Occupational Therapy Assistant/Exercise Technician
At a glance
- Band
- Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Part-time
- Posted
- 11/09/2026
- Closes
- 25/09/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This contract type is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.
NHS Trusts cannot issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for part-time, bank, locum, zero-hours, job-share or short fixed-term (under 12 months) contracts under current Home Office rules. This applies even when the wider Trust holds a Skilled Worker licence.
Role summary
This role involves working as an Occupational Therapy Assistant/Exercise Technician within the Lakeside Mental Health Unit. You will support Occupational Therapists in delivering person-centred interventions to help service users achieve recovery goals and improve independence, wellbeing, and physical health. Key duties include supporting assessment and treatment programs, delivering individual and group activities, and facilitating exercise and wellbeing sessions. The post holder will work under the supervision of a senior Occupational Therapist, focusing on recovery-focused care for individuals with complex mental health needs.
Essential criteria
- BTEC extended diploma/Level 3 National Diploma in Sports and Fitness/Personal Training OR equivalent experience
Desirable criteria
- Sports and Exercise related training and/or development
- Experience of working within a fitness setting
- Experience of working as a gym instructor, with groups and individuals, screening, assessing and designing exercise programmes
- Experience of coaching/leading sports activities with people of differing abilities
- Experience of assessing and advising on healthy lifestyle issues
- Ability to teach a variety of sports
- Experience of working with service users with physical health conditions
- Experience of working in a mental health or healthcare setting.
- Good written skills
- Good verbal communication skills
- Basic IT skills
- Group work skills
- Effective team worker
- Good organisational skills
- Good interpersonal skills
- Health/safety and risk awareness
- Understanding of mental health conditions
- Reliable
- Non-judgemental
- Enthusiasm for working in a challenging area
- Flexibility to change and innovation
- Good self-awareness
- Personal experience of mental health problems
- BTEC extended diploma/Level 3 National Diploma in Sports and Fitness/Personal Training OR equivalent experience
- Sports and Exercise related training and/or development
- Experience of working within a fitness setting
- Experience of working as a gym instructor, with groups and individuals, screening, assessing and designing exercise programmes
- Experience of coaching/leading sports activities with people of differing abilities
- Experience of assessing and advising on healthy lifestyle issues
- Ability to teach a variety of sports
- Experience of working with service users with physical health conditions
- Experience of working in a mental health or healthcare setting.
- Good written skills
- Good verbal communication skills
- Basic IT skills
- Group work skills
- Effective team worker
- Good organisational skills
- Good interpersonal skills
- Health/safety and risk awareness
- Understanding of mental health conditions
- Reliable
- Non-judgemental
- Enthusiasm for working in a challenging area
- Flexibility to change and innovation
- Good self-awareness
- Personal experience of mental health problems
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 4 at £26,530 – £29,114 a year, across England.
This advert: £33,262 – £36,027 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 1d ago · Closes in 14d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
West London NHS Trust
Occupational Therapy Assistant/Exercise Technician
The closing date is 25 September 2026
Job summary
Occupational Therapy Assistants work alongside Occupational Therapists to support the delivery of person-centred interventions, helping service users achieve their recovery goals and improve their independence, wellbeing, and physical health.
We are recruiting a Band 4 Occupational Therapy Assistant/Exercise Technician posts within Lakeside Mental Health Unit. The role involves supporting assessment and treatment programmes, delivering individual and group activities, facilitating exercise and wellbeing sessions, and working as part of the multidisciplinary team. Post holders will work under the supervision of a senior Occupational Therapist to support recovery-focused care for service users with complex mental health needs.
Main duties of the job
To ensure that the professional standards and ethics as set out by the West London NHS Trust are adhered to at all times.
Clinical:
To deliver exercise/fitness programs and group sessions within an acute inpatient setting to aid improvement and support physical and mental health.
To continually review and evaluate service user's progress, treatment plans and risk assessments as the patient's condition changes, making suitable alterations to their sports and exercise programmes.
To identify c
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