Occupational Therapy Assistant

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Are you an Occupational Therapy Assistant looking for the opportunity to learn more about the Occupational Therapy process in a mental health setting?

Cygnet Health Care was established in 1988 as an independent provider of health and social care services in England, Scotland and Wales.

Service Line: Personality disorder and eating disorders

Post: Occupational Therapy Assistant

Site: Cygnet Elowen

Salary: £28,612.50 per annum

Hours: 40 Hours

Contract: Permanent

Start Date: August 2025

Cygnet Elowen (Derby, DE75 7JH
)

Cygnet Hospital Elowen is our brand new specialist 24-bed mental health hospital for women due to open in July 2025 in Derbyshire. There will be two wards at the hospital; a 12-bed complex personality disorder service for women with disordered eating and a 12-bed highly specialised eating disorder service.

The complex personality disorder service for women with a dual diagnosis of personality disorder and co‑morbid disordered eating will allow both aspects to be treated simultaneously, with the appropriate therapeutic input provided. The service offers a phased treatment pathway that aims to help the individual service user understand and plan their journey through treatment. This service focuses on the need for treatment to be collaborative with service users taking account of individual needs, evidence‑based, driven by multi‐disciplinary understanding, support, and interventions.

This allows the service user to progress through the service and increase their quality of life and functioning.

The highly specialised eating disorder service for women will include those with extremely low BMIs. The focus is on supporting individuals to attain a healthy BMI and prepare for a return to home. The service will provide support to individuals in a safe and homely environment and promote engagement with the women to help diminish their distress and help them achieve a better quality of life.

For most individuals, this will involve the reduction of emotional behaviours associated with the eating disorder psychopathology and acquiring new skills necessary for surviving emotional crises, regulating emotions, and improving interpersonal effectiveness.

This position offers a unique opportunity to support the provision of Occupational Therapy across Cygnet Elowen. The successful post holder will be provided with clinical supervision by the onsite Occupational Therapist.

Additionally, a further Occupational Therapist and an Occupational Therapy Assistant will be recruited in 2026 as the service develops

Under the leadership of our occupational therapy directors, we support over 185 Occupational Therapists. Working together as a large team we provide support to each other across the group, with the opportunity to be part of specialist interest groups & become involved in service development.

Every service line has a clinical lead occupational therapist to lead and develop evidence based practice and agreed occupational therapy pathway.

We care about people in our services Expert clinical supervision and protected time for a weekly 1:1 with your clinical supervisor Induction & service line training in area of specialism Dedicated CPD time for peer support, skill development and specialist training We support and develop you to build skills and confidence for the next level in your career.

• Free parking
• Free meals for staff on duty
• Group pension plan helping you save for your future
• NHS Discount Cards & Blue Light Card (includes big brand discounts)
• Wellbeing centre with exercises, recipes, financial and mental health advice.
• Plus much more…

A career at Cygnet comes with excellent benefits. Whether it's saving you money on the high street, with healthcare, holidays & leisure - or securing your future with professional development and a pension - we support you to be happy both in & out of work.

Apply now to enjoy…