Senior Occupational Therapist

Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; Rochford; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days holiday

Pension scheme

Staff discounts

Relocation package

Season ticket loans

Job summary

Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust's Crisis Response and Home Treatment Team in Rochford is seeking a Band 6 Senior Occupational Therapist to support adults in mental health crisis at home and avoid hospital admission. You will lead assessments, deliver recovery-focused interventions and work within a multidisciplinary team to enable independence in the community.

You will supervise junior staff and students, contribute to care pathway development, and help shape innovative crisis

Qualifications

Responsibilities

• Undertake comprehensive occupational therapy assessments and develop person‑centred care plans.
• Deliver evidence‑based interventions to support recovery and independence.
• Provide crisis assessment and treatment for service users in the community.
• Work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team to deliver high‑quality care.
• Support hospital admission avoidance and facilitate early discharge where appropriate.
• Manage a defined caseload and coordinate care for service users.
• Assess and manage risk, ensuring safe and effective care delivery.
• Provide supervision, mentorship, and support to junior staff and students.
• Maintain accurate clinical records and contribute to service audits and development.
• Promote recovery, social inclusion, and engagement in meaningful daily activities.

Job description

Job Overview

Join our dynamic Crisis Response and Home Treatment Team as a Band 6 Senior Occupational Therapist, where you will play a vital role in supporting adults experiencing mental health crises to remain safely at home and avoid hospital admission. Based at Rochford Mental Health Unit, you will deliver person‑centred, recovery‑focused interventions, helping service users regain independence, improve daily functioning, and achieve their goals within their community. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced and motivated Occupational Therapist to work within a multidisciplinary team, providing specialist assessments, therapeutic interventions, and clinical leadership. You will have the opportunity to shape care pathways, support service development, supervise junior staff and students, and contribute to innovative crisis care services that make a real difference to people's lives. If you are passionate about mental health, collaborative working, and empowering individuals through meaningful occupation, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

• Undertake comprehensive occupational therapy assessments and develop person‑centred care plans.
• Deliver evidence‑based interventions to support recovery and independence.
• Provide crisis assessment and treatment for service users in the community.
• Work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team to deliver high‑quality care.
• Support hospital admission avoidance and facilitate early discharge where appropriate.
• Manage a defined caseload and coordinate care for service users.
• Assess and manage risk, ensuring safe and effective care delivery.
• Provide supervision, mentorship, and support to junior staff and students.
• Maintain accurate clinical records and contribute to service audits and development.
• Promote recovery, social inclusion, and engagement in meaningful daily activities.

These duties offer an excellent opportunity to make a real difference to people experiencing mental health crises while developing advanced clinical and leadership skills.

Working for our organisation

• 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.

Please be aware that, due to current allocation constraints, Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) are being prioritised for registered roles at this time.

Important note: please ensure that as part of your application, you include professional references with business contact information covering your last three years of employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee, you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post; the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email [e-mail] and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Important Notice: Recently the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) which amended on 22 July 2021 and come into force on 11 November 2021 that anyone directly employed to work in a Care Home or who are required as part of their role to be deployed to a CQC registered care home are required to have had both their COVID vaccinations, unless they are exempt. This is therefore a requirement of this role and will form part of our pre‑employment checks.

Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered 'suitable alternative employment' to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.