Band 5 Occupational Therapist

Are you a soon-to-qualify Occupational Therapist or an HCPC-registered OT looking to begin or further develop your career in mental health?
We have an exciting opportunity to join the West Essex Community Mental Health Occupational Therapy Team, a friendly, experienced, and supportive service.
We are seeking a motivated and passionate Occupational Therapist with an interest in working with adults experiencing serious mental health conditions within community secondary care services.
About the Role.
The post is based at Rectory Lane, Loughton, and you will be a key member of the West Essex Community Mental Health Occupational Therapy Team.
The Occupational Therapy team forms an integral part of the multidisciplinary Specialist Community Mental Health Teams across West Essex, working across the following localities:
+ Rectory Lane, Loughton
+ Latton Bush, Harlow
+ Uttlesford, Stansted
While based at Rectory Lane, Loughton, the role includes working flexibly across community settings and EPUT sites within West Essex.
You will support community-dwelling adults with serious mental illness who require a higher level of mental health intervention than can be provided within primary care (GP services)., The service works with adults living in the community who experience occupational deprivation and reduced functional ability as a result of their mental health difficulties. Presentations may include (but are not limited to) anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, emotionally unstable personality disorder, depression, and schizophrenia.
Working as a Band 5 Occupational Therapist, you will be part of a small, skilled, and supportive community Occupational Therapy team, as well as the wider multidisciplinary locality mental health team. With regular supervision and support, you will work alongside more experienced clinicians to help individuals understand how their mental health difficulties impact their everyday functioning, roles, and routines.
You will support service users to identify strengths, needs, and personally meaningful goals, contributing to assessment, care planning, and the delivery of occupation-focused interventions that promote recovery, independence, and engagement in daily life as part of their rehabilitation within a community setting.

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.
+ We run recognition awards to recognise staff's hard work and dedication., As a Band 5 Occupational Therapist, you will work closely with the wider multidisciplinary locality mental health team, contributing to assessment, care planning, and intervention delivery. You will be supported through a clear and structured development framework, including access to a Band 5 Educational Group, Band 5 Development Forum, preceptorship, and direct professional supervision and management, alongside a range of in-house and external learning and development opportunities to support your continued development within community mental health services.
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 or email [email protected] 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.

You will be part of a small, skilled, and supportive community Occupational Therapy team, delivering a range of therapeutic, occupation-focused interventions to adults living in the community with mental health needs. The role focuses on supporting individuals to manage the impact of mental health difficulties on their everyday functioning, maintain and re-engage in meaningful activities, and progress along their recovery journey within a community setting.

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.

+ 27 days holiday, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days after 10 years' service.
+ Excellent pension of up to14.5% 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
+ Flexible working: available from day one for most roles.