Children's Occupational Therapist | Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust

Due to additional investment into Hertfordshire's Children and Young People's Integrated Therapy Service (CYPT), we have an exciting new 3- tiered sensory service to support neurodivergent children and young people (CYP).

This is an exciting time for Hertfordshire as we grow our support offer to provide specialist services to meet the sensory needs of CYP. As a team we are aligned to the Children and Young People's Specialist Services Directorate and work closely with our CYPT service and system partners including voluntary sector organisations, mental health services, social care and education.

We are looking for a band 6 Occupational Therapist (or we can offer this post as a 5-6 progression) who has the relevant training in sensory integration and/or experience in supporting children and young people who have sensory processing difficulties which impact on their participation of activities of daily life. You will contribute to the development of clinical pathways.

The sensory model is designed with universal, targeted and specialist tiers to assist families and educational settings in implementing strategies to support participation in activities of daily life.

You will be part of a friendly and supportive integrated team delivering a locally driven, needs led service; ensuring children and their families are at the heart of service delivery.

HCT provides both internal and external CPD to support staff in developing and maintaining competencies.

The post-holders will provide clinical support to a team of health professionals (Occupational Therapists, Therapy Assistants, Positive Behaviour Analysts). The service will have strong links to the Community Paediatricians, Public Health Nursing, Education and Voluntary Sector

• Have knowledge and skills in working with sensory differences in neurodivergent children and young people and their families/carers


• Be a qualified Occupational Therapist


• Have postgraduate training in sensory integration or a willingness to undertake training


• Maintain a high degree of professionalism when working in highly emotive atmospheres


• Demonstrate positive and effective communication with others


• Be flexible in their approach and have resilience under pressure, You will need a full valid driving licence and access to a car to use regularly for business purposes is essential (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010), Disability Confident

About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.

Whilst it is not a legal requirement, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust encourages and supports all its' staff to be vaccinated as this remains the best line of defence against COVID-19.

HCT has been voted one of the top 100 NHS trusts to work for in the country. We are an Armed Forces-friendly organisation and a menopause accredited employer.

We can offer you

• A friendly team and a great place to work


• Regular line-management and professional supervision


• Personal development planning and opportunities for continuing professional development


• Access to training to further develop your skills both internally within HCT and linking with universities for more formal qualifications


• Mentoring and coaching


• Regular supervision


• Structured induction period


Applicants will require professional registration with a statutory body.


• A big thank you for considering joining us at Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust


• You'll find it a great place to work with many benefits offered to you as a member of our staff


• We put our patients, their families and carers at the centre of our vision - Outstanding Services and Healthier Communities


• Our staff are proud to be Innovative, Caring and Agile in their work to help achieve the Trust vision


• We welcome diversity in our workforce and are interested in applicants from all backgrounds and ages


• We are proud to be an armed forces friendly employer and support the employment of the armed forces community, including veterans, spouses and partners. For more information, contactarmedforcesrecruitment@nhs.net.


• We don't want you to miss out so we'd like you to know that if we have a high level of interest in this role, the vacancy may close prior to the advertised closing date, so please make your application as soon as possible - Apply now


• You've made a great decision to apply to join to HCT - we're looking forward to taking the next steps of the journey with you


This post attracts a 'Golden Hello' payment of £3000 (pro rata if applicable) paid in installments. The Golden Hello is not applicable to internal candidates.

This permanent position is based in Hertfordshire, we have a number of bases including Watford, St Albans, Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage and can be flexible with your choice of base. The successful candidate is expected to work across locations in Hertfordshire to meet service needs and demands.