Mental Health Occupational Therapist

Clinical Responsibilities: Proactive Mental Health Rehabilitation

Core Occupational Therapy Service

Additional Responsibilities

Please refer to attached Job Description for full details of duties and responsibilities.

This is a new and exciting opportunity for an experienced Occupational

Therapist to join our well-established Occupational Therapy team in a newly

developed Mental Health focused Occupational Therapy role. This role offers a

new opportunity to help shape an innovative model of mental health occupational

therapy within Primary Care.

In addition to our established primary care OT roles, this new post has a

dedicated focus on proactive mental health rehabilitation and supporting

patients with complex mental health needs who are at risk of becoming high

users of primary care services.

A significant proportion of the role

will focus on identifying patients with an at-risk mental state early,

providing timely rehabilitation, improving self-management, reducing dependency

on primary care appointments and preventing deterioration that may otherwise

lead to crisis presentations, secondary care referrals or hospital admission.

Working alongside our well-established Occupational Therapy team, General

Practitioners and the wider multidisciplinary team, the successful candidate

will provide goal-focused interventions for patients experiencing significant

functional decline because of mental illness and/or underlying neurodiversity.

The postholder will play a key role in developing proactive care pathways

across the PCN and maintaining strong partnerships with community mental health

services, university wellbeing services and third sector organisations. The

role will involve working collaboratively with the existing OT Team, Lead OT, Clinical

Directors and Primary Care Managers.

The

new full-time occupational therapist will also be working with the existing OT

team, providing interventions as part of the existing core OT service.

The

existing service is predominantly practice based, providing timely access to patients.

The new occupational therapist will have a template of appointments, both

face-to-face and telephone across both practices. Alongside the rest of the OT team, they will

support the Lead Occupational Therapist in managing referrals, providing

training and attending meetings such as our monthly Mental Health MDT. The

candidate will also have access to CPD opportunities, funded training, and join

a friendly and supportive team of experienced Occupational Therapists.

Contributing

to the core Occupational Therapy service, the postholder will be involved in a

wide range of work to improve the outcomes of patients who require support with

their everyday lives. This will include working directly with a diverse patient

list, predominantly working with mental health conditions including

neurodiversity, personality disorders, eating disorders, OCD, generalised anxiety

and depression, as well as chronic pain, chronic fatigue, amongst other

conditions. Experience of working with mental

health and managing risk is essential.

The

successful candidate will be kind, empathetic and compassionate, with the

ability to build trusting therapeutic relationships and help patients feel

supported and at ease. They will possess strong occupational therapy knowledge

and clinical reasoning skills and be confident applying occupational therapy

within an innovative and evolving area of primary care practice.

They

will have experience in the assessment, management and rehabilitation of

patients with complex mental health needs and a genuine passion for improving

mental health outcomes. The postholder will be dynamic, proactive and

resilient, with the confidence to work autonomously and make sound clinical

decisions in complex situations.

The

successful candidate will be comfortable working within an environment where

positive risk-taking and clinical judgement are essential. They will have a

good understanding of mental health risk assessment, risk stratification and

risk management within a primary care setting, recognising when to escalate

concerns and work collaboratively with the wider multidisciplinary team.

As

this is a newly developed role, the ability to use initiative, adapt to change

and contribute to the ongoing development of the service will be essential.

The Occupational Therapy service was established within the PCN in 2022 and is mainly practice based, across two practices.

You will work with the Lead OT in this newly created Mental Health Focussed Occupational Therapy role to contribute to a service development that provides proactive mental health management and occupational therapy interventions to patients with at risk mental health, whilst also contributing to the core occupational therapy service.

There are excellent opportunities for professional development within the role, with training and support available including dedicated access to clinical supervision, peer supervision and regular support from the Lead OT.

Skills and Knowledge

Qualifications

Personal Attributes