Creative Therapist (Art, Music or Drama Psychotherapist)

Job summary

Bluebird House is looking to recruit and experienced Band 7 Creative Therapist (Art, Music or Drama) as an integral part of the psychological therapies offer to the service.

Bluebird House is a specialist, medium secure mental health inpatient unit for young people, both male and female, ages 12-18 years.

The postholder will work alongside other psychological therapy colleagues (psychologists and psychological therapists, drama therapist and family therapists) and a comprehensive multi-disciplinary team. The therapist will provide specialist assessment, contribute to the MDT psychological formulation and individual and group work within the unit, and work with other members of the MDT in promoting a psychologically informed environment. Bluebird House has a psychologically informed model of care based on attachment and trauma theory, and also draws from Non Violence Resistance (NVR).

You should have a good understanding of young people presenting with severe mental health and behavioural difficulties. You will need to be a confident practitioner, ideally with experience in forensic, inpatient or CAMHS services, and be adaptable to ever changing needs and pressures.

Main duties, tasks & skills required

To work as an autonomous, independent practitioner responsible for own work and intervention and for the interpretation of agreed guidelines and policies in providing a highly specialist creative therapy service.

To undertake complex assessments and consultancy, providing expert advice to acute care colleagues and the wider clinical multi-professional team.

To provide specialist treatment for complex young people and plan and prioritise own clinical workload.

To comment and propose change to policy or service development within the area psychological service.

To provide psychological guidance and supervision for multidisciplinary clinical colleagues.

To undertake a personal research and development programme and develop and encourage a research culture within the wider clinical team.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services. We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients. By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.

Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trusts community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.

Job description

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

MA/MSc or equivalent in Drama Therapy, Music Therapy or Art Psychotherapy.

Met conditions of full membership Professional

Association (British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT), British Association of Drama therapists (BADth), British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT).

Post-holder must be HCPC registered.

Desirable

Post-graduate training in one or more additional specialised areas