Drama Therapist Band 7

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated and skilled dramatherapist, with experience of working in adult mental health, to take on a senior role in an adult community mental health service (ACMHS) in the South West of Hertfordshire, across Borehamwood and Watford. The post is for 25.5 hours a week, over 3 or 4 days. Although there is flexibility with working hours, these should include a Tuesday afternoon 3-5pm to attend arts therapies meetings, training and supervision.

Arts therapies have a long history in HPFT community services and are well established. They sit under the allied health professional umbrella, led by the Clinical Director of Allied Health Therapies. You will be part of the wider arts therapies service in adult mental health, under the professional leadership of the Principal Dramatherapist. Clinical supervision is provided in house. You will have access to a trust wide internal arts therapies CPD programme, offering skill sharing within the trust, as well as external speakers. You will also have access to funding for external courses as agreed by the Arts Therapies Leadership Team.

You will provide group and individual dramatherapy assessment and treatment for service users with complex mental health difficulties. You will be an integral member of the ACMHS, contributing to initial assessments for the team, and to multidisciplinary team discussions. You will act as the lead professional for some service users. You will provide clinical supervision and support to other arts therapists and students. You will have a close working relationship with the Art Therapists who cover the South West quadrant. The post may require working in other locations in South West Hertfordshire, and will require some travel across the county. Some online working from home may also be required.

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?

Then please read on ”

**Job Summary**:

- Provide clinical assessment and intervention to service users with complex mental health issues including personality disorder, complex trauma and psychoses
- Provide assessment and intervention across teams within the SBU
- Work in a variety of venues across the SBU

All staff should comply with the Trust’s Anti-Discriminatory Statement, Employee Charter, Trust Policies and Procedures, Code of Conduct and Equality and Diversity.

**Key Relationships**:
Working relationships
- Works with other arts therapists within the trust, sometimes leading specific delegated projects
- Represents arts therapists within the SBU at the request of the arts therapies leadership team, so has working relationship across and within teams
- Post holder is expected to build relationships with arts therapists in other trusts and within their professional body

**Organisational chart**: Adult Community Mental Health Services

**Duties and Responsibilities**:

- Provide assessment and intervention to service users with complex mental health needs, including personality disorder, complex trauma and psychoses
- Provide assessment and intervention in the form of groups and for individuals
- Provide clinical supervision to arts therapists where appropriate
- Lead on service innovation as delegated by the Arts Therapies Leadership Team or line manager

Clinical Responsibility
- As a clinician, the post holder provides and evaluates assessment and treatment services with adults referred for complex, severe and enduring mental health problems including personality disorder, complex trauma and psychoses. They ascertain risk, needs and sui