Children's Housing Occupational Therapist

Oxfordshire County Council; England; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

Oxfordshire County Council seeks a dedicated Occupational Therapist to enhance children's lives through housing adaptations. Join a passionate team focused on delivering high-quality solutions and partnering with families. This role emphasizes professional development and collaboration with various health and social services.

Benefits

Ongoing training and skill development opportunities

Qualifications

• Qualified Occupational Therapist registered with HCPC.
• Experience in housing adaptations as a student or practitioner.

Responsibilities

• Assess children's needs in home environments and develop solutions.
• Manage a busy caseload and advocate for families.
• Design adaptations and collaborate with local agencies.

Skills

Empathy

Professional integrity

Innovation

Kindness

Education

Degree in Occupational Therapy

Job description

Would you like a job that makes a real difference to peoples lives?Are you motivated to work in creative ways to improve the quality of life for children and young people and their families?

We are a small team of Occupational Therapists andSupportOfficers who aredeterminedto make a big difference in the lives of the children, young people and families that we work with.

We are looking for qualified Occupational Therapists (OTs) with some experience in housing adaptations and equipment to use their skills and knowledge to provide high quality housing OT solutions.This experience may have been gained in a professional capacity, as a Student or as a Qualified OT or outside of practice. Although desirable, experience of working in Childrens Services is not essential.

The Children’s Housing OT service works in partnership with young people and parents, Health, Education and Social Service professionals to provide a holistic service across the whole of Oxfordshire.

Our service is built on partnership working, ensuring that local councils and Housing Associations are included in solution planning and we have evolved close working relationships to enable this.We constantly face new challenges and, working with external agencies, we aim to continue to develop innovative solutions to help meet families’ evolving needs.

As a service we have:

• Worked with councils to purchase properties to help meet families’ specific needs and designed bespoke adaptations as part of this provision
• Established additional funding methods to enable higher value project completions
• Encouraged and enabled families to manage their own Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) projects to promote more timely interventions
• Contributed to local initiatives reviewing the delivery of and the value offered by DFG’s.

About the Role

This post involves working with children and their families at home and assessing for appropriate housing adaptations and equipment. Training and skill development opportunities will be provided on an ongoing basis and the post holder will be supported by the wider team as well as the Manager of the Childrens Housing OT Service.

You will have the opportunity to work with children and young people who have a wide range of complex developmental and physical needs including conditions such as Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Muscular Dystrophy. You will drive to see the children at home and you will work with partners in Health, Social Services and the District/City Councils in providing solutions to help meet assessed needs.

This post sits within the wider Childrens Social Care team and will be involved in contributing to service development and implementing evidence-based practice.

Key responsibilities include:

• Assessing children’s needs in their home environments and developing solutions, in partnership with them and their families
• Writing up formal assessments, re-housing reports and specifications following assessments
• Designing adaptations that meet identified needs and working with local partner agencies to enable successful outcomes
• Managing a busy caseload, ensuring that recommendations and referrals are followed up in a timely manner
• Being an advocate for the children and families that we work with and ensuring that their voice remains central to the work that we do

About you

This job is for an OT who isenthusiastic, motivated anddeterminedthat their role will make a difference for the children and families that we work with.Together, we’re shaping children’s social care for the future. Every day, our colleagues are helping to transform the lives of the residents of Oxfordshire. We want you to be passionate about being a part of this.

We would like to hear from you if you are:

• A qualified Occupational Therapist with housing adaptations experience (either as a Student, OT or in a personal capacity) and are registered with HCPC
• Kindand caring, with anempathyfor the people that we work withand a respect for individuals’ diversities, qualities and abilities
• Able to demonstrate professional and personal integrity through everyday interactions
• Willing to embrace learning and development opportunities in all that you do
• Drivento think differently and innovate to ensure successful service, professional and personal outcomes