Job overview

Are you a registered Occupational Therapist? Are you looking for a new challenge with the opportunity to be involved in developing a new service?

We are seeking to recruit an experienced and creative Occupational Therapist to join an exciting new development of an enhanced crisis / home treatment 7 day a week service as an alternative to inpatient admission for Children and Young People (CYP) who are experiencing acute mental health difficulties.

You will be part of an exciting development to give children and young people living in Sussex a more appropriate integrated range of services to meet their clinical needs. As an Occupational Therapist this will be providing timely, targeted assessment and effective interventions as alternative to hospital admissions including looking at occupational barriers to participation through individual's values, roles and interests alongside environment barriers.

 The aim of the Crisis Outreach and Acute Support Team (COAST) is to provide an alternative to admission to support the local network around the young person (aged 12-18) whilst they are in the acute stage of mental health difficulties.  You will be working closely and supporting the Occupational Therapy staff as well as alongside nursing, psychiatry, psychologists, family therapy, social worker and mental health practitioners.

Due to the nature of the acute community service, car and drive license are strongly recommended. 

Main duties of the job

Working alongside Occupational Therapy colleagues as part of the Sussex COAST team, you will be responsible for the provision of Occupational Therapy assessment, consultation and interventions. In addition, supporting the professional and clinical supervision for the occupational therapy staff and Support Worker.

You will support the young person alongside their parent/carer to explore and/or return to meaningful and valued activity through the provision of support to understand sensory need, sensory strategies, adaptive strategies, re-motivational process and occupational adaptation and environmental modifications.

Working for our organisation

SPFT provides mental health and learning disability care for children, young people and adults across Sussex. The trust is rated as ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ for caring by the CQC.

SPFT encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/life balance brings about huge health related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, flexible start/finish times. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen.

You will receive supervision from the CAMHS Occupational Therapy professional lead within the wider CAMHS services and have opportunities to network with Occupational Therapists across Child and Adolescent Mental Health services in Sussex.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation

This is an excellent time for Occupational Therapists to be joining Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust as we have launched our first AHP Strategy and can offer the following to you:

·       Regular professional supervision

·       The opportunity to participate in a range of quality improvement work and service innovations.

·       Access to a wide range of training and CPD opportunities including

o   A programme of AHP specific training

o   Quarterly Occupational Therapy CPD Hubs

o   Communities of Practice (Recovery through Activity and Sensory Strategies)

·       Have a look at our AHP strategy and view our film at https://www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/AHP