Occupational Therapy Assistant

**Are you an experienced or aspiring Occupational Therapy Assistant, wanting to help deliver care that maximises independence and wellbeing?**

We are looking for motivated people who are passionate about providing outstanding care quality for adults with care and support needs.

We have an exciting opportunity to join a brand-new service supporting people in their homes to regain their independence and learn new skills.

Our Independence at Home service will help prevent hospital and care home admissions and support people to stay at home with short term support. Our aspirations are to receive an ‘outstanding’ rating with the CQC, and we are looking for someone who shares our values, ambitions, and vision.

We provide full paid training and ongoing development to enable you to pursue your career aspirations.

As an Occupational Therapy Assistant, you will provide an excellent level of care and support in people’s own homes, to enable the people we support to have a comfortable and dignified life where they are enabled to maximise their independence and wellbeing

As an Occupational Therapist you will:

- Deliver excellent person-centred care and support of people, including those with complex needs.
- Have a ‘can do’ attitude, contributing to assessments and care plans, risk assesses the home and person, assign equipment as required.
- Relate to and work with people, being able to respond flexibly/effectively to changing needs including being creative in supporting individuals to thrive and promoting independence and wellbeing.
- Suggest improvements, assist and be proactive in the development of projects, solutions and activities undertaken by the service.
- Be a strong communicator, with the ability to liaise with families/carers and other professionals as necessary to build good relationships.
- Adapt and respond positively to change and work effectively under pressure and prioritise workloads.

**You will have**:

- Educated to NVQ level 2 in care related field
- Demonstrable ability to train, and work with professional OT colleagues to expand your knowledge and skills
- Driver’s license
- Experience of working in a health or social care team
- Effective interpersonal and communication skills: listening, verbal, written and pictorial communication skills
- Demonstrable interest in the use of technology and equipment to assist those with disabilities or other needs
- Physically able to assist with personal care and support needs, which will include moving and handling, the ability to support people who use a wheelchair in the community, and the ability to support those with behavioural needs.
- Ability to remain calm in challenging situations
- Sound judgement and the ability to resolve day-to-day problems, emergencies, and issues without access to more senior staff
- Demonstrable experience in a direct support role through either work or life experience

About Staffordshire County Council
**We are no ordinary county council**:
**Our Values**:
The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:
We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

**Our benefits**:
We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to a range of benefits.

**Our recruitment process**:
As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.