Therapy Assistant

**Therapy Assistant**

**Permanent Role**

**Part-time 19.5 hours* Tuesdays - Thursdays**

**£11,300 - £12,052 **(FTE: £21,730 - £23,177)

Headway Basingstoke is a leading charity in its field, providing specialised community-based rehabilitation, re-enablement and support services for individuals with brain injury and their carers across North Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

We are currently recruiting for a Therapy Assistant to join our amazing team of staff and volunteers to create and maintain a therapeutic environment for people with brain injury, ensuring that their psychological and physical needs are met, their dignity respected, and their safety assured.

Our clients do not require any personal care; our focus is on the retraining and relearning of functional skills lost due to their injury. You’re there to encourage and guide individuals, helping them gain the skills and confidence to live independently.

You will share the journey with our inspirational clients as they overcome hurdles, achieve milestones, and reach the goals they’ve set. You can make a massive difference during their time with Headway Basingstoke.

**Why join us?**

Since 1982, Headway Basingstoke has led the way in North Hampshire when it has come to supporting those with an acquired brain injury and their carers. We are also at the forefront of developing clinical approaches to rehabilitation programmes and services. Headway Basingstoke works in association with the national charity, Headway UK and has a close relationship with BIF-EC (Brain Injured and Families - European Confederation) which operates across Europe.

Our team are incredibly passionate about what they do and always pulls together to meet the needs of our clients and look out for each other.

**What will you be doing?**
- Deliver high-quality programmes of rehabilitation under the guidance of the Clinical Lead, to help those who have suffered brain injury improve their life skills and regain their maximum degree of independence through a range of structured activities.
- Assist clients to practice, reinforce and generalise specific skills and behaviours. The range may include but is not limited to the following:

- education,
- retraining of life skills,
- kitchen skills,
- cognitive re-training with learning new strategies to compensate,
- improve confidence,
- strategies to identify and manage fatigue and levels of stress,
- focus on social integration and return to work,
- social communication practice.
- Act as a key worker for designated clients, coordinating support for them and their relatives, liaising with community services and care agencies as required, and being an advocate on their behalf so that clients’ needs are met.
- Contribute to the assessment of brain-injured individuals so that decisions can be made about the appropriateness of admission to Headway’s Services or their referral to other health professionals.
- Contributing to re-viewing of client goals and plans with Clinical Lead.
- Promote effective communication with clients, their relatives & carers, and healthcare colleagues. Accurately relaying relatives’/carers’ comments to the rest of the clinical team.
- Promote positive reinforcement of socially acceptable behaviours and model appropriate boundaries whilst maintaining a consistent approach.
- Receive clients, send them home at the end of the day and oversee clients when they move between programmes and activities so that their transition is smooth, and they feel welcome and secure.
- Accompany clients on field trips (e.g., Christmas market).
- Update client records and work plans and treat this information with respect so that the Headway team is properly informed about clients’ progress and problems whilst maintaining confidentiality.
- Perform administrative and operational tasks to ensure that services to clients and their carers run smoothly and safely.
- Work safely, intervene appropriately to avoid accidents, deliver first aid when necessary and report accidents and incidents to ensure the safety of clients, visitors and colleagues, and the security of the facility.
- To promote positive reinforcement of socially acceptable behaviours and model appropriate boundaries whilst maintaining a consistent approach.
- Contribute to the planning, development and implementation of improvements in the service so that clients benefit and the reputation of the Charity, its services and its staff are enhanced.
- Acquire knowledge and skills so that you continue to develop in your role as a Therapy Assistant and can offer effective support to clients and their carers.

**What are we looking for?**
- Whilst training will be provided, previous experience within a clinical support role would be essential. This role would be ideal for someone who worked in nursing-, rehab-, care
- or another clinical support role.
- We also welcome newly qualified professionals in a relevant field (e.g., occupational therapist, psychologist