Occupational Therapy Technical Instructor

at  Norfolk Suffolk Foundation Trust

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people’s and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.
At any one time, around 23,000 people in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving care and attention from the Trust. We believe in whole life care - seeing people in the context of their whole lives, understanding the importance of good physical health, friends, family, spirituality, culture, home, work, education and a sense of purpose and achievement to experience good mental health.
Nearly 3,800 full and part-time practitioners care for our service users in hospitals, in the community and in their own homes, whilst an additional 1,400+ staff provide non-clinical support, including cleaning, catering, delivering supplies, ward administration, information technology, human resources and financial services.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.
We are committed to delivering quality driven mental health services. Every individual makes a valuable contribution. We are proud of our staff who have been commended for the care they provide. Do you value working positively, respectfully and together? If so, we’d love you to join us!
We will consider flexible working arrangements for our roles, please indicate in your application if this is something you require

JOB DESCRIPTION/PERSON SPECIFICATION

Please read the job description/person specification carefully and ensure your application reflects the knowledge, skills and experience needed.

JOB OVERVIEW

Are you an ace at activities, excellent at promoting engagement and superb at supporting people with mental health needs? If so, we want you at The Dragonfly Unit!
This is an exciting opportunity for a Occupational Therapy Technical Instructor to join the ‘family’ at The Dragonfly Unit in supporting young people through their mental health journey.
This is a role which service users consistently identify as having a positive impact upon their recovery and their experiences in mental health inpatient services
The 12-bedded Dragonfly Unit is based in Carlton Colville, Lowestoft and is for age 13-17 year old young people requiring admission whilst receiving inpatient mental health treatment.
As a unit we pride ourselves on working together to deliver high quality care and to support each other through any challenging times.
We recognise that working with the same methods doesn’t work forever; and we will continue to challenge the way we do things to create the best services we can, centred on the people who use them.
We are focused on Quality Improvement led care delivery and are looking for energetic people who want to make a difference and be part of dynamic teams who like to think outside of the box.

APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service

MAIN DUTIES OF THE JOB

Under the in-direct supervision and guidance of a registered Occupational Therapist, the post holder will:

• work with the teams across The Dragonfly Unit to support service users in undertaking physical activity using our gym and other areas to facilitate activities.
• Facilitate time away from the unit with identified individuals in order to access community resources and engage with nature.
• Use specialised technical/creative skills to plan and provide a flexible, patient-centred programme of therapeutic activities for individuals/groups of patients who experience mental health problems and feedback to the appropriate clinical ward-based teams.
• Ensure the health, safety and welfare of patients, colleagues and visitors.
• Provide practical supervision to students, if deemed appropriate.
• Observe and assess general behaviour, functional ability and response of patients during therapeutic activities.
• Report patient observation and assessment to the appropriate clinical ward-based team.
• Attend patient clinical meetings, as deemed appropriate by the Clinical Team Leader.
• Attend ward-based staff meetings and therapeutic programme meetings
• Maintain confidentiality at all times and observe the regulations concerning the security aspects of the Service.

DETAILED JOB DESCRIPTION AND MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Occupational performance and participation will be central to your practice, and you will be encouraged to develop skills which support service users to achieve and maintain meaningful roles.

We are looking for someone who:

• Evidences a sound level of understanding of the effects of mental illness, alongside an empathetic approach to meet the individual needs of the patient.
• Has a willingness to facilitate groups
• Evidences a dynamic, creative and positive approach
• Exhibits communication skills that shine through and are essential for this post.
• Is trustworthy, self-motivated and organised with time
• Applicants must possess attitudes and values that reflect the excellent standards or care we expect within NSFT.

We have a range of facilities available to use, including an activity room, kitchen and access to a ward car for community trips. Driving is not essential but would benefit the role.
Your working hours will be discussed at interview. Due to the nature of the role the successful candidate would need to be available for a range of shifts that include evenings and weekends.

Some of the benefits you can expect:

• NHS pension
• a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
• career progression
• starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
• staff physio service
• NHS discounts and many more.

Interview dates are yet to be set; you will be contacted via email and invited to book a time. These emails may go to your SPAM, so please keep checking all your emails if applying.