Occupational Therapy Assistant

The Forensic Mental Health services specialise in the assessment and treatment of offenders with mental health conditions. The medium secure inpatient service provides 66 inpatient beds for men and women.

We are keen to recruit an enthusiastic, experienced Occupational Therapy Assistant to join the Occupational Therapy service. Occupational Therapy staff are recognised as essential, core members of the multi-disciplinary team. This will involve the planning and facilitating of group and individual therapeutic activities.

The role in the café will involve supporting patients to develop skills in all aspects of customer service including preparing and serving food and drinks, cleaning and stock control. The role also includes horticulture and pet care projects.

The role will involve offering groups and individual therapeutic activities on the wards. Ward activities will be varied depending on patient interests and needs. These may include:
Creative activities e.g. art, craft

Exercise opportunities e.g. football, walking, badminton, swimming, cycling

Cooking to develop skills and support healthy eating e.g. planning and preparing meals, food shopping

Other lifestyle interventions e.g. relaxation, mindfulness, sleep hygiene, having a balanced daily routine

Assorted activities to support leisure and social needs

Support to the pet care and horticulture project

You will need to be skilled at motivating patients to engage, have excellent communication skills and be able to keep accurate clinical records.

Experience working in mental health is essential.

This post will require weekday and weekend working.

Support and supervision will be provided as well as opportunities to engage in further development and training.

Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.

We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people across the county.

The Trust (rated Good overall by the CQC and Outstanding for care) has 3,283 staff working in 66 buildings across 33 locations, covering an area of 1,450 square miles.

You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.

The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.

**JOB PURPOSE**:
Under the supervision of a registered Occupational Therapist and in consultation with professionally registered members of the Multidisciplinary Team the post holder will be expected to assist in the delivery of therapeutic interventions within the service by

Using skills and experience to plan and provide flexible, service user-centered, 1:1 or group activity-based interventions that contribute to meeting the assessed needs of service users and treatment service as outlined within their care plan.

Working alongside the multidisciplinary team to facilitate therapeutic interventions for service users and carers

Undertaking clinically related administration, and assisting with non-clinical tasks to ensure the smooth running of a service, to service users and their carers, guided by an appropriate senior colleague.

**KEY RESULT AREAS**:
To work effectively as a member of the MDT assisting in delivering individual or group interventions to promote the strengths, well-being, and recovery of service users and carers.

To monitor service users’ progress, reporting on their psychological, physical, behavioral, occupational, and social responses to interventions.

To adapt interventions ensuring that they support the service user and carer to meet their needs, including regard for cultural and linguistic differences, adjusting own approach accordingly.

To assist with or contribute to the assessment of activities of daily living, maintaining service users’ dignity and privacy, observing changes both positive and negative, and reporting appropriately.

To effectively establish a therapeutic relationship with service users and their relatives/carers.

To contribute to and comply with individual, environmental, and activity-related risk assessments and to communicate issues around risk to others involved in service user's care.

To support and undertake community access /engagement for service users and carers.

To assist with non-clinical tasks to ensure the smooth running of a service guided by an appropriate senior colleague.

To attend and actively participate in relevant clinical meetings/forums.

**RESPONSIBILITY**:
Working with service users and their carers referred to the service.

To undertake and assist in the delivery of therapeutic interventions for service users

To ensure that the Tr