Band 3 Occupational Therapy Support Worker - Bristol

Job overview

We have full-time and part-time opportunities within our Secure Services Occupational Therapy team, working with mental health service users in a secure in-patient setting.

Fromeside is a regional medium secure unit, which provides a service to 81 in-patient service users with mental health needs. Wickham unit is a 31-bedded low secure service, providing recovery-focussed care.

The occupational therapy team is a well-established, integral and valued part of the multi-disciplinary clinical team. The therapies team predominantly provide a Monday to Friday 9-5 service.

In this post, you will work closely with qualified occupational therapists, but also have the opportunity to use your initiative and work independently. You will work to support service users in achieving their potential to function as independently as possible in all aspects of their life.

Main duties of the job

As part of the team you will plan and deliver 1:1 or group sessions under the supervision of occupational therapists.

We run monthly CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and have opportunities for engaging in ongoing training and development. Others who have worked within this role have gone on to carry out their Occupational Therapy apprenticeship alongside their post within the team.

Working for our organisation

We have a large and well-resourced department for the provision of activities (including 2 workshops, an art room, a café, gym, sports hall and a large garden)

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust) a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

1. Work in a collaborative and cooperative manner with service users, their families/carers and other health and social care professionals. Recognise and respect their involvement in the planning and delivery of care.
2. Assist in the maintenance of a safe therapeutic environment beneficial to the needs of the service users, relatives carers and others.
3. Contribute to the team approach, providing accurate and relevant feedback to registered staff: participate in team discussions and meetings regarding care of service users.
4. Develop a therapeutic relationship with service users to encourage and maximise their interest and participation in therapeutic activity.
5. Organise day to day activities for groups and individual therapy programmes including assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation under the supervision of the mental health professionals.
6. Play a part in preparation of risk assessments; CPA/SAP.

We are a large welcoming supportive team, consisting of Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Support Workers, Education and Active Life.

Please see attached job description for further details.

Person specification

Essential experience, skills and qualifications

• NVQ level 3 in a relevant subject or substantial equivalent experience gained in a role supporting people with significant health or social care needs
• Good communication skills
• Demonstrates an understanding of how mental health issues can affect people
• Experience of working as part of a team and under your own initiative
• Ability to take direction and to follow detailed policies and protocols

This includes people with a variety of disabilities and neurodivergent conditions (for example autism, ADHD, sensory, physical and learning disabilities).

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service users.

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Please apply to join us, we would love to hear from you. Any personal details you supply to us are kept safe in line with the General Data Protection Regulations.

Adverts normally close for application a few minutes before midnight on the closing date and we will let you know if we are offering you an interview by email via our recruitment system ‘TRAC’. We contact all applicants within 4 weeks after the closing date, so please check your emails regularly once you have submitted your application; you are welcome to contact us, via the TRAC system, if you have any queries about your application.

Please note the use of AI is monitored and if you have used it in your application you are required to declare this.