Music Psychotherapist Bristol

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a qualified and experienced HCPC registered Music Psychotherapist to work with a range of clients in our in-patient setting within Secure Services Forensic Units in North Bristol.

Fromeside is an 80 bedded unit which provides inpatient services to male and female service users from the South west region. Wickham unit is a 29 bedded Low secure service for male service users.

The post holder will be based in an established Arts Psychotherapies department which sits within the wider Psychological Therapies Service (PTS). The team is also part of a wider MDT team which includes Medical, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Education and Social Work. The clinical work spans both direct and non-direct working; you would need to be able to generate and accept referrals, complete focussed assessments and offer a range of group and individual treatment options. In the non-direct work you may offer in-patient staff group Reflective Practice and Clinical Supervision.

Both units are modern purpose built environments and are well resourced including designated therapy rooms.

There are seven arts psychotherapists working in the hospital site and three modalities of treatment are available offering the opportunity for joint working. The Arts Psychotherapists regularly take Masters Trainees from the 4 modalities and it is an established teaching and training site.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work as part of the Multi-Disciplinary Team and the Arts Psychotherapies Team. They will work autonomously to plan and implement individual and group sessions and be involved in assessment and ongoing treatment as part of the psychological therapies provision in the service.

The post holder will input into patients' care pathway through attendance at PCR (Patient Care Review) and CPA (Care Pathway approach) meetings. They will also undertake other multi-disciplinary work, including provision of staff support, reflective practice, supervision and training.

This post offers considerable creative opportunity and challenge for a resourceful and committed Music Psychotherapist to further develop the Arts Psychotherapies and the wider service. This is a permanent post.

About us

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.

Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200miles, to more than 1.8million people.

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.

Job responsibilities

Clinical

• To provide a specialist Music Psychotherapy service including assessment and treatment, using advanced levels of skill, for individual and group short and long-term music psychotherapy and to advise teams in relation to service users complex needs and the range of interventions available.
• To carry out assessments and consultation to inform and enable comprehensive information gathering to establish diagnosis, re service users who present with unclear symptoms and complex mental health difficulties.
• Regularly review and evaluate the therapy including levels of risk as part of the CPA process.
• Communicate with empathy and sensitivity with service users and carers with an awareness and understanding of their problems and often complex issues.
• To be responsible for own specialist caseload working within Trust policies, protocols and guidelines.
• To record service users progress in RIO patient records, write reports and input statistical date.
• To engage in reflective practice and clinical supervision and to offer clinical supervision to arts psychotherapy staff and other colleagues, as required. To arrange and attend professional, team and specialist clinical supervision as appropriate to caseload.

Professional

• Communicate effectively with members of clinical teams, managers and other professional colleagues both representing and providing an arts psychotherapy perspective.
• Work with Managers and Locality leads to ensure that all new, current or adapted arts psychotherapy space/rooms conform to professional association standards and Standards for Better Health, and provide an adequate, appropriate and safe therapeutic environment in which to practice.
• To be responsible for ensuring that all arts works, and digital images and recordings are appropriately stored in line with HCPC, professional associations guidelines and Trustpolicy.
• To work within professional codes of practice and to Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) standards. To work using the best and evidence based practice.

Training and Staff Development

• To maintain high standards of practice, demonstrate ongoing personal development through active participation in internal and external development and training opportunities, recording learning outcomes in a CPD portfolio to fulfil HCPC standards.
• To engage in the appraisal process and own CPD and appraisal and CPD of junior/unqualified staff where appropriate. To ensure continuous engagement in ones own art process in line with HCPC standards.
• To be responsible for the planning and organisation of placements for students including visits to other departments and evaluation of their progress. To supervise, support and mentor students on placement where appropriate. To be responsible for providing both verbal and written reports for universities and training establishments regarding students suitability to qualify.
• To educate other professionals and their students about music psychotherapy and provide specialist advice. This may include presentations.
• To engage in ongoing statutory and mandatory training.

Service and Policy Development

• To keep Head/Lead Arts psychotherapist and Area Manager informed about local service developments, requirements, shortfalls and gaps in the service and input into team service development plans, trust wide strategy and audit. To be responsible for contributing to relevant policy and procedures.
• To input and make proposals for the development of protocols and guidelines and input into the development of arts psychotherapy strategy. To input into the Trust policy and procedures within the work area with particular reference to therapeutic issues.

Health and Safety

• To be responsible for ensuring safe use of materials and equipment and work within health and safety policies and guidelines. Identify training needs for self and junior/unqualified staff where applicable.
• To undertake specific training, keep records and be responsible for monitoring and maintaining health and safety and security of self and others in own work area. Ensure regular health and safety training and updating for self and any junior/unqualified staff for which responsible.
• To be responsible for and manage delegated art therapy equipment and materials budget, as appropriate. To order and maintain equipment in line with COSHH requirements.

Research and Development

• To carry out or participate in research and clinical outcomes assessment to ensure best and evidenced based practice; to evaluate relevant current research, integrate into practice and disseminate to others.
• To carry out or participate in audits and surveys to inform planning and ensure safe practice in line with clinical governance.
• To collaborate with other specialist staff in designated area to extend the range of specialist psychological and group interventions available across the Area.

Other Duties

The post holder may be required to perform duties other than those given in the job description for the post. The particular duties and responsibilities attached to posts may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibilities entailed.

Such variations are a common occurrence and would not of themselves justify the re-evaluation of a post. In cases, however, where a permanent and substantial change in the duties and responsibilities of a post occurs, consistent with a higher level of responsibility, then the postwould be eligible for re-evaluation.

Person Specification

Qualifications/Knowledge/Experience

Essential

• Post graduate qualification in Music Psychotherapy at M.A level which includes creative Processes, working with individual and group dynamics and psychodynamic processes
• Have a music degree or able to demonstrate highly skilled use of own arts medium to graduate level to enable service users to engage in using the medium as part of the therapy process.
• Able to show knowledge and awareness of trauma informed care.
• Experience of working with people with psychiatric disorder

Desirable

• Further post qualification training

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.