Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Therapy Assistant - Child Development Team
London
Posted 1 day ago
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
1Upload CV
2Analyse CV
3Improve CV
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Job Overview
This is an exciting opportunity to join Camden's MOSAIC integrated children's service, as a Therapy Assistant in the Child Development Team.
The post holder will work within the multi-disciplinary team supporting primarily the Speech & Language Therapists, Occupational Therapist, and Physiotherapist working with children with disabilities and Special Educational Needs.
Main Duties of the Job
- To be responsible for direct delivery of therapy programmes and Child Development Team (CDT) multidisciplinary packages of care, providing individual and group client-centred treatment packages and advice to a diverse paediatric caseload, as directed by trained staff members.
- To assist the running of small therapy groups, for example for children with a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder.
- To assist the physiotherapy departments with small group hydrotherapy sessions including working in the pool as required.
- To be responsible for providing parent advice and support in designated areas such as toilet training, and communication supports as directed by CDT clinicians.
Working for Our Organisation
The post holder will be employed by CNWL, and work within the Integrated Service for Children with Disabilities.
Located in the vibrant area of London's Kentish Town Health Centre with a culturally diverse population.
Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities
Clinical
- To be responsible for direct delivery of therapy programmes and CDT multidisciplinary packages of care, providing individual and group client-centred treatment packages and advice to a diverse paediatric caseload, as directed by trained staff members.
- To assist the running of small therapy groups, for example for children with a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder.
- To assist the physiotherapy departments with small group hydrotherapy sessions including working in the pool as required.
- To be responsible for providing parent advice and support in designated areas such as toilet training, and communication supports as directed by CDT clinicians.
- To use skills developed to continually assess child’s progress and contribute to the professional discussion regarding child’s response to treatment and their ability for further progress programmes.
- To have a basic understanding of the clinical features of complex conditions such as autism, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, severe learning difficulties, and various syndromes in order to anticipate health and safety issues which may affect the delivery of therapy programmes.
- To recognise the boundaries of your role in order to identify those children requiring qualified therapy input, or those needing referral to other agencies.
- To work with outside agencies, such as nurseries and KIDS, to co-ordinate therapy goals for caseload.
- To be responsible for the coordination, organisation, and overall running of designated Parent Programmes and MDT packages of care.
- To practice safe manual handling at all times, using the appropriate techniques and adaptive equipment, such as a hoist when required.
- To make use of alternative means of communication when working with children e.g. Makaton, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and choice boards.
- To be actively involved in implementing clinical service policies and care pathways.
- To be an active member of the multi-disciplinary team, and participate in specific projects as agreed and supported by the MOSAIC Service Manager and CDT leads, and participate in service developments, audit, and review of the service.
- To be aware of risk within own caseload including observing patients in all situations applicable to therapy ensuring safety and security at all times and seeking support where it is required.
- To demonstrate awareness of local safeguarding policies and escalate concerns appropriately.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Communication
- Be an integrated member of the Child Development Team and share information with team members as directed and appropriate, keeping confidentiality at all times.
- To maintain effective communication at all times with staff, patients, carers, and external service providers, using all forms of communication available, including e-mail, note writing, and telephone.
- To document outcome of patient intervention sessions in electronic patient records, adhering to local and professional standards, including data protection and confidentiality at all times.
- To be IT literate and to use Trust IT resources to maintain accurate statistical information as necessary.
- To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise rehabilitation potential and ensure understanding of condition, which will frequently require flexible communication skills including:
- Motivation
- Persuasion
- Gaining consent
- Negotiation
- Empathy
- English not first language requiring both language and cultural interpretation
- To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with medical and other therapy colleagues to ensure delivery of a co-ordinated MDT service.
- To be able to problem solve situations that arise during patient intervention, and ensure that progress is fed back to the referring therapist.
- To be able to manage a variety of distressing circumstances, such as assisting those experiencing loss and grief, demonstrating empathy at all times.
- To undertake intervention within the clinic or home environment. To undertake risk assessment of these environments as appropriate to protect self and any other parties present.
Professional
- To be able to manage own workload, effectively prioritising between day-to-day admin duties and patient treatment sessions. This will require adopting a flexible approach at all times with the competing demands of administrative duties and patient-related activities, some of which may frequently require re-prioritisation of workload.
- To support therapy staff in gathering evidence (including research database and website searches), assisting in clinical audit and developing procedures or resources.
- To participate in regular supervision from a trained member of staff.
- To participate in the staff appraisal scheme and personal development planning (PDP).
- To be responsible for and actively record own continuing professional development (CPD) and maintain CPD portfolio.
- To have knowledge and understanding of a variety of cultural backgrounds and beliefs in order to respect individual rights and dignity.
- To be aware of health and safety departmental policies and implement into own work.
- To implement new practice as requested under guidance.
- To attend mandatory training.
- To reflect on practice to aid learning.
- To adhere to professional, local, and trust procedures at all times.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Administration
- To assist therapists in the department with other administrative duties as requested.
- To support the administration and organisation of the MOSAIC CDT packages of care.
- To assist with general light cleaning/tidying tasks with the departmental clinical areas.
- To maintain resources on behalf of the team for example the ADOS assessment tools and resources, and the linen supply.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Basic Knowledge of typical child development
Desirable criteria
- Nursery Nurse [NNEB]
- NVQ Healthcare Assistant
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience working with children with physical or learning difficulties.
- Working as part of a MDT team
- Accessing and producing written information
- Experience of undertaking general administrative duties
- Have basic IT skills e.g. email, word, excel
- Answering the phone
Desirable criteria
- Working with children within a nursery setting
- Recent work experience as a therapy assistant / rehabilitation assistant / equivalent post in an enabling role
Abilities
Essential criteria
- Ability to motivate parents
- Good time management, organisational, and prioritisation skills
- Flexible enough to cope with varied demands of the job
- Appropriate and perceptive response to children’s needs as well as their families / carers
- Ability to cope with working in stressful environment and with emotional or aggressive patients / carers
- Awareness of the needs of people from different cultural backgrounds
- Know own limitations and be able to ask for help
- Ability to reflect on own practice and use experiences to expand on knowledge base.
- Able to work independently and use initiative whilst being willing to seek advice when needed.
- Ability to keep legible and accurate records in English using SOAP format.
- Ability to comprehend and work within Trusts policies, including data protection, equal opportunities, and health and safety, to meet the differing needs of the patient.
- Able to carry out concurrent activities (multi-tasking) and work in an unpredictable working pattern
Desirable criteria
- Positive interest in working with disabled children and their families
Trusted by 25,000+ job seekers
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Location