Occupational Therapist
At a glance
- Band
- Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Full-time
- Posted
- 11/08/2026
- Closes
- 31/08/2026
Sponsorship verdict
Candidates needing sponsorship are encouraged to apply.
HiveMind found a sponsorship-friendly statement in the source advert welcoming applicants who require a visa. Always confirm on the source before applying.
“Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.”Quoted verbatim from the source advert
Role summary
This Occupational Therapist role is part of a large health and wellbeing team at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, contributing to overall healthcare provision within the prison. The post holder will work within the mental health hub, providing occupational therapy services to individuals with complex mental health problems, personality disorders, mood disorders, PTSD, trauma, and ADHD, as well as those on the autistic spectrum. The role also involves input to other healthcare services like the inpatient unit and in-reach team. The therapist will carry out assessments, interventions, and provide feedback to multidisciplinary teams.
Essential criteria
- Dip. COT or BSc OT
- Registered with HCPC
- Evidence of Continuous Professional Development
- EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
- OT placement or post graduate clinical experience in forensics / mental health / prison settings
- Experience of group-work
- Experience of working in an MDT
- Experience of using electronic patient records
- Experience of carrying out functional assessments
- Experience of relating to people from a range of social and ethnic backgrounds
- Knowledge of developments in O.T. adult mental health, and prison settings
- Experience or knowledge of substance misuse and social issues
- An understanding of forensic issues
- Knowledge of O.T. models of practice, e.g. MOHO
- SKILLS AND ABILITIES
- Working knowledge of the occupational therapy process
- Ability to apply and develop core OT Skills
- Willing to contribute towards OT service development
- A demonstrated ability to understand clinical needs of the forensic / offender client group
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Maintains professional standards of communication
- Effective time management skills
- Ability to laterally think and problem solve.
- Good IT skills
- Commitment to work as a proactive team member
- Empathy for people with mental health problems and passionate about service user involvement
- Aware of own limitations and needs and ability to seeks advice and support appropriately
- Ability to promote self and the service
- Professional manner
- Ability to tolerate busy and loud locked environments.
- Ability to be flexible and adaptable to manage fluctuating work demands.
- Effective use of supervision.
- Proactive use of continuous professional development opportunities
- An ability to articulate the role of Occupational Therapy role to those with limited previous experience of and understanding of the profession.
- Service user-centred approach.
- Resilience for working with those who express high levels of traumatic information and distress.
- Dip. COT or BSc OT
- Registered with HCPC
- Evidence of Continuous Professional Development
- EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
- OT placement or post graduate clinical experience in forensics / mental health / prison settings
- Experience of group-work
- Experience of working in an MDT
- Experience of using electronic patient records
- Experience of carrying out functional assessments
- Experience of relating to people from a range of social and ethnic backgrounds
- Knowledge of developments in O.T. adult mental health, and prison settings
- Experience or knowledge of substance misuse and social issues
- An understanding of forensic issues
- Knowledge of O.T. models of practice, e.g. MOHO
- SKILLS AND ABILITIES
- Working knowledge of the occupational therapy process
- Ability to apply and develop core OT Skills
- Willing to contribute towards OT service development
- A demonstrated ability to understand clinical needs of the forensic / offender client group
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Maintains professional standards of communication
- Effective time management skills
- Ability to laterally think and problem solve.
- Good IT skills
- Commitment to work as a proactive team member
- Empathy for people with mental health problems and passionate about service user involvement
- Aware of own limitations and needs and ability to seeks advice and support appropriately
- Ability to promote self and the service
- Professional manner
- Ability to tolerate busy and loud locked environments.
- Ability to be flexible and adaptable to manage fluctuating work demands.
- Effective use of supervision.
- Proactive use of continuous professional development opportunities
- An ability to articulate the role of Occupational Therapy role to those with limited previous experience of and understanding of the profession.
- Service user-centred approach.
- Resilience for working with those who express high levels of traumatic information and distress.
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 5 at £29,970 – £36,483 a year, across England.
This advert: £38,488 – £46,852 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 19d ago · Closes in 2d
Applications close soon — apply now if this is a fit.
Full advert · preview
Job summary
The post holder will work as part of the Occupational therapy team which are an integral part of a large health and wellbeing team at HMP Wormwood Scrubs. The team includes psychology and occupational therapy staff, speech and language therapist and substance misuse workers. The team contribute to the overall healthcare provision within the prison, working across the healthcare department to provide comprehensive OT input across the Inpatient ward, the Wellbeing Centre, neurodiversity unit and across the wider prison
The post holder will work within the mental health hub, a day service providing an Occupational therapy service to those with complex mental health problems, personality disorder, mood disorders, PTSD, trauma, and ADHD, as well as those on the autistic spectrum. The role will also have input to other elements of the healthcare services such as the inpatient unit, the in reach team and the health and wellbeing team.
Main duties of the job
1. To carry out standardised assessments, interventions and provide detailed feedback to the therapies and multidisciplinary teams about clients' abilities, and also information about future plans and requirements for progress within a mixture of settings including but not limited to; the Wellbeing Centre, Neurodiversity landing , inpatient ward
2. To actively contribute to the multidisciplinary team's risk asse
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