Horsham AOT is a lively and friendly community mental health team supporting people living with severe and enduring mental health problems.

You will hold a small caseload for people who are cared for within a recovery focused model of care designed to enable and encourage service users to develop positive coping strategies to maximise their independence and potential.

As AOT service users are complex and tend to stay with the team for longer there is scope to do some longer-term work. Given the time and autonomy that this role allows this could be a very enjoyable role for the right candidate. Please note there are not any duty responsibilities attached to this post.

Main duties of the job

You will work in partnership with a diverse team of clinicians and support staff including psychologists, mental health nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, support workers and our third sector partners. You will need to have the enthusiasm for, and experience of, working with service users with complex needs & who experience difficulty in engaging with mainstream services.

Your role would be to provide professional OT clinical input and promote OT within the service. This would include offering guidance, supporting the duty and allocation systems and providing and developing the range of interventions offered to the people who use our services and their carers.

You would be able to use and develop your professional and clinical skills to provide specialist occupational interventions. There are opportunities to support Recovery College sessions, work closely with Southdown Vocational Specialists and support the development of OT students.

About us

Staff wellbeing and retention is of central importance in the trust as a whole and we are keen to support our staff to develop in their roles. Horsham AOT have a regular team awaydays and reflective practice. We value the work that our staff do.

We promote compassionate leadership, provide you with regular clinical and line management supervision, CPD forums and access to a wide range of training opportunities including:

• A programme of AHP specific training
• Quarterly Occupational Therapy CPD Hubs
• Communities of Practice (AMPS and Sensory Strategies)
• The opportunity to participate in a range Quality Improvement work and service innovations
• Varied leadership development opportunities
• Look at our AHP strategy and view our film at https://www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/AHP

Job description

Job responsibilities

To plan and provide a range of occupational assessments and treatments that will promote recovery and wellbeing for the people that the post holder works with. To support the promotion of Occupational Therapy within the clinical area.

To provide occupational therapy interventions for referred clients using evidence based, client centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.

To promote and develop the role of Occupational Therapy within the clinical area.

To act as a care coordinator if appropriate.

Person Specification

Essential

Essential

• Degree/Diploma in occupational therapy
• Registration with the HPC as an occupational therapist
• Evidence of successful completion of a COT standard preceptorship programme
• Experience of working with people with mental health difficulties
• Experience working as part of a team
• Experience running groups/activities
• Experience of being supervised
• Establish and maintain both verbal and written communication with people on routine and operational matters
• Provide and receive confidential client information of a sensitive and often complex nature.
• Able to communicate in a sensitive and reassuring manner
• Able to report to the OT supervisor and wider team in meetings and reviews, on progress with clients personally working with
• Liaise with other teams and services including external agencies to promote occupational activities for individuals in their communities
• To undertake assessment tasks related to individuals health and wellbeing including functional observation assessments
• Collect, collate and report routine data and information
• Able to delegate work to others in clinical team
• Ability to use IT systems including word, internet and e-mail
• To plan and deliver straightforward OT interventions and assessments to meet people's health and wellbeing needs
• Ability to prioritise workload with support
• Able to support individuals in their personal occupational needs which can include supporting them in their creative and physical activities within the service or in community settings
• Ability to be able to concentrate on complex client assessment and intervention
• Ability to deal with conflicting demands
• Ability to deal with a range of clients presenting with mental health difficulties, their supporters and the clinical team on a daily basis
• Ability to be able to concentrate on specific activities for up to an hour at a time
• Ability to be able to deal with conflicting demands in an unpredictable work pattern
• Ability to work flexibly and adapt to each person as appropriate to their needs in a variety of settings
• Ability to deal directly with distressing or emotional circumstances when they arise
• Ability to deal with distressing or emotional circumstances due to complex nature of work with service users
• Ability to report untoward incidents
• Ability to work in a variety of settings dependent on client need including the community and clients home which may include occasional unpleasant working conditions
• Demonstrate support for the values and beliefs of the Care Group and those of the Trust
• Demonstrate an understanding of the practices of Human Rights in the delivery of this role
• Team working
• Ability to travel across sites
• Punctual and flexible across hours of work when required

Desirable

• Practice education training
• Experience of training others in technical/leisure/creative skills
• Lived experience of mental health issues
• Experience of supervising or delegating work to others
• Member of the British Association of Occupational Therapists
• Additional technical skills able to use with individuals e.g. gardening, cooking, art or sport

Employer details

Employer name

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Horsham

Horsham

RH12 1RJ

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

354-AN-20555-A