Job summary
An opportunity has arisen for a Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join the North Kensington and Chelsea Community Mental Health Hub. The team is located in W9 close to Westbourne Park station, with great transport links and serving the diverse community of North Kensington. We are looking for an Occupational Therapist with motivation and enthusiasm for working in a community mental health role.
The post holder will be a valued member of the team and will offer Occupational Therapy assessments and intervention for clients as well as supporting the overall work of the team by providing a named worker role for some clients and supporting the overall work of the team.
The team consists of medical staff, nurses, social workers, peer support workers, community navigators, arts therapies, employment specialists and psychology staff. There are two other Occupational Therapists in the team and the post holder will have opportunity to co-facilitate groups as a part of the psychosocial offer for the hub.
A Band 5 to 6 development position can be considered for candidates who have less than one year working experience as a qualified Occupational Therapist.
Main duties of the job
1. To work as a Senior Occupational Therapist in the Adult Community Mental Health hub, providing a high quality service to clients.
2. To provide OT assessments and intervention for clients under the care of the team.
3. To provide functional assessments and home assessments for prescribing adapted equipment, making recommendations and for accommodation needs.
4. To provide evidence based group interventions.
5. To provide a case worker role for a designated number of clients with an occupational focus.
6. To work within the multidisciplinary team and support the overall functioning of the team.
7. To offer clinical placements to Occupational Therapy Students.
8. To provide informal support and supervision to staff as needed.
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.
About us
The team will provide you will a friendly welcome and full induction which includes shadowing opportunities and visits to services.
The team is based in Hathaway House which is a purpose built building for CNWL services. The team work in an open plan space alongside other services so there is opportunity for connecting with others .
There are excellent training and development opportunities available within CNWL in addition to local in house CPD opportunities.
CNWL is very fortunate in having a long-established professional structure and this includes a Head of Therapies, an AHP associate director, Trust wide Professional Leads for all professional groups and borough and specialist professional leadership.
Personal and professional development is a high priority for the profession this enables us to invest in the development of our staff by providing excellent internal training as well as commissioning specialised external training and providing quality supervision. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion are a priority for us in CNWL we expect staff to be culturally competent, reflective and open to culturally diverse CPD opportunities.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see attached dob description for full details and don't hesitate to get in touch to find out more about the role.
Further information about the service can be found on this link:
Kensington and Chelsea North Community Mental Health Hub :: Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (
Person Specification
Qualification
Essential
9. Qualified Occupational Therapist
10. HCPC registered
11. Practice Educator training
Desirable
12. Post qualification training in relevant mental health therapeutic skills.
Experience
Essential
13. Experience working in mental health settings as an Occupational Therapist.
14. Experience of working with service users presenting with a wide range of complex mental health conditions.
15. Experience in managing a caseload
16. Experience in assessment and interventions related to physical healthcare needs such as equipment provision.
17. Experience in using a range of standardised OT assessments
18. Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team
19. Experience of drafting group protocols and setting up / facilitating groups / group programme
20. Supervision of OT students / non-qualified staff.
21. Experience of partnership working and coproduction
22. Risk assessment and risk management experience
Desirable
23. Experience of working in community mental health as an OT
24. Personal experience of using mental health services
25. Experience of supervising qualified OTs.
Skills & Knowledge
Essential
26. Clear concept of Occupational Therapy and models of practice
27. Excellent communication skills - written and verbal.
28. Ability to work autonomously, as well as part of an MDT
29. Individual/group work skills.
30. Ability to prioritise workload and use initiative.
31. Recovery focused approach to service delivery.
32. Ability to treat service users with respect and dignity at all times, adopting a culturally informed approach
33. Knowledge of the impact of mental and physical conditions on service user's functional ability.
34. Good understanding of the application of risk assessment and risk management strategies which facilitates a patient's recovery.
35. Good awareness of the principles of safeguarding and how to implement this in practice.
Desirable
36. Research and development at graduate level.
37. Knowledge of the theory underpinning the Model of Human Occupation.
ATTITUDES, APTITUDES PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Essential
38. High level of personal motivation for this role.
39. Good organisational skills and ability to delegate effectively.
40. Flexible in approach.
41. Good self-awareness and an ability to use initiative.
42. Ability to manage conflict constructively
43. A willingness to develop knowledge and skills
44. Positive role model for junior staff.
Other
Desirable
45. Membership of RCOT and Specialist Sections