Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Principal Occupational Therapist within the Mental Health Autism Team. The service has recently expanded from inpatient and crisis services only, to cover a defined cohort of autistic service users within community mental health services, who are at increased risk of readmissions to inpatient mental health services or frequently utilise unplanned care. The role also includes facilitating advice and consultation clinics to community mental health teams.
The post spans acute and community mental health services across Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow. The post will be based across both Hammersmith and Fulham and Lakeside Mental Health Units, but will involve outreach provision and therefore travel across all three boroughs.
As a senior clinician, the post holder would have a clinical leadership role, supporting in the clinical governance of the Mental Health Autism Team. The post holder will use therapeutic approaches to engage autistic individuals and to facilitate communication that will support the diagnostic pathway and the care of autistic people within mental health services. The role will also include drawing on profession-specific skills relevant to the client group and setting. At a time of service growth, the post holder will be actively involved in shaping the development of the service, care pathways and interfaces with other services.
Main duties of the job
This new post offers an exciting opportunity for an ambitious and experienced Principal Occupational Therapist looking to specialise in mental health and Autism within a clinical leadership role. The successful candidate will offer a thorough, compassionate and evidence-based service to adults with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of Autism within inpatient, crisis and community mental health services, with the community focus being on people at risk of readmission to inpatient mental health services or who frequently utilise unplanned care.
As a senior clinician, the post holder would have an integral role in the development and delivery of a safe and effective service, both through direct clinical work and provision of supervision and leadership. The post holder will have knowledge and understanding of taking a strengths-based approach to working with autistic people, supporting the individual and teams to identify and meet unmet needs, and tailoring care to the needs of the individual. They will draw on profession-specific skills relevant to the client group and setting.
The post spans acute and community mental health services across Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow. The post will be based across both Hammersmith and Fulham and Lakeside Mental Health Unit, but will involve outreach provision and therefore travel across all three boroughs. It is paid at inner London weighting
About us
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.
Our 3,982 staff care for people in hospital and in the community, helping them to recover and go on to lead full and productive lives. We aim to be the best organisation of our kind in the country.
We provide care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units.
We'rerated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Together, we're committed to promoting hope and wellbeing, working with patients, service users, carers, families and partners across the communities we serve.
We are keen to ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+ and experience of mental illness.
Job description
Job responsibilities
For further details regarding the role and responsibilities, please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
Job description
Job responsibilities
For further details regarding the role and responsibilities, please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- A recorded/registered qualification occupational therapy.
- Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council.
- Educated to degree level or equivalent
Desirable
- Autism specific training, such as working with behaviours of concern, sensory training.
- Training in diagnostic assessments, such as ADOS-2 or ADI-R
- Training in clinical leadership
- Profession-specific training relevant to the role, such as Sensory Integration.
Experience
Essential
- Minimum of 3 years' experience in clinical practice at a senior level
- Experience of providing care to autistic people in an inpatient, crisis or community mental health setting
- Experience of working in a multi-cultural service
- Experience of working in a clinical capacity with autistic people
- Experience of work in MDT setting and communicating complex information therein.
- Experience of participating in reflective practice, case formulation meetings or team debriefs.
- Experience of providing clinical supervision.
- Experience and understanding of a wide range of art processes and equipment
- Experience of assessing and formulating risk and supporting a reduction in risk
- Experience of providing placement opportunities for clinical trainees.
Desirable
- Experience of work with interpreters
- Lived experience of Autism.
- Lived experience of mental health difficulties.
- Experience of undertaking autism diagnostic assessments
Knowledge
Essential
- Specialist professional knowledge acquired through clinical training or equivalent level plus specialist short courses, CPD, clinical supervision of practice.
- Understanding of how profession-specific interventions and approaches may benefit autistic individuals and also of possible barriers to engaging in care.
- Understanding of how to adapt communications and interventions to the needs of autistic individuals
- Ability to organise and prioritise caseload and other responsibilities
- Ability to explain one's clinical speciality/role to a wide range of professionals, service users and other stakeholders.
- Knowledge of other modalities and approaches (e.g. medical model, systemic, behavioural) sufficient to contribute to multi-disciplinary planning and service provision.
- To understand psychiatric diagnosis and the requirement to communicate about diagnoses, whilst also acknowledging the alternative in the form of a formulation.
Desirable
- To know about systems based interventions supporting safety within inpatient, crisis and community mental health services, e.g. Safewards, No Force First.
- To have an understanding of traumainformed care and to understand the concept of stabilisation, psychological containment and validation and the rational for these when an individual is presenting in crisis.
- Knowledge and/or training in Positive Behavioural Support
- To understand the 5Ps formulation model and have the ability to describe this to patients.
- Knowledge of identifying and adapting for sensory differences.
- Autism-specialist interventions, for example social stories, comic strip conversations, formulations and recommendations for behaviours of concern.
- IT skills: e.g. Word; Excel, Photoshop.
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Ability to discuss personal reactions (thoughts, feelings, behaviours) in clinical supervision, reflective practice, formulation meetings to plan safer therapeutic care.
- To be courageous and interested in developing confidence in expressing an opinion which is different from the dominant view, but might be more helpful in supporting a service user.
