Occupational Therapist

This is an exciting and unique opportunity to join the newly developed Forensic Intellectual and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (FIND) Community Team in South West London & St George's Mental Health Trust. The forensic service sits within the Specialist Service Line of the Trust and is a provider within the South London Mental Health and Community Partnership (SLP) Forensic Provider Collaborative (PC).

The SLP Forensic PC's overarching goals centre on bringing care closer to home, improving patient pathways and outcomes by delivering excellent care in better environments. The SLP has a track record of delivering highly effective, clinically informed service developments across the Pathways within the Forensic PC. The post holder will be joining a skilled, motivated and innovative multidisciplinary team committed to continual learning and development and will be offered excellent CPD opportunities.

The role will sit within the FIND multi-disciplinary team, with the occupational therapist contributing to assessment formulation and the provision of occupational based interventions to the team's caseload. The Occupational therapist will also benefit from the broader supportive framework of a large forensic occupational therapy team currently serving both the forensic inpatient service and forensic outreach service. The team have regular opportunities for continued professional development and career development.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will provide Occupational therapy input to the Forensic Intellectual and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (FIND) Community Team in South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust. The FIND Community Team works with adults with a diagnosis of a Learning Disability and/or Autism who also experience co-morbid mental illness alongside offending behaviours which have brought them into contact with forensic services.

The postholder will develop and facilitate community-based groups and individual interventions based on occupational needs. They will contribute to identifying appropriate opportunities to support community integration and participation for this service user group. The occupational therapist will be skilled in adapting interventions to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities. Interventions with service users will occur in community settings, hostels, at the hospital and in the service user's homes. This includes focusing on social inclusion work surrounding self-care, productivity (getting into employment or college) and leisure (participating in interests or group activities).

The team will support in facilitating discharge planning of South West London patients from the Oak Unit and from Independent Sector secure services by enabling direct transfer to the FIND community caseload.

About us

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety ofbenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.

About our location:

Springfield University Hospital, Tooting

Job description

Job responsibilities

To provide treatment in an environment where security and safety procedures must be strictly adhered to and ensure that these are taken into consideration when planning interventions.

To promote equality of outcome for patients that reflect their mental health needs and those of ethnicity, gender, culture, physical health and age.

To promote social inclusion and physical and mental well-being using evidence based practice. This is underpinned by the principles of hope and recovery, health promotion and relapse prevention.

To independently manage and support a clinical caseload of patients with complex mental health needs through the forensic care pathway.

To identify occupational therapy goals as part of the overall care plan, using specialist mental health and occupational therapy assessments, including MOHO tools.

To exercise clinical professional judgement in complex clinical cases and difficult clinical situations, referring to senior staff when necessary.

To consider both physical and mental health needs as part of the occupational therapy assessment.

To plan and implement specialist individual and/or group interventions collaboratively, to enable patients to achieve valued goals and satisfactory occupational performance outcome.

To identify any significant risk factors in line with local policies, with support from senior staff

To contribute to and work within clinical pathways and protocols

Person Specification

Education, Training & Qualifications

Essential

• Diploma or degree in Occupational Therapy
• Registration to practice in the UK
• Evidence of post registration training relevant to mental health practice
• Training in the theory and application of the model of human occupation within the first 4 months of appointment

Desirable

• Practice placement educators course within one year of appointment
• Apple registration

Experience

Essential

• Experience of carrying a caseload in a mental health setting
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience of maintaining a written record of continual professional development
• Experience of individual and groupwork
• Experience of writing specialist occupational therapy reports
• Experience of participating in a service development project

Desirable

• Experience of working in a range of mental health settings
• Experience of supervising junior staff
• Successful completion of preceptorship
• Experience of being a practice placement educator
• Experience of using mental health services as a service user, or carer, relative, friend of a service user.

Knowledge and Skills - Communication

Essential

• Developed interpersonal skills enabling therapeutic alliances to be developed & maintained with service users who have multiple & complex needs
• Basic word processing and IT skills
• Proficient standard of written communication skills
• Ability to promote & maintain the profile of OT within an MDT & the wider organisation

Knowledge and Skills - Personal and People Development

Essential

• Ability to work autonomously and set own priorities
• Ability to reflect upon and critically appraise own performance
• Ability to role model positive professional behaviour

Desirable

• Ability to deliver presentations

Knowledge and Skills - Health, Safety & Security

Essential

• Ability to work in a way that minimises risks to health, safety & security of self, service user & members of the public
• Ability to monitor work areas & practices to maintain a healthy, safe and secure working environment.

Knowledge and Skills - Service Improvement

Essential

• Ability to adapt own practice & style of working
• Ability to express constructive views & ideas in relation to improving service effectiveness

Desirable

• Audit skills

Knowledge and Skills - Quality

Essential

• Applied knowledge of confidentiality & consent issues
• 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 analyse professional and ethical issues
• Ability to work effectively within a team and understanding of the importance of collaborative working in the delivery of good quality services

Knowledge and Skills - Equality and Diversity

Essential

• Ability to apply equal opportunities & anti-discriminatory interventions that respect the service users' customs, values & spiritual beliefs
• Ability to recognise & report behaviour that undermines equality & diversity
• Ability to promote a culture of recovery & social inclusion

Employer details

Employer name

South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust

Address

Springfield University Hospital

15 Springfield Drive

London

SW17 0YF

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

294-FASP-6760217-JB