Occupational Therapist – Perinatal
The closing date is 19 April 2026
This is an exciting opportunity to join the South West London and St George's Perinatal Mental Health Service.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and passionate Band 6 Perinatal Occupational Therapist to join our specialist Perinatal Community Service. Reporting to the Band 7 Specialist Occupational Therapist, the post‑holder will work together within our highly skilled multi‑disciplinary service comprising of Medics, Nurses, Social Workers, Nursery Nurses, Psychologists, Peer Support Workers, Psychotherapists and administrators.
Main duties of the job
As a Specialist Perinatal Occupational Therapist within the Perinatal Mental Health Service, you will provide a high standard of evidence‑based assessment, formulation and intervention for women experiencing complex and enduring mental health difficulties during the perinatal period.
You will utilise specialist occupational therapy frameworks, including the Model of Human Occupation, to evaluate occupational performance and support women to engage in meaningful self‑care, productive, leisure and mothering roles. Your interventions will promote recovery, wellbeing and the development of positive mother‑infant relationships.
The post holder will manage a defined caseload, undertake comprehensive risk assessments, and contribute to diagnostic and multidisciplinary care formulations. You will also participate in duty and triage functions, supporting the team to meet clinical and performance targets while ensuring safe and effective care.
You will actively contribute to service development and quality improvement initiatives within the team and wider service. The role includes providing clinical supervision, mentoring and training to students.
Collaboration with partner agencies is central to this role, and experience of inter‑agency working and child protection procedures is desirable.
Job responsibilities
To promote equality of outcome for service users that reflect their mental health needs and those of ethnicity, gender, culture, physical health and age ensuring all OT interventions are fully accessible.
To promote social inclusion and physical and mental well‑being using evidence-based practice underpinned by the principles of hope and recovery, health promotion and relapse prevention.
To independently manage a clinical caseload of service users with complex mental health needs. To identify occupational therapy goals as part of the overall care plan, using specialist mental health and occupational therapy assessments including Model of Human Occupation tools.
To exercise professional judgement in complex clinical cases and difficult clinical situations, referring to senior staff when necessary.
To consider both physical and mental health needs as part of the occupational therapy assessment.
To plan and implement specialist individual and/or group interventions collaboratively, to enable service users to achieve valued goals and satisfactory occupational performance outcomes.
To identify and manage risk factors in line with local policies, with support from senior staff.
To contribute to and work within identified clinical pathways and protocols.
To evaluate effectiveness of therapy interventions and quality of clinical decisions in conjunction with service users/carers, other professionals using outcome measures etc.
Person Specification
Training and Qualifications
* Diploma or degree in Occupational Therapy
* Registration to practice in the UK
* Apple registration
Knowledge and Skills
* Developed interpersonal skills enabling therapeutic alliances to be developed & maintained with service users who have multiple & complex needs
* Ability to promote & maintain the profile of OT within an MDT & the wider organisation
* Ability to work in a way that minimises risks to health, safety & security of self, service user & members of the public
* Ability to work effectively within a team and understanding of the importance of collaborative working in the delivery of good quality services
* Ability to apply equal opportunities & anti‑discriminatory interventions that respect the service users' customs, values & spiritual beliefs
* Audit skills
Experience
* Experience of carrying a caseload of service users with complex and diverse needs in a mental health setting
* Experience of working in an inter‑professional team.
* Experience of working in a range of mental health settings
* Experience of individual and group work
* Experience of supervising junior staff
* Post‑registration research activity
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.
South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust
£46,419 to £55,046 a year pro rata per annum inclusive of inner London HCAS
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