Occupational Therapist Band 5

at  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

This is an exciting opportunity for a Band 5 to join our dynamic team and take the role of CAMHS Inpatient Occupational Therapist.
Lavender Walk is a busy and friendly service which welcomes new skills and new ideas. It is part of Central & North West London (CNWL) Foundation Mental Health Trust and is situated in Kensington & Chelsea (South Kensington and Chelsea Mental Health Centre, 1 Nightingale Place, London, SW10 9NG) with close transport links and local amenities.
We are a 12 bed General Adolescent Unit (GAU) that cares for young people between the ages of 13-18 years old, with complex mental health needs and emotional difficulties. We serve young people from Brent, Harrow, Hillingdon, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham and Hounslow.
The team is made up of two Consultant Psychiatrists (one of which is the Clinical Lead), Consultant Clinical Psychologist (Therapies Lead), Matron (Clinical Unit Manager), Ward Manager, Qualified Nurses, Nurse Associates, Health Care Assistants, Speciality Doctors, Junior Doctors, Lead Occupational Therapist, Art Therapist, Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner, Speech and Language Therapist, Clinical Psychologists, Systemic Family Psychotherapists, Social Worker, Activity Coordinator, Fitness Instructor and Teaching staff.
To find out more about working in CAMHS please CLICK HERE for video
We are looking for a motivated individual who is enthusiastic, forward thinking, and adaptable to work within our well established and welcoming multi-disciplinary team. In your role you will provide individual Occupational Therapy interventions and group work, using assessment tools and recovery principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate treatment. You will work closely with the Lead Occupational Therapist to facilitate and help innovate the unit’s therapeutic and activity programme. You will also have opportunities to provide supervision of fieldwork placements to Occupational Therapy students. There are established links and network meetings with other Occupational Therapists within the CAMHS & ED Service Line and CNWL, with opportunities for continued professional development.
We recognise that the step between student and professional needs support so we have invested fully in our Band 5’s development through robust supervision, a preceptorship programme and internal training. Success at preceptorship enables further training to become an educator for OT students. Career development opportunities are available and many of our Band 5s chose to stay with us in senior posts.
As a Trust CNWL is one of the largest employers of occupational therapists in the country. We are very fortunate in having a long-established professional structure and this includes an Allied Health Professional director, Trust wide Professional Head of OT, borough and specialist Head OTs.
Personal and professional development is a high priority for the profession and is underpinned by our OT R&D strategy and OT clinical networks. 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. This ensures all our OTs reach their full potential at every stage of their career. Our commitment to research, audit and evidenced based practice is made possible by our strong links with local universities.
Our base is in the Chelsea area, next to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Thanks to the heavy NHS influence many local cafes, restaurants and bars give discounts at 10-20% to all NHS staff. As well as Better Gym offering a 50% discount to all staff.
Job Summary
To contribute to the provision of an occupational therapy service; this will include individual and group work, assessment, intervention and evaluation in accordance with the College of Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics.
To integrate evidence based practice and skilful use of assessments & interventions in order to improve young people’s ability to do the things they need and want to do.
To facilitate a therapeutic programme of social, creative and skills based activities to both individuals and groups which promotes social inclusion and improved engagement across the areas of self-care, productivity and leisure.
To utilise a range of assessment methods to contribute to establishing a multi-disciplinary formulation and understanding of a young person’s difficulties and needs.
To contribute to service development of Local & Trust wide OT services.
Where applicable to undertake the Preceptorship process as outlined by COT guidelines and CNWL Trust policy.
To act as fieldwork educator to students on practice placement.
Clinical
To provide specialist, culturally appropriate, evidence based occupational therapy assessments for young people in an inpatient setting in order to establish and meet their occupational needs
To select and use validated standardised assessment tools routinely and in practice, exhibiting clinical reasoning skills; to include the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO) assessments.
To apply clinical knowledge and skills to carry out evidence based occupational therapy interventions, both individual and in groups, which are underpinned by relevant theoretical approaches and in line with the Trust’s Research and Development Strategy.
To deliver therapeutic input in a variety of environments, including the facilitation of community access, when appropriate.
To plan, implement and review individually tailored programmes of intervention using individual and group work approaches.
To monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions against clear aims, objectives and outcome measures in line with evidence based practice and in conjunction with young people, carers and other professionals.
To apply a level of understanding of the effects of mental illness in adolescence and provide training and advice on lifestyle changes and adaptations to the young person’s social and physical environment.
To determine the impact of mental and physical conditions on a young person’s functional ability and, where relevant, undertake assessment/make recommendations.
To be aware of medication issues in line with the CNWL OT Medication Management guidelines.
To proactively undertake and ensure rigorous risk assessment & risk management strategies are applied. To ensure maximum ‘risk tolerance’ facilitates the individual’s recovery, in line with risk policies and local guidelines.
To work in partnership with other agencies and offer supervision and guidance to external agencies as required.
For Practitioners to be aware of and sensitive to the safeguarding needs of children and adults in their work, and knowledgeable both about potential indicators of abuse or neglect and about what to do if they had concerns about a child’s or adult’s welfare.
To provide OT consultation to other professionals within the team.
To offer regular monitoring of mental state.
To facilitate effective links with community resources in order that a socially inclusive focus towards treatment and discharge planning is maintained.
To facilitate smooth transitions between the ward and community settings for young people being discharged from the ward.
Please see attached ‘Job Description’ Document for further informatio

Please refer the Job description for details