
• Minimum of 3 year post graduate experience in a related field

Desirable

• Experience of delivering clinical supervision

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Team working and with other professionals
• Developing other staff including preceptees
• Knowledge of and ability to apply national policies and procedures including but not limited to confidentiality, consent, risk management, service user involvement.
• Knowledge in the application of relevant OT theoretical models, and approaches relevant to service user group.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

380-WK023