Job summary
Occupational Therapist Care Coordinator - Community Perinatal Mental Health Team
Full time - 37.5 hours
Permanent post

Specialist Mother & Baby Mental Health Service (SMABS) is a community perinatal mental health service commissioned with the Bradford District Care Foundation Trust (BDCFT). We cover the catchment area of Bradford, Airedale and Craven there are approximately 8,000 live births per year. The main maternity hospital sites being Bradford (6,000 births) and Airedale (2,000 births).

We are currently looking to recruit an experienced and highly motivated and enthusiastic mental health professional/practitioner to join our team with a specialist interest in improving care for women & their families in the area.Experience of working in the Perinatal Mental Health field is desirable; a keen interest in this specialist area is essential.

Closing- 9th August 2026
Shortlisting- 12th August 2026
Interview- TBC

Main duties of the job

• To be part of SMABS team and provide specialist assessment, formulation and evidence-based interventions to women experiencing perinatal mental health ill health across Bradford & Airedale & Craven, making autonomous clinical decisions about own professional practice.
• To work within the specialist multi disciplinary team and network and contribute to all elements of service delivery.
• Assess the impact of a parent's mental ill-health on baby and older siblings within the individual household, notifying relevant agencies of concerns if appropriate.
• To work in a sensitive and attuned way with women, infants, partners and wider families that enable containment during highly emotive transition period in parental lives; to delicately balance the needs and wellbeing of the women whilst simultaneously ensuring infant health, wellbeing and safety is paramount and centred in all care delivery.
• Work in a recovery and inclusive way to support women, infants, and families to achieve good mental health outcomes within the perinatal period.
• To create robust risk management plans in line with the organisational and local policy/guidelines and CPA framework.
• The Perinatal community mental health clinician/care co-ordinator will attend, participate and in some cases lead clinical/patient related meetings such as professionals meetings, CPA, and MDT.
• To support the supervision of the MDT.

About us
Everything we do is underpinned by our core values: -

We Care - We act with respect and empathy, and always value difference
We Listen - We understand people's views and respond to their individual needs
We Deliver - We develop and provide excellent services and support our partnersWe will consider a variety of flexible working arrangements to enable staff to balance their work and home lives and support staff by offering a fantastic range of benefits including :

Increase mileage rates for > 3500
A wide range of health and wellbeing support packages
A range of internal and external development and learning opportunities
Plus many more.

We are also proud to pledge our support to the Armed Forces and hold a Bronze Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.

BDCFT is dedicated to environmental and social sustainability by delivering on the commitments within our Green Plan. All staff are actively encouraged and supported to participate in training and to identify and implement sustainable quality improvement across all service areas and activities.

The Trust reserves the right to close this position early if a significant number of applications are received.

Job responsibilities

Job Overview Continued-
The Specialist Mother & Baby Mental Health Service (SMABS) provides mental health care & treatment for women and their families during pregnancy till first year post delivery. The SMABS is a multi-disciplinary team, which provides support for women who are experiencing moderate to severe mental ill health in pregnancy or present with a high risk of relapse during pregnancy & the perinatal period. The practitioners provide care co-ordination, assessments & there is also a duty service which provides advice, information and signposting regarding perinatal mental health. Duty also will complete a holistic triage for referrals coming into the service.

The team has close working relationships with a number of services, this includes working closely with maternity services (midwifes, health visitors) and via working in collaboration we deliver more personalised care plans for people during pregnancy, during birth and postnatally. We also work closely with Mother and Baby units and provide ongoing care for women who are at times receiving care out of local services and area boundaries.

As part of our care we offer assessment and treatment aimed at treating and enhancing the parent-infant relationship, where mental health needs may have impacted upon this. Promoting the relationship with the infant and its emotional and physical well-being and development are central to the care provided by perinatal mental health services.

Perinatal Mental Health is a rapidly expanding area with significant investment being made. This means that there will be high quality training and potential opportunities for career development for the successful candidate. We offer a comprehensive induction package and practioners within the service are able to access specialist training both internally and externally in order to develop a high level of perinatal expertise regarding perinatal mental health conditions, risks and relapse factors, and evidence-based interventions. In addition practitioners gain a growing knowledge base on infant mental health, development and attachment and bonding.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Please read the attached Job description and person specification for more details about this role.

Right to Work in the UK
Applicants should be aware that for any individual who requires a visa to work in the UK, the Trust provides sponsorship for registered healthcare practitioner roles only. This is an essential requirement of the role, and the Trust is unable to offer you a role if you are unable to meet Trust requirements for sponsorship and Home Office requirements for a visa.

Prior to your appointment you will be asked to provide confirmation of your right to work and reside in the UK. During your continued employment with the Trust, you have a personal responsibility to notify your manager as soon as possible should there be any changes to your right to work status.

Regrettably, if the role is not eligible for sponsorship under the Trusts eligibility criteria, the Trust are unable to extend your employment beyond the expiration of your current visa. The Trust is not responsible or liable for ensuring that your employment continues after this period.

As a condition of continuous employment, it essential you maintain the legal right to work in the United Kingdom throughout the duration of your employment with Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust (BDCFT). Any change in your right-to-work status, including but not limited to visa expiration, revocation, or denial of renewal, may impact your eligibility for employment with the Trust. It is your responsibility to promptly inform your Line Manager of any changes in your right-to-work status immediately and to provide necessary documentation for verification purposes. Failure to obtain or renew your visa in a timely manner is a breach of employment conditions and will result in termination of your employment. We appreciate your attention to this matter and your commitment to fulfilling this requirement promptly.

Person Specification

Qualifications
Essential

• Professional Qualification (Occupational Therapist) to degree level or equivalent.
• 2 years minumum experience post qualification.
• Previous experience in a relevant Adult Mental Health Service community setting
• Maintains current registration with the HCPC

Desirable

• Psychological Therapy Qualification in a relevant modality.
• Supervision qualification

Experience
Essential

• Can demonstrate skills in assessing and managing people experiencing mental health problems
• Can demonstrate skills in assessing and managing risk in a variety of settings.
• Working within an integrated multi-disciplinary environment and co-working with other teams and professions within team meetings, case conferences and professional meetings

Desirable

• Experience of working with Peri Natal Mental Health Problems, substance misuse and/or emotional dysregulation

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.