Occupational Therapist

Job summary

We are excited that our prison services are transforming in partnership with other healthcare providers across our BEH London Prisons and are looking for candidates who are interested in working in prison mental health to come and work with us in our Mental Health Hub. This role includes working across Early Days in Custody, Planned Care, Unscheduled (Crisis Care) and Release and Transfer.

The mental health provision at HMP Brixton is a specialist mix of psychological therapies, speech and language therapy, forensic psychiatry, nursing, and occupational therapy.

We are looking for an experienced Occupational Therapist, ideally with prison experience, to join our rich MDT and lead on embedding trauma-informed care at HMP Brixton. This is an exciting new post providing an opportunity to lead on changing the prison culture and will rely on strong relationship, clinical, leadership and creative skills.

The post holder will work with the therapies team to ensure they work to an agreed operational policy offering a high standard of care and an integrated triage, assessment and intervention for individuals within our prison settings who are presenting with mental health problems.

The successful candidate will benefit from a supportive team and opportunities for continued professional development - for example, this year we have supported staff to complete their ADOS training and have an ongoing commitment to staff training and wellbeing.

Main duties of the job

HMP Brixton is a Category C men's resettlement prison which holds approximately 800 inmates. The Therapies Team consists of OTs, Speech and Language Therapists, Psychologists. The Therapies Team is also integrated within a wider Mental Health Hub of Psychiatrists, Mental Health Nurses and Social Workers.

This OT role will include the assessment, treatment and evaluation of clinical interventions for service users, carrying out functional assessments and contributing to multidisciplinary team care planning and risk assessment. The post holder will also have a key role working in the Neurodiversity Pathway, which may include more generic diagnostic assessments for conditions such as ADHD and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and informed intervention.

The postholder will work alongside the Lead OT in developing and reviewing the therapeutic programme to ensure that it meets the changing needs of the prison population. They will take a lead on the provision of input into the therapeutic group work programme, cofacilitating psycho-ed groups with members of the psychology team, overseeing the work of specialist sessional workers providing creative activities, and the development and running of OT specific groups.

The postholder will have a keyworking role to a designated caseload and work with the Multi-Disciplinary Team and relevant outside agencies, as well as with OT colleagues to provide a quality service, which is responsive to clients needs.

About us

In this post, you will be part of a broader specialist Directorate of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, known as the North London Forensic Service (NLFS). The NLFS provides Forensic Mental Health care for a wide catchment area, namely Camden, Islington, Haringey, Enfield and Barnet. Psychology provision covers a wide spectrum of services including admission and intervention inpatient care in both medium and low secure services, specialist outreach services, consultation with probation services and psychological input to specialist prison programmes.

The service inputs to several large prisons in the London area, works with Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police units and provides diversion services from local courts. The department has strong links with London psychology training courses, both clinical and forensic, providing regular placements to a number of trainees. The catchment area is exceptionally ethnically diverse with a high level of psychiatric morbidity and social deprivation.

The post holder will be working with people with complex needs, many of whom suffer from a severe and enduring mental illness and/or neurodiversity, which may present itself at times in episodes of violence to others or the environment. Thus, specialist skills, in particular 'forensic awareness', is required of all staff working in NLFS.

Employer details

Employer name

Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

Address

HMP Brixton

Jebb Avenue

London

SW2 5XF

Employer's website

http://www.beh-mht.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

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Employer details

Employer name

Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

Address

HMP Brixton

Jebb Avenue

London

SW2 5XF

Employer's website

http://www.beh-mht.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

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