NHS Tyne & Wear Music therapist Band 6 United Kingdom

Overview

As a Music therapist you will use music creatively to help clients address social, emotional or physical difficulties. You won\’t teach your clients to sing or play an instrument, but will communicate through music making and a shared musical experience to support them and facilitate positive changes in their behaviour, communication and wellbeing. You’ll work with children and adults of all ages and social backgrounds, either individually or in groups, in a range of clinical settings. You’ll work with NHS facilities and a range of external organisations; your clients may be affected by a range of injuries, illnesses, disabilities, challenges or difficulties including:

• acquired brain injury or stroke
• addiction
• autism
• communication delay
• dementia
• learning disabilities
• mental ill health
• school exclusion
• serious illness, such as cancer
• social, behavioural and emotional difficulties

You\’ll also work with those who want to gain an insight into themselves and how they relate to others.

Responsibilities

• agree therapy objectives with your clients
• take an active role in sessions by playing, singing and listening
• encourage your clients to use a range of accessible musical instruments, such as percussion and their own voice, to express themselves
• encourage your clients\’ participation and support them musically
• help your clients explore sound to create a musical language of their own
• improvise with music as a reaction to what your clients are communicating to enhance the individual nature of your relationship
• plan, review and assess therapy sessions to monitor their effectiveness and to help plan following sessions
• record therapy sessions, with your clients\’ consent
• support your clients\’ creative development
• help your clients develop an increased self-awareness
• assess your clients\’ musical and non-musical behaviours
• attend meetings with other professionals involved in the care of your clients, such as doctors, paediatricians, speech and language therapists, teachers and social workers, in order to take a holistic approach to their care
• write up case notes and reports and make recommendations for further treatment
• a high level of musicianship
• skills in improvisation and the ability to use music symbolically and expressively
• listening and observational skills to help understand your clients\’ needs and issues
• creativity and imagination
• communication skills to liaise with other medical and educational professionals, parents, relatives and care workers
• personal maturity and emotional stability to deal with challenging situations
• the ability to empathise with clients of all ages and with wide-ranging needs
• flexibility and adaptability – sessions can\’t be rigidly pre-planned as you need to respond to the needs of your client
• patience – music therapy is not exclusively results-based and progress may be slow
• respect for client confidentiality
• a high level of self-reflection and self-awareness

This job title and description is an outline of the principal areas of responsibility and may be subject to periodic change. These duties are neither exclusive nor exhaustive and the post holder may be called upon to adapt to and undertake different or new appropriate duties as may be required in line with professional and service developments, within the grading level of the post and the competence of the post holder. Prior to any variations to your job description consultation will take place in line with the Trust\’s policies and procedures

Essential requirements

• Ability to act as part of a team
• Ability to cope with a varying workload
• IELTS (7.5 with 7.0 in each module) or OET Exam Grade B Overall for Overseas AHP Professionals

HCPC Registration Required (Health & Care Professionals Council) Essential – We can provide guidance if needed

Note: The trust operates a policy whereby all employment for staff that have access to children or vulnerable adults will be subject to satisfactory DBS Disclosure. The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) have merged to become the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Overseas candidates will require an international police check or character reference.

At Workplace Doctors we welcome all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. Candidates will be offered an interview providing they meet the minimum criteria for the post. Workplace Doctors is a recruitment agency that offers locum, fixed term and permanent medical jobs for Doctors, Nurses & AHP Medical professionals. (AHP) Allied Health Professionals Guide to working in the UK