Occupational Therapist

Job summary
This is a unique and exciting opportunity for an experienced Occupational Therapist, with CAMHS experience, to work within National Deaf Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. The clinician will be working with Deaf Children with emotional/behavioural problems, their parents, schools, and other agencies in the community. This role would suit a deaf, or hearing, BSL using or non-BSL using clinician, as training can be provided.

We are looking for a qualified Occupational Therapist, with an extensive background in child mental health. Experience working with young people with neurodiversity, sensory and behavioural disorders, would be ideal, however, additional training could be given for the successful candidate.

The successful candidate would carry a small caseload and be expected to work autonomously and collaboratively with both deaf and hearing colleagues, providing a full occupational therapy assessment and intervention to deaf children and young people, and their families/carers, across the East of England region, from a range of community settings, or using virtual meeting technology.

Main duties of the job
The post holder would join a small group of Occupational Therapists working with deaf young people with mental health needs across the East of England, Kent and London and would receive full clinical supervision from an OT experienced in this area as well as professional development support.

Full BSL and deaf awareness training will be made available for the post holder alongside BSL interpreter support as required. For those wishing to gain experience and are unfamiliar working within this specialist area will have the opportunity to learn about deaf culture.

The team is based in Cambridge covering the East of England; however, there could be an opportunity for this post to be fulltime, if the candidate was willing to work in both Cambridge and London Teams. Please let us know if you are interested in working full time.

About us
Unless expressly stated in the job advert this role is not subject to sponsorship, please be advised that all offers of employment are subject to evidence of right to work in the UK.

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety ofbenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.

Details
Date posted: 04 August 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £55,524 to £62,652 a year pro rata per annum inclusive of outer London HCAs
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time
Reference number: 294-CAMHS-8206119-AZ
Job locations: Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, CB25 9DU, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

• To develop and provide a specialist occupational therapy service for young people under the care of the National Deaf CAMHS community service.
• To manage clients with complex needs, using evidence based, client-centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.
• To provide OT flexibly across a variety of treatment programmes including groups and individual work in a variety of settings including home and school settings.
• To participate in and contribute to local service development and strategy.
• Liaison with colleagues in Adult Mental Health Services and Early Intervention Services to ensure that effective transition arrangements exist for clients who are likely to require ongoing support after the age of 18
• To contribute to the Trust wide occupational therapy strategy (Model of Human Occupation and Specialist forums).
• To supervise OT students on fieldwork placements.
• To undertake regular audit and R&D activities.
• To provide training and support for families, staff and wider network professionals as required.
• To be the disability champion for the team.

Person Specification
Education, Training & Qualifications
Essential

• Diploma or degree in Occupational Therapy
• Registration to practice in the UK
• Evidence of post registration training relevant to mental health practice
• Training in the theory and application of the model of human occupation within the first 4 months of appointment
• BSL level 1 or willingness to complete this in the first year of appointment

Desirable

• Masters degree in subject relevant to clinical post
• Practice placement educators course within one year of appointment
• Leadership training
• BSL level 2 or above

Experience
Essential

• Experience of carrying a caseload of service users with complex and diverse needs in a mental health setting
• Post-graduate clinical experience highly related to clinical field
• Experience of working in an inter-professional team.
• Experience of working within a multi-agency environment.
• Experience of working in a range of mental health settings
• Experience of working in a multi-cultural context
• Experience of maintaining a written record of continual professional development
• Experience of individual and groupwork
• Active involvement in service change/development
• Experience of writing specialist occupational therapy reports
• Experience of clinical audit

Desirable

• Experience of supervising junior staff
• Experience of being a practice placement educator
• Experience of using mental health services as a service user, or carer, relative, friend of a service user.
• Experience of publishing own work
• Post-registration research activity
• Experience of working within the Deaf community

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship
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. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).