Drama therapist

Job overview

We are currently seeking a part-time (30 hours per week) Drama therapist to join our Enhanced Primary Mental Health Service (EMPHS) based at the Orchards in Hemel Hempstead and covering Hemel Hempstead and St Alban's locality.

EPMHS is a relatively new service in NW Hertfordshire which sits under Primary Care Mental Health Services. We aim to provide interventions to those not meeting the criteria for secondary mental health services but may need more than is offered by Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Services.

We are seeking a drama therapist to work alongside our current drama therapist to provide assessment and interventions for service users with complex mental health needs. The role will include but not limited to:

• Provide clinical assessment, group and 1.1 dramatherapy interventions to service users with moderate and severe mental health issues, with a particular focus on engaging younger adults
• To work effectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary team
• Provide assessment and intervention across GP practices within the EPMHS, and in a variety of venues across the locality.

Please refer to the JD/PS for further information.

Main duties of the job

• Provide assessment, preventative and early intervention treatment for service users experiencing moderate and severe mental health problems who may have a level of complexity that traditional primary care and community support struggle to support and for those experiencing long-term mental ill-health (severe and common mental illnesses).
• Provide assessment and intervention for individuals and groups, with a particular emphasis on engaging younger adults
• To implement policy and service development, undertake service evaluation and audit for own team/service

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As a clinician, the post holder provides and evaluates assessment and treatment services for adults referred for moderate and severe mental health problems with a level of complexity, and for those experiencing long term mental ill-health.  They ascertain risk, needs and suitability for individual, group, other psychological therapies as a whole and specialist arts therapies, communicating with the whole range of other professionals involved.

The post holder works jointly with professionals to deliver assessment and care consultation for the range of interventions, provides individual and group dramatherapy assessments and treatment and care coordination.

To carry out initial assessment for the service.

Analyses and clarifies factors or risk e.g. self-harm, level of functioning, capacity to engage in therapeutic work, unmet needs and support systems to determine the patient’s need and capacities to undertake the treatment.

To provide specialised assessment with service users referred for the range of psychological therapies jointly with other arts therapies and psychological therapies to determine which service will meet their therapeutic needs.

To make decisions and recommendations regarding the treatment of service user with moderate and severe mental illnesses through investigative assessment processes and to use interpretive skills to understand complex behaviours and psychological function.

To plan, monitor and deliver specialised programmes of care for the treatment of a case load of service users experiencing moderate to severe mental illness, with a level of complexity.

To provide dramatherapy interventions, group or individual as appropriate through sensitive and expert application of arts therapeutic techniques to service users assessed as able to engage in therapeutic work, whether brief or longer term.  Standardised outcome measures and evidence-based practice interpretation is part of this.

To work with a time limited structured group model, in consultation with the Specialist Dramatherapist.

To work to agreed activity standards including duration of intervention

To be able to contain at time highly emotive and distressing clinical material (i.e. sexual abuse and other trauma).  To enable the service user to disclose painful material, in order to progress the course of treatment where appropriate.

To have the highly specialised skills and understanding to help service users in group and individual treatment, either brief or longer term, to disclose, process and resolve conflicts within themselves and with others.

To fully engage in regular clinical supervision from the Specialist Dramatherapist and professional and line management supervision.

Financial Responsibility

Responsible for ordering materials in consultation with the Specialist Dramatherapist and Manager.

Responsible for sourcing suitable affordable room space and liaising with the venue and line manager regarding costs and payment.

Service Development and Improvement

• To contribute to the development and implementation of local protocols and procedures to support delivery of arts therapies including operational issues.
• To use outcome measures such as Dialog, CORE and goal-based outcome measure and service user rated measures to evaluate/audit the effectiveness of therapy for clients.
• To represent arts therapies at local forums. e.g. practice governance meetings.
• Collaborates with the multi-disciplinary team in reviewing the Arts Therapies Service, contributing to service development in liaison with the Manager, Specialist Dramatherapist and Professional Lead.
• Contributes to proposals for policy and service development for the MDT.  Evaluates options for addressing these and contributes, as agreed with Manager, Specialist Dramatherapist and Professional Lead, in reviewing the service as a whole.

Communications

To communicate often delicate information with service users on individual or group treatment that requires high levels of tact and skill to enable service users to engage and progress in treatment.  Need for working with highly developed communication skills to process highly charged emotions and enable service users to work through and complete treatment.

To provide written/electronic records, reports, letters and reviews of assessment, treatment, and termination of services, to professionals and service users, as needed.

To complete and update accurate clinical records including risk assessment and case review, throughout the course of dramatherapy/art therapy provision, for each patient.

Physical Working Conditions and Environment

• To ensure that the practice environment is suitably maintained (equipment and rooms) for the services provided and that responsible officers are kept informed of unmet needs, risks and development
• To move furniture and specialised equipment as necessary to create safe and clinically effective environments for assessment and treatment.

Information Resources

• Regularly inputs data and statistics into central information systems, and regularly operates computers and software, responding to e-mail communication, compiling reports and documents including therapy schedules and programmes.
• Compliance in maintaining secure use of IT and other filing systems