Are you an occupational therapist with a keen interest in mental health and desire to develop your skills in supporting people who are admitted to hospital? Do you enjoy the buzz of working in a new environment and want to be part of a newly formed and enthusiastic team? If so, We want to hear from you.

We are offering a rare opportunity of a Band 5 to 6 development role and are looking for candidates who want to apply themselves to a great learning opportunity. In this role you will have a range of professional development opportunities depending on your needs and interests - we are keen for people to develop in their area of interest to motivate and enrich our staff team. There is also the support of a broad and experienced senior MDT. Once in the Band 6 post, numerous further training opportunities will be offered such a Sensory Integration (SI) training.

Occupational Therapists hold a key role within the ward MDT in our existing acute wards, and in this new ward where we will be working closely with HOPES project and trialling a different approach with a strong focus on Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) and Sensory interventions, the OT role will be ever more central.

Main duties of the job

This post receives supervision from the Acute Lead OT (Band 7) and in addition there is a great support network working alongside four other OTs, allowing opportunities for Journal club, reflective practice, case formulation using Trauma Informed Approaches, skill sharing and several other projects. The wider team also includes Occupational Therapist Apprentices, Activity Coordinators, Senior Peer Support Worker, Fitness Instructor and sessional workers.

The candidate will:

Be motivated, energetic & a flexible team player with excellent communication skills

Be able to use initiative & have some responsibilities towards the management of daily ward programmes.

Demonstrate an interest & participation in evidence -based practice and professional development and working with recovery principles.

Be familiar with the MOHO and other evidence- based assessment tools in order to establish a baseline functional assessment from which recommendations can determine further on-going care and treatment to enable optimum functioning.

We have a strong commitment to collaborative working and you will be part of a supportive, friendly multi-disciplinary team as well as the Tamarind therapy team. The successful applicant will be self-motivated, able to work to a high standard both autonomously and as part of a team.

About us

The new ward (Preston) is initially being opened at Kingswood Centre and will later transfer to Park Royal Centre for Mental Health to join the three other acute wards and PICU that we currently have.

We have a strong commitment to collaborative working and you will be part of a supportive, friendly multi-disciplinary team as well as the Tamarind therapy team. The successful applicant will be self-motivated, able to work to a high standard both autonomously and as part of a team.

Come and join us and have a career for life and be one of the friendly and supportive 300 Occupational Therapists (OTs) in CNWL. We work in many varied teams in specialist areas and both physical and mental health promoting maintaining dual skills.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Occupational Therapy (OT) in CNWL is fortunate in having a long-established professional structure including an Allied Health Professional director, Trust wide Professional Head of OT, Borough and specialist Head OTs. This ensures representation of our profession at all levels, strategically and operationally.

Personal and professional development is a high priority for the profession and is underpinned by our OT Research & Development (R& D) strategy, R& D specialist groups and OT clinical networks. This enables us to invest in the development of staff by providing excellent internal training, commissioning specialised external training and providing quality supervision. This ensures all our OTs reach their full potential at every stage of their career. Our commitment to research, audit and Evidence Based Practice is made possible by our strong links with local universities.We actively support the next generation of OTs through apprenticeships, student placements and the promotion of the profession as a career in schools. We are proud of the diversity in our workforce and have invested time in supporting and developing this further through our BAME Occupational Therapy group.

To provide the multidisciplinary team (MDT) on the Treatment ward with an Occupational Therapy (OT) service and expertise this will include individual and group work, assessment, intervention and evaluation in accordance with the College of Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree (or Diploma) in Occupational Therapy Degree (or Diploma) in Occupational Therapy * The OT qualification was converted from a Diploma course to a Degree course in recent years & therefore both Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy is accepted as the required level of qualification, for all bands of qualified Occupational Therapists
• Registration to practice in the UK * In order to remain state registered with the Health Care Professions Council, it is a requirement for all qualified OT staff to undertake post qualification CPD activities which will act as compliance in evidencing fitness to practice.
• Training in the theory and application of the Model of Human Occupation

Desirable

• Practice Placement Educators Course/Development activities
• Training in motivational interview techniques

Experience

Essential

• Experience of post graduate working in a range of mental health settings
• Experience of leading, managing and running evidence based group activities for service users with complex and diverse needs in a mental health setting
• Experience of undertaking specialist OT assessments and writing specialist occupational therapy reports
• Experience of working within a multi-agency environment.

Desirable

• Experience of supervising junior staff
• Experience of maintaining a written record of continual professional development
• Experience of involvement in service change/development

Knowledge and Skills: Communication

Essential

• Highly developed interpersonal skills enabling therapeutic alliances to be developed & maintained with service users who have multiple & complex needsHighly developed interpersonal skills enabling therapeutic alliances to be developed & maintained with service users who have multiple & complex needs
• Proficient standard of written communication skills - able to communicate effectively in both written and spoken English
• Ability to promote & maintain the profile of OT within an MDT & the wider organisation

Knowledge and Skills: Personal and People Development

Essential

• Ability to reflect upon and critically appraise own performance
• Ability to role model positive professional behaviour

Health, Safety and Security

Essential

• Ability to identify and assess potential risks involved in work activities for self and others
• Ability to monitor work areas & practices to maintain a healthy, safe and secure working environment.

Knowledge and Skills: Quality

Essential

• Applied knowledge of current national legislation, policies & guidelines relevant to clinical area
• Good personal management skills in order to manage a clinical caseload & varied workload
• Ability to work effectively within a team, understanding the importance of collaborative working in the delivery of good quality services

Equality and Diversity

Essential

• Ability to apply equal opportunities & anti-discriminatory interventions that respect the service users' customs, values & spiritual beliefs

Health and Wellbeing

Essential

• Skills in promoting recovery, social inclusion, health promotion & relapse prevention

General

Essential

• Ability to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions in the context of best available evidence
• Ability to deal with conflict and resolve difficulties with staff on and individual/team basis, seeking guidance from professional and clinical leads when needed

Other

Desirable

• Member of the British Association of Occupational Therapy
• Member of relevant specialist section

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Preston Ward

Kingswood Centre

Kingsbury

NW9 9QY

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

333-J-BR-0674