Job summary
- Main area
- Arts Psychotherapies
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- 37.5 hours per week (Full Time)
- Job ref
- 363-FOR7281734
- Employer
- East London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- John Howard Centre
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £61,927 - £68,676 per annum Inc HCAs
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 30/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Team Manager/Head of Arts Therapies
Band 8a
ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
Arts Psychotherapist
We are looking for an experienced and dynamic Arts Psychotherapist to take on a leadership role for an established arts psychotherapy team in the forensic directorate. The arts therapies are embedded across our services in the medium secure, low secure and forensic community services.
Applicants may come from any arts psychotherapy modality and will link into the arts therapies leadership structure for East London NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust is an inclusive organisation and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.
Main duties of the job
1. To be responsible for the overall provision of a specialist Arts Therapies assessment and treatment service for adults within the Forensic Directorate
2. To be responsible for all operational aspects of the Arts Therapies Service within the Forensic Directorate and ensure that clear systems are in place and working effectively for management and productivity
3. To lead in the development of the Arts Therapies service, including proposing and implementing service developments within the area served by the team and in liaison with the Directorate Management Team, Trust Strategic Lead and Professional Leadfor Arts Therapies, and other Head Arts Therapists in the Trust.
4. To manage and supervise the Arts Therapists and trainee Arts Therapists across the Forensic Directorate
5. To provide specialist Arts Therapies assessment and treatment for own clinical caseload
6. To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of the Arts Therapies service and to understand and contribute research and quality improvement in relevant specialist fields
7. To establish and maintain good working relationships with all other operational and clinical managers in both inpatient and community settings in the Forensic Directorate
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Kindly refer to the job description and person specification that is attached to the vacancy profile.
Person specification
Education/Training & Qualifications
Essential criteria
- For Art, Music or Drama Therapist Registration with the HCPC For Dance Movement Psychotherapists - Full Member Registration with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
- Membership of own Arts Therapy professional body
- Training in risk assessment and risk management
- Clinical Supervision Training
- Further training in an area of psychological practice relevant to the post’s clinical area
- MA (or equivalent) Arts Therapies qualification
Desirable criteria
- Management training e.g. in appraisal skills, recruitment and retention, Core manager’s training
- Management training e.g. in appraisal skills, recruitment and retention, Core manager’s training
- Further training in evidence based therapeutic approaches integrating with Arts therapies eg MBT/IPT/DBT
Experience
Essential criteria
- Substantial post-qualification experience of providing highly specialist arts therapeutic assessment and treatment interventions for patients within forensic services with complex problems and reflecting a wide range of clinical severity and/or comorbid difficulties such as dual diagnosis, personality disorder or learning disabilities
- Experience of leading a staff team including; workload allocation, timetable monitoring and coordination, negotiating new staffing resources, managing departmental budgets and performance targets, organising induction of new staff and students
- Experience developing a specialist service, and of liaising with a wide range of operational managers across clinical settings
- Facilitating highly specialist individual and group arts therapy in highly related clinical settings, to include co- working with less experienced staff
- Experience of liaising with multidisciplinary teams over the provision of clinical interventions
- Experience of representing arts therapies at management and service development meetings
- Experience of teaching, training, and/or supervision of others
- Experience of working in a multi-cultural setting
- Experience of audit and research processes
Desirable criteria
- Experience of recruitment and selection
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Essential criteria
- Leadership and management skills, particularly in developing a specialist service
- Skills in managing and monitoring budgets and performance data
- Skills in delivering highly specialist arts therapy assessment, intervention and management in individual and/or group formats, adapted to meet the needs of the individual or group and using theoretical models to analyse information and develop formulations upon which to base treatment
- Highly effective communication and organisational skills to include wide range of IT skills, and the ability to plan, organise and prioritise own work according to resources and service user and Service needs, and guiding others in doing the same
- Skills in effective oral and written communication of complex and/or clinically sensitive information to a wide range of recipients both within and outside the NHS,including the ability to produce letters, reports, and associated documentation appropriate to its readership, and to overcome barriers to understanding and acceptance
- Skills in contributing to risk assessment and risk management planning within a multidisciplinary team
- Able to work autonomously with clinical work
- Ability to plan and deliver teaching and training sessions; high level presentation skills
- Awareness of diversity and cultural difference issues, and ability to provide a service that is appropriate to a diverse range of people
Desirable criteria
- Skills in Quality Improvement Metholodogy
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Sunita Arjune
- Job title
- Deputy Service Director
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07342715620
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