Band 7 Drama Psychotherapist- Blackberry Hill Hospital

at  Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

We are seeking an HCPC registered Drama Psychotherapist who has some experience or a special interest in working within a psychological therapies team in a forensic adult in-patient setting. This is a rare opportunity for a self-directed individual who is able to work both autonomously and as part of a well-established team.
You will work as part of a multidisciplinary team with service users who have a range of mental health issues, forensic histories, and complex trauma. Service users can present with challenging behaviours, and provide teams with the unique opportunity to work collaboratively in engaging and treating individuals with symptoms of distress. These may include the experience of psychosis; severe anxiety & depression; trauma; and the difficulties associated with personality disorder.
The job is located within Fromeside (Medium Secure) and Wickham (Low Secure) units, located on the Blackberry Hill site in North Bristol. Both units are uniquely well resourced, with the advantage of having designated therapy rooms for each of the arts psychotherapy modalities. There are seven arts psychotherapists within the team – offering three modalities of treatment and opportunity for joint working – along with a large team of psychologists. The Arts Psychotherapy team play a key role in the provision of staff support across the hospital units.
This a permanent post, working for 3 days per week (0.6WTE). The post holder will be based in our thriving Arts Psychotherapies department and will benefit from integrating with the wider provision of psychological therapies across the service. You would be joining an experienced team that values regular peer support, team reflective practice and has established management structures.
You will be expected to work closely with other professions within the Multi-Disciplinary Team. The clinical work will include planning and providing Drama Psychotherapy assessments and interventions for individual service users and groups; writing evaluative reviews and reports including a psychodynamic perspective; and regularly inputting into service user’s care pathways.
In addition to the clinical work with service users, part of the role includes the facilitation of support forums for hospital staff through Reflective Practice groups and Clinical Supervision.
We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust) a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.
Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.
At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.
Central to this role is the provision of a specialist Drama Psychotherapy service including assessment and treatment for individuals and groups, offering short and longer-term intervention. This involves collaborative working with other members of the MDT including psychiatry, nursing, psychology, occupational therapists and social work. There are opportunities to engage in service development projects, to offer specialist training, to hold formulations, provide support to staff teams, and to supervise Arts Psychotherapies trainees. The successful post-holder will need to be adaptable, to have good team working skills, and to have experience and/or interest in working with people with significant mental health difficulties, who present a significant risk to others. There will be regular supervision, reflective practice and support within the role.
We are looking for someone with an interest in developing practice within a forensic service. It will be highly beneficial if the successful post-holder has an interest in trauma-informed care and experience of working psychodynamically. Effective communication skills are key to this role - communicating with empathy and sensitivity with service users and carers, as well as communicating effectively with members of clinical teams, managers and other professional colleagues, providing an arts psychotherapy perspective. The role requires the ability to work creatively and reflectively within a locked environment. Given the emotionally demanding nature of the work, applicants will need good understanding of themselves, and awareness of their self-care needs

Please refer the Job description for details