Art Psychotherapist

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a part-time (0.5 WTE) art psychotherapist to join our Psychological Service for adults who receive treatment at the Barts Heart and Thorax Centre (BHTC) at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, part of Barts Health NHS Trust.

This is a 12-month fixed-term contract to cover maternity leave.

About the service The BHTC Psychological Service works with adult patients and their families who are living with acute or chronic cardiac and respiratory conditions, including those requiring critical care admission (predominantly cardiothoracic and cancer-related). The service also provides a range of support structures for staff caring for these patients.

Patients are under the care of specialist multidisciplinary teams within BHTC, including:

Adult Congenital Heart Service (GUCH)

Heart Attack Centre (HAC) Adult Critical Care Unit (ACCU)Heart Failure

Electrophysiology

Inherited Cardiovascular Conditions

Cystic Fibrosis*

Difficult Asthma*

*The postholder will not be working with patients from these teams

Main duties of the job

This post will cover areas of the BHTC related to cardiac conditions and critical care. The post holder will work with adults who have life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.

The post holder will receive referrals from cardiac and critical care teams across BHTC and will work closely with the psychological services lead clinical psychologists, offering a good balance of autonomy and support. This is a varied role providing art therapy assessment and intervention to both inpatients and outpatients. The BHTC teams are very welcoming, value psychological input for patients and staff, and will appreciate the post holder maintaining the range of therapies available.

Supervision and line management The service is managed by a consultant clinical psychologist, who leads and develops the psychological provision for BHTC patients and coordinates support for staff. The service also includes senior clinical psychologists, each coordinating psychological provision for their area of BHTC

Line management will be provided by the principal clinical psychologist for the service. Clinical supervision will be provided by a senior art psychotherapist based at the St Bartholomew’s Hospital site.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment

Service background The BHTC psychological services began as a 12-month project for congenital heart patients in 2017 and has since been extended and developed into an established service, with structures in place for appropriate supervision, line management and leadership.