Location
Harrow

Hours
Full Time (hours not specified)

Salary
£54,843 per annum

About the Role
The London Borough of Harrow is establishing a specialist Autism Function within Adult Social Care, aimed at providing preventative, high-impact interventions to reduce avoidable harm, inequality, and costly escalations for autistic adults. We are seeking a Senior Occupational Therapist with strong autism expertise to play a pivotal role in this innovative function. This senior specialist position focuses on early intervention, formulation, sensory and environmental adaptation, and system-wide influence rather than traditional equipment-led occupational therapy.

You will be embedded within the Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism (MHLDA) service, applying specialist OT expertise upstream to prevent distress escalating into crisis, hospital admission, or high-cost care packages. You will also support cases requiring specialist expertise to reduce restrictions and promote independence.

This role is ideal for an OT who wants to work at the intersection of practice, prevention, public health, and system leadership.

Key Responsibilities
- Intervene early in high-risk situations
- Reduce reliance on restrictive and staffing-intensive support models
- Stabilise placements
- Support accurate formulation of need
- Build autism-informed capability across Adult Social Care and partner organisations

Specialist Practice & Prevention
Provide autism- and sensory-informed assessment and formulation for adults at risk of escalation. Design sensory, environmental, and occupational interventions that reduce distress and prevent crisis. Influence care planning to reduce reliance on 1:1 or 2:1 staffing and containment-based models. Support stabilisation of placements, tenancies, and daily routines. Contribute to safeguarding responses that understand autism rather than misinterpret distress as behavioural risk.

System Leadership & Consultation
Provide specialist consultation and advice to social workers, care managers, AMHPs, and managers. Support targeted review of high-intensity packages by identifying unmet autism-related needs. Influence provider practice through review activity, commissioning conversations, and quality assurance. Contribute to system learning.

Partnership & Integration
Work closely with Social Care colleagues, CNWL, health partners, housing services, and commissioning teams. Contribute to the development of autism-informed approaches across the local system.

Workforce Development
Deliver training, case consultation, and reflective learning to improve autism capability across the workforce. Champion trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming practice.

About Harrow Council
Harrow Council is the 12th largest London borough and one of the most culturally diverse local authorities in the UK. It offers a vibrant community with high-achieving schools and excellent transport links including the Metropolitan Line, Watford DC Line, and national rail services. The borough is easily accessible via the M1, M25, and A406.

Experience
- Significant post-qualifying experience working with autistic adults or people with complex neurodevelopmental profiles
- Experience in Adult Social Care, mental health, learning disability, forensic, or complex community settings is welcomed

About You
- Registered Occupational Therapist (HCPC)
- Strong expertise in sensory integration, environmental adaptation, and functional formulation
- Confident working with complexity, ambiguity, and risk
- Understanding of how autism intersects with trauma, mental ill-health, safeguarding, and capacity
- Ability to influence practice beyond own caseload
- Comfortable working flexibly across community, office, and partnership settings

Qualifications
- Registered Occupational Therapist with HCPC registration