- A desire to motivate, encourage, support others, and contribute to a collective care offer from the inpatient MDT that results in a positive experience for staff and service users.
- A desire to learn and use non-pathological language and terms which imply chronic disability and negatively impact of self-esteem and undermine recovery.
- To be able to tolerate witnessing extreme behaviour and listening to life histories which might contain disturbing facts (sexual trauma, physical abuse, neglect, violence, political and civil wars which deviate from the dominant accepted norm in the UK).
- To have an optimistic and pragmatic attitude and a proactive approach to identifying and implementing solutions which lead to keep the ward running smoothly.
- To be interested in a wide range of psychological concepts and show enthusiasm and interest in learning about a range of approaches (Systemic, behavioural, Trauma-informed, CBT, DBT, ACT, CAT, Schema).
- To have personal values aligned to forming positive relationships with service users and colleagues and a willingness to show behaviours that correspond to the Trust's Values.
OTHER
Essential
- nowledge of Standards of practice of the relevant professional body (Health and Care Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, Social Work England)
- To be capable of being guided by precedent, clearly defined policies, procedures and codes of conduct.
- To adhere to the security procedures within inpatient, crisis and community-based services.
Desirable
- Membership of a relevant professional special interest group
- Membership of relevant practice research network
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- A recorded/registered qualification occupational therapy.
- Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council.
- Educated to degree level or equivalent
Desirable
- Autism specific training, such as working with behaviours of concern, sensory training.
- Training in diagnostic assessments, such as ADOS-2 or ADI-R
- Training in clinical leadership
- Profession-specific training relevant to the role, such as Sensory Integration.
Experience
Essential
- Minimum of 3 years' experience in clinical practice at a senior level
- Experience of providing care to autistic people in an inpatient, crisis or community mental health setting
- Experience of working in a multi-cultural service
- Experience of working in a clinical capacity with autistic people
- Experience of work in MDT setting and communicating complex information therein.
- Experience of participating in reflective practice, case formulation meetings or team debriefs.
- Experience of providing clinical supervision.
- Experience and understanding of a wide range of art processes and equipment
- Experience of assessing and formulating risk and supporting a reduction in risk
- Experience of providing placement opportunities for clinical trainees.
Desirable
- Experience of work with interpreters
- Lived experience of Autism.
- Lived experience of mental health difficulties.
- Experience of undertaking autism diagnostic assessments
Knowledge
Essential
- Specialist professional knowledge acquired through clinical training or equivalent level plus specialist short courses, CPD, clinical supervision of practice.
- Understanding of how profession-specific interventions and approaches may benefit autistic individuals and also of possible barriers to engaging in care.
- Understanding of how to adapt communications and interventions to the needs of autistic individuals
- Ability to organise and prioritise caseload and other responsibilities
- Ability to explain one's clinical speciality/role to a wide range of professionals, service users and other stakeholders.
- Knowledge of other modalities and approaches (e.g. medical model, systemic, behavioural) sufficient to contribute to multi-disciplinary planning and service provision.
- To understand psychiatric diagnosis and the requirement to communicate about diagnoses, whilst also acknowledging the alternative in the form of a formulation.
Desirable
- To know about systems based interventions supporting safety within inpatient, crisis and community mental health services, e.g. Safewards, No Force First.
- To have an understanding of traumainformed care and to understand the concept of stabilisation, psychological containment and validation and the rational for these when an individual is presenting in crisis.
- Knowledge and/or training in Positive Behavioural Support
- To understand the 5Ps formulation model and have the ability to describe this to patients.
- Knowledge of identifying and adapting for sensory differences.
- Autism-specialist interventions, for example social stories, comic strip conversations, formulations and recommendations for behaviours of concern.
- IT skills: e.g. Word; Excel, Photoshop.
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Ability to discuss personal reactions (thoughts, feelings, behaviours) in clinical supervision, reflective practice, formulation meetings to plan safer therapeutic care.
- To be courageous and interested in developing confidence in expressing an opinion which is different from the dominant view, but might be more helpful in supporting a service user.
- A desire to motivate, encourage, support others, and contribute to a collective care offer from the inpatient MDT that results in a positive experience for staff and service users.
- A desire to learn and use non-pathological language and terms which imply chronic disability and negatively impact of self-esteem and undermine recovery.
- To be able to tolerate witnessing extreme behaviour and listening to life histories which might contain disturbing facts (sexual trauma, physical abuse, neglect, violence, political and civil wars which deviate from the dominant accepted norm in the UK).
- To have an optimistic and pragmatic attitude and a proactive approach to identifying and implementing solutions which lead to keep the ward running smoothly.
- To be interested in a wide range of psychological concepts and show enthusiasm and interest in learning about a range of approaches (Systemic, behavioural, Trauma-informed, CBT, DBT, ACT, CAT, Schema).
- To have personal values aligned to forming positive relationships with service users and colleagues and a willingness to show behaviours that correspond to the Trust's Values.
OTHER
Essential
- nowledge of Standards of practice of the relevant professional body (Health and Care Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, Social Work England)
- To be capable of being guided by precedent, clearly defined policies, procedures and codes of conduct.
- To adhere to the security procedures within inpatient, crisis and community-based services.
Desirable
- Membership of a relevant professional special interest group
- Membership of relevant practice research network
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
