Senior Occupational Therapist - Community Mental Health Team

About the role

Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) is looking for an experienced, clinically confident Senior Occupational Therapist to join one of its Community Mental Health Teams. The role suits an established OT who wants to hold a small complex caseload, provide clinical leadership and help shape best-practice occupational therapy in a multidisciplinary mental health setting. The team is based in Mount Cook / Newtown, near central Wellington, and shares office space with the Wellington South CMHT; part-time positions are considered for suitable applicants.

Key responsibilities

• Hold and manage a small complex caseload, including people with co-existing conditions or diagnostic complexity
• Mentor new graduate and junior Occupational Therapists and OT students on placement
• Lead functional, cognitive, sensory and environmental assessments and complex intervention planning
• Act as a senior OT voice in multidisciplinary team meetings, complex case reviews and risk formulation
• Champion recovery-oriented, trauma-informed and culturally safe practice
• Design, lead and evaluate group programmes and service initiatives such as vocational rehabilitation pathways and wellbeing groups
• Contribute to service development, quality improvement and clinical policy or pathway design
• Support intake, triage or duty work as required
• Liaise with NGOs, housing providers and vocational services to strengthen wraparound care
• Maintain clinical documentation in line with MHAIDS and the Mental Health Act and Community Treatment Orders
• Help facilitate peer supervision, professional development and in-service training

Required profile

• Registered Occupational Therapist with a current Annual Practising Certificate
• Significant post-graduate experience in mental health settings (typically 3+ years); less experienced candidates may also apply
• Demonstrated advanced clinical reasoning and complex case management skills
• Experience or aptitude in clinical supervision and mentoring
• Strong grounding in recovery-oriented practice, trauma-informed care and Te Whare Tapa Whā
• Excellent assessment, clinical reasoning and report-writing skills
• Confident communicator able to lead in a multidisciplinary team
• Postgraduate qualification in mental health, health leadership or a related field desirable, or equivalent clinical experience

Applications are made through the online careers portal; applications are reviewed as received.