Occupational Therapist

Go back South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust

Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 23 October 2025

We are currently recruiting for an Occupational Therapist within North East Merton IRH team. Our satisfying and rewarding roles, sit within the Community Service Line, which includes all community based mental health teams, such as our Integrated Recovery Hubs and Early Intervention services.

We are using the Model of Human Occupation to provide standardised assessments. We have a manualised evidence based treatment called GLOW (Graduated Living Outside of the Ward), to provide an individualised intervention and have developed an 8-week group intervention based on Recovery Through Activity, to promote recovery goals, with the focus of stepping down from services and reconnecting our clients with community resources. We are committed to ensuring that all our community OTs receive basic training in Sensory Profiling, so that we can support clients with additional sensory needs.

Main duties of the job

The post involves working closely with our colleagues in the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT), in particular working with Recovery Support Workers and Employment Specialists, with whom we have a close professional relationship, invested in supporting clients with their occupational goals. We are committed to offering an excellent service and actively promote Occupational Therapy within the teams.

The OT will also promote working with our partners in the Involvement Team, to encourage service users and carers to feel supported and involved in the development with our services, as well as developing relationships with wider and external community organisations, such as social prescribers and peer support workers. The successful candidate will be offered professional supervision from their Lead Occupational Therapist to focus on their development, and line management supervision from their team manager. If an experienced Band 5 feels ready for a development opportunity to progress to a Band 6, please do apply.

Career Progression pathways and development opportunities

New OTs will be welcomed into our friendly and supportive Occupational Therapy service. There are many opportunities to develop your career within the Trust. We have an Occupational Therapy Framework, focusing on four main areas: career development, evidence-based practice, partnership working and putting occupation at the heart of our practice and an AHP Framework in the Trust.

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 of benefits 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.

Job responsibilities

To provide Occupational Therapy five days a week with a maximum of two days duty cover in the team every month.

To manage an OT caseload of clients with complex needs, using evidence based / client centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.

To take responsibility for completing standardised assessments using The Model of Human Occupation and other frameworks as agreed by the Therapy Leads.

To offer manualised interventions, both group and individual for example, GLOW (Graduated Living Outside of the Ward) and IPEL (Increasing Participation in Everyday Life)

To offer Sensory Profiling to clients with sensory challenges.

To participate in the planning, development and evaluation of OT services within the Community Team, holding responsibility for defined projects.

To engage with the OT referrals process, identifying and prioritising the need for OT specific interventions.

To provide leadership to junior staff through supervision and appraisal.

To regularly supervise OT students on practice placement (expected standard is two students per year).

To provide professional leadership to the Recovery Support Workers and engage in co-working pathways.

To promote recovery and social inclusion.

To work alongside the Involvement Team to actively promote service-user engagement and co-production.

To work collaboratively with the Employment Specialist in the team, to enhance a positive vocational outcome for clients.

To contribute to the maintenance and development of the Trust OT Service

To contribute to streamline working from admission to discharge in keeping with the principles in the Adult Services Recovery Care pathway.

To advocate for and promote the contribution of occupational therapy as a valuable resource with helping people to manage the impact of their symptoms on their ability to cope with daily occupations.

To act as the designated Disability Champion leading the multi-disciplinary team in Disability Equality matters within the service and other areas as required.

Person Specification

Education, Training & Qualifications

- 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

- Practice placement educators course within one year of appointment

- Apple registration

Experience

- 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

- Experience of working in a range of mental health settings

- Experience of supervising junior staff

Knowledge and Skills - Communication

- 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

- Ability to work autonomously and set own priorities

- Ability to role model positive professional behaviour

- Ability to deliver presentations

Knowledge and Skills - Health, Safety & Security

- 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

- Ability to adapt own practice & style of working

- Ability to express constructive views & ideas in relation to improving service effectiveness

- Audit skills

Knowledge and Skills - Quality

- 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 and understanding of the importance of collaborative working in the delivery of good quality services

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust

£44,485 to £52,521 a yearper annum inclusive of outer London HCAS

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