Arts Therapies Professional Lead

This is a 5 day fixed-term post , in a well-managed resourceful MDT . You will be part of a arts therapies team and have good opportunities to work alongside other professionals within the service and wider trust. You will understand how to provide innovative evidenced-based group and individual arts therapies assessment and treatment programs, within various community settings working closely with the MDT adult care services, community nursing and other providers. You will be a highly motivated communicator, with the team's shared passion for achieving the best outcomes for our service users. You will provide support to other therapists and maintain Trust and local team protocols that measure and record your clinical processes and decision making. You will receive lots of support to develop your professional knowledge and skills through CPD opportunities. You will have excellent support with a range of ongoing supervisions including operational, professional and clinical.

We are looking for a creative arts psychotherapist ( Dramatherapist ) to cover maternity leave to work within the Specialist Learning Disability Community Team across West Herts. You will have developed a strong and compassionate alliance with adults with a learning disability, additional emotional and mental health difficulties and their paid and unpaid carers. You will enjoy and value close team- working to enable creative and meaningful opportunities for people who have a learning disability to express their needs.,

• Experience as Arts Therapist providing a range of therapeutic interventions including: assessment, inpatient and outpatient work, individual and group work, exploratory and supportive.
• Experience as Arts Therapist of working with people with a learning disability including those with autism, and /or a range of mental health problems including a history of psychosis and /or a degree of personality disorder.
• Highly developed organisational and self management skills including management of complex systems and personnel.
• A good track record of using and understanding the value of outcome measuring and evidence based practise
Desirable criteria
• Developed skills in clinical supervision of arts psychotherapists any other professionals.
• Experience of working as arts therapist with the voluntary sector or community groups, Good Honours degree in relevant subject and relevant work experience
• M.A. Art psychotherapy Dramatherapy Music Therapy
• Minimum of 2 years post qualifying professional experience and a demonstrable knowledge of and commitment to best practice and evidence based practice.
• Registered with Health and Care Professions council (HCPC)
• Experience of working as a therapist with service users with complex a learning disability including those with autism, mental health problems and/or personality disorders,
• Experience of working as a therapist with services users with profound and severe learning disabilities who may have limited communication skills and challenging behaviours
• Experience of working with various multi-disciplinary teams especially in community settings.
• Experience of working extensively with carers and families
• Substantial experience of own personal therapy
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Evidence of good communication and expressive skills (written and verbally)
Desirable criteria
• Experience of working as a therapist with services users who have experienced psychotic symptoms.
• Experience of supervising arts psychotherapists and of liaison with university training courses, in own speciality and other specialist areas
• Experience of keyworking and care co-ordination of clients, You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
  
  Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from the Care Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.
Our family of over 3500 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services. The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers - everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout: Our Trust values are: Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional. These values are at the core of who we are, everything we do, and how we do it! Would you like to be part of the HPFT family? Would you like work with us to ensure our service users live the fullest lives possible they can? Would you like to be supported in your career to be the best that you can be?, Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is rated by the Care Quality Commission as an Outstanding provider of mental health and learning disability services. In 2021, we won the prestigious Health Service Journal award for Mental Health Trust of the Year, with the judges saying they were "blown away" by our people's achievements and that everything they saw "sings and hums". This year, our staff rated us the 4^th best mental health and learning disability trust to work for out of all 52 trusts in the country. Our staff tell us that they are proud to be part of the HPFT team, proud of the standard of care we provide and proud that service users are our top priority. Our people tell us they feel supported though a great development, wellbeing and work-life balance offer and a highly compassionate, values-driven culture. We are equally proud of our staff, who live our values of being welcoming, kind, positive, respectful and professional