Dramatherapist

at  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

• To plan, provide and develop Dramatherapy sessions for inpatients with a range of diagnosis. This includes systematic assessment, evaluation and treatment in individual and group Dramatherapy work.
• To undertake clinical supervision for allocated staff, trainees or honoraries
• To participate in the Trust’s Arts Psychotherapies research strategy and audit
• To plan, deliver and develop a specialist Dramatherapy provision for acute patients with a wide range of diagnosis and presentations.
• To deliver individual and group Dramatherapy sessions for patients using evidence-based approaches
• To contribute specialist knowledge from your assessment and treatment to the overall care plan for each patient through written summaries and contribution to inpatient clinical meetings (team handover, ward rounds, formulation meetings).
• To work as an integrated team member of the multidisciplinary team, respecting others’ ways of working and having these others in mind when providing Art Psychotherapy.
• To use your clinical skills to contribute to the overall treatment goals for patients beyond arts psychotherapy treatment where necessary and if appropriate and needed by the team, e.g. facilitation of reflective practice groups, participation in formulation meetings and complex case forums, joint assessments etc
• To contribute to the development of the Arts Psychotherapies service within the Trust by facilitating placements and offering clinical supervision to students and other clinical team members
• To contribute to the Trust’s research strategy for the arts psychotherapies.
• To be able to do all of the above autonomously, referring when necessary to line management or clinical supervision.
  CNWL is one of the largest NHS employers in the UK of Arts Psychotherapists, working in a vast range of services and has an increasing trainee placement programme continually broadening the reach of the profession.
  In joining CNWL you’ll have access to first class national and international Arts psychotherapy CPD training through our International Centre for Arts Psychotherapy (ICAPT); as well as through our strong links with Brunel University, supporting and developing their international PHD and Masters course in Art Psychotherapy training.
  CNWL Arts Psychotherapies is linked nationally with research programmes and has strong QI support; and keen to expand the knowledge and evidence base of the Arts Psychotherapies.
  We are committed to supporting our staff to achieve their potential, whilst also ensuring they are also putting their health and wellbeing as a priority. We have a vast range of support networks and benefits to offer all staff working for us.
  The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.
• To use analytic judgement and sound interpretative insight for the assessment of clients for their suitability for individual or group Dramatherapy sessions where there may be highly complex presentations and situations.
• To adapt your clinical practice to suit particular challenges of the environment without comprising therapeutic goals.
• To use sound judgement and interpretative skills to work with patients to understand their verbal and non-verbal communications
• To enable the Dramatherapy to act as a vehicle of expression for patients who may not be able to successfully communicate in any other way
• To assess risk and adopt appropriate measures to maintain a safe and therapeutically sensitive environment for all when faced with challenging behaviour, for example verbal abuse, deliberate self-harm, violence, aggression or threatening behaviour. To contribute to the overall inpatient team risk assessment.
• To continually review a patient’s emotional stability, use of therapy and ability to work with others in a constructive way, taking into account risk factors, complexity of presentation, patient’s need and service priorities.
• To work constructively and flexibly with people from different cultural, social and religious backgrounds, being particularly alert to special vulnerabilities e.g. refugee status, war-related trauma etc.
• To manage time limited therapy which may include abrupt endings
• To refer on to other appropriate community services after assessment or on discharge
• To maintain a high degree of professionalism at all times and to maintain proper boundaries
• To integrate students into appropriate clinical situations whilst giving a level of support to ensure the safety of and benefit to both students and patients.
• To seek out help of seniors or more experienced arts therapists in this field to enhance your clinical practice, possibly from sources within and outside the Trust, and to promulgate this knowledge through the arts psychotherapies network within the Trust

Please refer the Job description for details