Job summary
- Main area
- Occupational Therapy
- Grade
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday -covering 9am -5pm)
- Job ref
- 364-B-580
- Employer
- Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- The St Aubyn Centre
- Town
- Colchester
- Salary
- Dependant on experience- and how many years working as band 6
- Closing
- 10/11/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Senior Occupational Therapist
Band 6
Please be aware that, due to current allocation constraints, Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) are being prioritised for registered roles at this time.
Our Trust cares for more than 100,000 patients at any one time across our community health, mental health and learning disability services across Essex and parts of Bedfordshire and Suffolk.
We want you to be part of our journey of transformation, where our patients and their families are at the heart of everything we do and to achieve our vision to be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care.
You’ll be part of a Trust where you will be supported to be your authentic self and be the best you can be, where we will help you to grow, develop and thrive.
The Trust is recognised by the University of Essex and is a top provider of apprenticeships for people looking to be an assistant practitioner, senior health care support worker (CAP). Our trailblazing CAP apprenticeship won a national HSJ Award.
We are also recognised as a Veteran Aware Trust and holder of gold accreditation from the Ministry of Defence Employment Recognition Scheme. Our services are highlighted as an exemplar of good practice, producing the best care for more than 3.500 armed forces veterans in the past seven years.
We have been shortlisted and won national awards. We are an inclusive organisation and Level 3 Disability Confident Leader Trust.
We are constantly innovating and looking for new ways to deliver care, such as using technology to enhance patient care and working with partners to launch new services such as the Basildon Mental Health Urgent Care Department, virtual hospitals and falls response cars.
Join us and you’ll do the best work of your life – and make a difference to other people’s lives. What we do together, matters.
Job overview
This is an exciting opportunity to join the CAMHS OT team working at The St Aubyn's Centre in Colchester. The post holder will be working alongside a Band 5 OT , OT apprentice and activity coordinators to complete specialist assessment and interventions with young people on an assessment unit and PICU unit within the St Aubyn Centre.
The post holder will be working closely with Medical, Nursing , Psychology, Social Care and Education colleagues as well as Peer support workers and Family Ambassadors to contribute to clinical formulations and treatment planning with the young people, their family and carers.
There is an expectation to visit OT colleagues working at a sister site (assessment unit) in Rochford Essex- to attend OT Business meetings and ensure equity of OT care working across the three CAMHS wards.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will contribute to the comprehensive assessment and treatment of service users in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
You will provide effective, tailored, evidence based occupational therapy to service users who are between 13-18 years of age, using goal setting and interventions focused on re-engagement in self-care, productivity and leisure activities, and promoting health, wellbeing and independence.
The post holder will be expected to identify and use relevant occupational therapy standardised assessments and outcomes. You will also exchange complex sensitive information with service users and assess their response to activities in accordance with agreed models of practice. You will also provide occupational therapy advice to other disciplines.
Working for our organisation
Valuing you. Recognising your dedication. At EPUT, we look after you.
- Receive supervision and support to help you fulfil your potential.
- Join an inclusive EPUT community and connect with others through engagement events and equality or champion networks.
- If you need help, we provide mental health and wellbeing services, occupational health advice and counselling.
Benefits
- 27 days holiday, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days after 10 years’ service.
- Excellent pension of up to 14.5% of your pensionable pay.
- Staff discounts include Blue Light Card, NHS discount offers, and staff benefits.
- £8K relocation package if you move to Essex to join us
- Season ticket loans are interest-free to cover the cost of travelling to and from work via tram, rail, or bus.
Work that wraps around your needs
- Job share: Applications for job shares are welcomed.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. undertake occupational therapy assessments for all young people who are under the care of Longview, Larkwood ward addressing occupational performance and skill deficits, enabling them in areas of self-maintenance, productivity and leisure.
2. To utilise specialist assessments when presented with complex cases.
3. To make decisions on the level of treatment intervention required.
4. To undertake treatment planning, communicating and negotiating treatment plans and clinical reasoning for intervention with patients and their carers.
5. To communicate agreed treatment/care plans to multi-disciplinary team colleagues and partnership agencies and liaise with them at formal and informal meetings.
6. To undertake manual handling assessments ensuring other professionals and carers are aware of manual handling needs.
7. To work in collaboration with others to modify aspects of the environment in order to empower patients and facilitate optimal functional performance.
8. To liaise with Education services and Social Services concerning provision of equipment and home adaptations working towards discharge.
9. To manage a complex caseload.
10. To apply a variety of treatment modalities to meet the needs of patients in individual or group format, utilising clinical reasoning processes to determine the most appropriate setting for intervention, e.g. home visits.
Person specification
Education
Essential criteria
- Bsc OT or DipCOT. State Registration with HPC.
- Fieldwork Educators qualification within 12 months of appointment
Desirable criteria
- Post Grad training in Sensory Integration or Model of Creative Ability.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Broad knowledge of current best practice in OT and mental health/CAMHS
- Appropriate assessment techniques.
- Advanced/working knowledge of pathology and occupation in its widest sense, e.g. Mental Health, musculoskeletal, neurological, sensory impairment, the impact of the aging process on function
- Models of supervision
Desirable criteria
- Working knowledge of the prescription of aids and adaptations to independent living
- Specialist assessments. Model of Creative Ability.
Skills/Experience
Essential criteria
- Post registration experience as an Occupational Therapist. Supervision, advice and support of junior staff and/or students.
- Community experience or working within mental health or learning disabilities, or social services provision.
- Utilisation of appropriate assessment techniques to assess individual’s abilities in relation to their desired goals in everyday activities including mobility.
- Critically reflect on and use evidence in order to develop best practice
- Effective written and oral communication skills.
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
- Effective boundary setter.
- Evidence of effective team player disposition
- Commitment to client-centred, non-discriminatory practice.
Desirable criteria
- Membership of Professional Body
Additional Qualities
Essential criteria
- Evidence of a planned approach to work/home life balance.
- Fitness Analysis as appropriate
- Full UK Drivers Licence
- Ability to Travel across Trust sites as required
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Gemma Robertson
- Job title
- Professional AHP Lead Specialist Service Care Unit
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07725227845
List jobs with Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors



