Arts Therapist

(Arts Therapist - Band 7 1.0 WTE Permanent)

We are looking for an experienced children's Art Therapists to join our Bedford Schools Mental Health Team. You will be part of a vibrant expanding workforce that is committed to close collaborative working across our local schools.

Main duties of the job

This is a community-based post and will be part of the wider School CAMHS Access Service, with the broader service offering an early intervention service to schools across the whole locality. The post-holder will provide comprehensive psychosocial assessments and individual and group therapeutic interventions as well as staff training and consultation.

The service provides a holistic Thrive model of care, with the CAMH CAS offering the first two quadrants, Giving Advice and Getting Help, and where necessary, stepping up into our multi-disciplinary Getting More Help and Risk Management services.

About us

To support you in this role, you will receiveregular, separate clinical and management supervision sessions, access to a variety of CPD sessions, and annual performance appraisals.The work of the teamis managed and supervised by the Schools Pathway Team Operational Lead which is strongly supported by our experienced CAS Clinical Lead

The Senior Management Team within Bedfordshire & Luton CAMHS is committed to staff development and wellbeing: there are regular opportunities for staff to apply for appropriate training courses, including IAPT, and to get involved in quality improvement initiatives and new developments in the service. The East London NHS Trust prioritizes staff wellbeing and we are introducing a range of staff wellbeing initiatives to support this.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see JD (Job Description) and PS (Personal Specification) for full details of role requirements.

Person Specification

Education/ Qualification/ Training

Essential

• Degree in relevant area
• MA (or equivalent) in Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Drama therapy and or Dance Movement Psychotherapy.
• Registration with the HCPC for Art Therapy, Music therapy or Drama therapy
• For Dance Movement Psychotherapies: Registration with ADMP UK

Desirable

• Membership of Arts Therapies Professional Body
• Clinical Supervision Training
• Further training in an area of psychological practice relevant to the post's clinical area
• CBT Training

Experience

Essential

• Post qualification experience as an Arts Therapist working with the client group that this post is linked to in both individual and group work
• Experience of working with service users with challenging needs
• Supervision of a trainee Arts Therapist
• training sessions regarding the benefits of the Arts and Arts Therapies to a variety of audience

Desirable

• Experience of working as an Arts Therapist in an MDT

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• High standard of verbal communication skills including the ability to provide concise, clear and relevant feedback to a ward round or MDT meeting
• written communication skills including the ability to produce clear reports detailing progress of therapy, selecting relevant information from sessions and presenting this without bias
• Developed interpersonal skills enabling therapeutic alliances to be developed and maintained with clients
• Ability to treat Service Users with respect and dignity at all times, adopting a culturally sensitive approach which considers the whole person
• Ability to apply specialist skills in individual and group based Music Therapy assessments and interventions.
• Ability to work both independently and a part of a MDT team
• Ability to assess and manage frequent distressing clinical interactions with clients who have serious mental health problems
• Ability to assess and manage exposure to potential hazards including frequent verbal aggression and risk of physical aggression in hospital setting whilst ensuring safety of self, client and members of the public
• Good organizational and time management skills
• Line management of more junior staff
• Adapts and uses a range of Arts Therapies clinical techniques including use of developmental aims as essential
• Ability to work with and contain emotional impact through clinical supervision and team support systems
• Ability to assess risk and be able to work face to face with acutely unwell service users
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of other

Knowledge

Essential

• The needs and rights of service users and / or carers in planning and service development
• The mental health support needs of Children, young people and families
• The Children's Act
• Policies related to the Service, e.g. risk assessment
• Governance and its application
• Current National legislation, policies and guidelines relevant to the clinical context of the Post and their application
• Children and young people's mental health research, diagnosis and treatment and approaches in related fields i.e. child development
• Arts Therapies research and literature relevant to Child Development
• Equal Opportunities related to staff and clients
• Collaborative working between Arts Therapies and music in health
• A working knowledge of Child Protection Guidelines

Other

Essential

• Ability to adapt to physical environment when dedicated therapy rooms are not available e.g. transporting materials, equipment etc and willingness to move furniture to set up a room (within Health and Safety parameters)
• Physical skills to facilitate a wide range of activities both on a one -to -one and group basis, including using equipment as required
• Mental and emotional effort required to undertake intense concentration for clinical interventions on both a one -to -one and group basis
• Active involvement in ongoing professional and team development and a commitment to developing other team members
• Emotional effort: Dealing with families who are in challenging circumstances occasional patient complaints conveying of unwelcome news
• Working conditions: Occasional verbal and physical abuse unpredictable clinical scenarios eg emergency home visits travel in community all weathers.

Desirable

• Record of having published in either peer reviewed or academic professional journals and/or books
• Record of having published in either peer reviewed or academic professional journals and/or books

Employer details

Employer name

East London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

9 Rush Court

Bedford

MK40 9JT

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

363-SSLB5520510-A