Art psychotherapist

Job description

Job responsibilities

1.To provide a specialist Art Psychotherapy inpatient provision of group and individual Arts Psychotherapy sessions for patients over both short and medium term.

2. To provide group and/or individual Arts Psychotherapy to patients, planning and reviewing treatment in conjunction with the patient and the community team in the context of their full treatment plan.

3. To work in conjunction with the Primary Care Network service, accepting and assessing referrals as necessary and developing an appropriate treatment plan, taking into account risk factors, complexity of presentation, patient need, and service priorities.

4. To assess each patients suitability for individual or group Arts psychotherapy and to ascertain from the ongoing review process a patients emotional stability, use of the therapy and ability to work with others towards the agreed aims of treatment.

5. To use analytic judgement and sound interpretative insight for the assessment of clients for their suitability for individual or group Art Psychotherapy where there may be highly complex situations or facts as presented by the client/team.

6. To offer specialist treatment for those who would benefit from psychological therapy but find primarily verbal psychotherapy difficult to access (e.g. thought disorder, cognitive difficulties, emotional withdrawal, language problems, etc.)

7. To assess risk and adopt appropriate measures to maintain a safe and therapeutically sensitive environment for all when faced with challenging behaviour, for example verbal abuse, deliberate self-harm, violence, aggression or threatening behaviour. To contribute to the overall team risk assessment.

8. To ascertain from the ongoing review process a patients emotional stability, use of therapy and ability to work with others in a constructive way, taking into account risk factors, complexity of presentation, patients need and service priorities.

9. As an experienced clinician to be adept at working intensively and flexibly to sustain involvement with those who are at high risk of disengaging from treatment.

10. To develop a high level of specialist clinical skill relevant to complex emotional needs in the local community services

11. To maintain a high degree of professionalism at all times and to maintain proper boundaries particularly as the clinical work will frequently involve working alone with individuals for substantial periods in emotionally intense therapy sessions.

12. To deliver Arts Psychotherapy for patients using evidence-based approaches

13. To adapt your clinical practice to suit particular challenges of the environment without comprising therapeutic goals.

14. To enable the image-making activity to act as a vehicle of expression for patients who may not be able to successfully communicate in any other way.

15. To use sound judgement and interpretative skills to work with the client to understand the content and context of their communication and to respond to the arts process and patient interaction as a means of developing self-awareness and greater understanding of self in relation to other.

16. To work and think responsibly and constructively with the relevant teams and any carers involved, drawing on clinical experience and theoretical knowledge to highlight and not collude with potentially destructive mechanisms of defence.

17. To contribute specialist knowledge from your assessment and treatment to the overall treatment and care plan for each patient through contribution to clinical meetings

18. To work as an integrated team member of the multidisciplinary team, respecting others ways of working and having these others in mind when providing Art Psychotherapy.

19. To seek out help of seniors or more experienced arts therapists in this field to enhance your clinical practice, possibly from sources within and outside the Trust, and to promulgate this knowledge through the arts psychotherapies network within the Trust.

20. To contribute to the development of the Arts Psychotherapies service within the Trust by facilitating placements for Arts Psychotherapy students, offering opportunities for observation, independent work and providing line management and clinical supervision.

21. To contribute to the Trusts research strategy for the Arts Psychotherapies.

22. To manage time limited therapy with due consideration to the ending in the context of the overall treatment programme.

23. To refer on to other appropriate services after assessment or on discharge

24. To offer supervision to other team members to assist in processing the emotional impact of clinical work with people with serious mental illness through applying skills and knowledge from training and own personal psychotherapy.

25. To work constructively and flexibly with people from different cultural, social and religious backgrounds, being particularly alert to special vulnerabilities e.g. refugee status, war-related trauma etc.

26. To integrate students into appropriate clinical situations whilst giving a level of support to ensure the safety of and benefit to both students and patients.

27. To write reports and contribute to the writing of reports as required by the community Arts Psychotherapy service.

28. To do all of the above autonomously, referring when necessary to clinical supervision.

Person Specification

Education and qualifications

Essential

• oGood honours degree in Art or equivalent performing/work experience
• oMA/MSc or equivalent in Art therapy
• oEligibility for State Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• oTraining in risk assessment, breakaway, health and safety, child protection or willingness to complete this in the first year of employment.
• oEvidence of CPD since qualifying.

Desirable

• oOther related academic qualifications
• Further training in Personality Disorder/Psychosis/Trauma

Previous experience

Essential

• oExperience of offering autonomously group and individual art psychotherapy with these client groups
• oExperience of working with adults within a complex and severe/enduring mental health in community and inpatient settings
• oExperience of working with people with disturbed and challenging behaviour
• o Experience of working with people with a diagnosis of personality disorder(s)

Desirable

• oExperience of being sole arts therapist/psychotherapist in a MDT.

Other

Essential

• oThe demonstrate ability to understand and implement the Equal Opportunities Policy at a level appropriate to the job.
• oTo demonstrate ability to work to professional standards and guidelines.

Desirable

• oAbility to support the development of the profession through participation in professional bodies and activities.

Attitudes, aptitudes

Essential

• oFlexible approach; Ability to adapt to physical environment e.g when dedicated therapy rooms are not available i.e. transporting art materials/equipment/musical instruments etc and willingness to manipulate furniture to set up room (within Health and Safety parameters)

Skills, knowledge, abilities

Essential

• oSkills in planning, organising and prioritising own workload
• oKnowledge of and skills in assessing clients for arts therapy/psychotherapy.
• oKnowledge of and skills in assessing risk and contributing to diagnosis.
• oAbility to work autonomously with people with complex needs i.e. aggressive/ unstable/suicidal patients, including those with a mixed diagnosis.
• oAbility to engage and maintain a working therapeutic relationship with non-verbal clients or clients for whom using English is a major difficulty.
• oKnowledge and understanding of a broad range of mental illnesses.
• oAbility to demonstrate therapy/supervision experience and capacity and willingness to use clinical supervision.
• oSkills in applying psychotherapy theories to work with individuals, groups and teams.
• oKnowledge of evidence based practice, clinical governance and related knowledge of research and audit.
• oEvidence of Continuing Professional Development as required by arts therapies professional bodies.
• oComputer literacy and high standard of written communication skills including the ability to produce reports detailing progress of therapy.
• oAbility to treat service users with respect and dignity at all times, adopting a culturally sensitive approach, which considers the needs of the whole person.

Desirable

• oCommitment to and enthusiasm for further training opportunities and CPD

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

St Charles Hospital

Mental Health Unit, Exmoor Street

London

W10 6DZ

Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work (Opens in a new tab)