Art Psychotherapist- HMP High Down/HMP Coldingley

NHS; City Of London; On-site; GBP 53,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare provider in the UK is seeking an enthusiastic Art Psychotherapist to deliver specialized therapy services within Surrey prisons. The ideal candidate will have experience in trauma-informed practices and a commitment to working with vulnerable populations. This role involves providing therapy, engaging in clinical meetings, and contributing to overall care plans for incarcerated individuals while promoting social inclusion.

Benefits

Free use of onsite leisure facilities

Free parking for staff

Qualifications

• Post-qualification experience with relevant client group.
• Experience working with disturbed and challenging behaviour.
• Evidence of participation in research.

Responsibilities

• Provide a comprehensive therapeutic service in prisons.
• Contribute to clinical meetings and care plans.
• Work flexibly within professional guidelines.

Skills

Art therapy skills

Trauma-informed practice

Communication skills

Education

Good honours degree in art or relevant subject

MSc or equivalent in art psychotherapy

Registered with HCPC as an art psychotherapist

Tools

SystmOne

P-NOMIS

Job description

Overview

Go back Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Art Psychotherapist- HMP High Down/HMP Coldingley

The closing date is 14 October 2025

The Health and Justice Services Directorate of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust provides physical and mental healthcare to women and men resident in Surrey prisons. Our motto is "Caring NOT Judging" and we are passionate about working with committed staff to provide an excellent service to this vulnerable and often poorly served group of people to improve their health status and to encourage social inclusion.

We are recruiting a highly motivated, innovative and enthusiastic Art Psychotherapist to work as part of the service across our cluster of Surrey prisons. Applications are welcomed from experienced Art Psychotherapists with an interest in working with adults in custody who have experienced trauma, adversity and offending. By joining our team, you will look after the healthcare needs of prisoners and have the opportunity to work collaboratively with other staff and contribute to the Health and Justice Arts Psychotherapies service.

PLEASE NOTE: ANY CANDIDATE WISHING TO APPLY FOR THESE ROLES WILL BE SUBJECT TO VETTING CLEARANCE, WHICH REQUIRES YOU TO HAVE BEEN A RESIDENT IN THE UK FOR A MINIMUM OF 3 YEARS.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will offer specialist Art Psychotherapy provision for prisons in Surrey and may be required to travel across the services.

As well as being part of an innovative prisons Arts Psychotherapies team, we are keen to ensure this post is integrated fully within our wider healthcare services, bringing a diversity of thinking into the wider multi-disciplinary team and prison staff, and respecting and integrating a range of opinions and approaches to provide the best outcomes.

The post holder will receive support and art psychotherapy supervision from the Lead Art Psychotherapist to support the development and delivery of this specialist integrated service.

We are keen to offer this opportunity to a confident and compassionate Art Psychotherapist with expertise in delivering individual and group Art Psychotherapy interventions and who has an interest in working with forensic populations using trauma-informed approaches.

The post holder will be working into a seven day a week trauma-informed service and there may be potential for work into evenings and weekends.

About us

CNWL's Health & Justice Services are led by a highly motivated team with vast experience in healthcare within secure environments.

The Arts Psychotherapies team comes together regularly with psychologists for professional & clinical development. High quality supervision and continuing professional development are integral to our approach and to our intent to support and retain an excellent team. Focused training which contributes to your own development and to our service development will be supported.

CNWL has a large and vibrant Arts Psychotherapies network, offering excellent training, CPD, research and skill-sharing opportunities.

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 in our healthcare settings.

All of our sites in Surrey offer free use of the onsite leisure facilities and free parking for staff.

Job responsibilities

Please see job description and personal specification for full list of responsibilities:

The Art Psychotherapy post will provide a comprehensive, highly specialist therapeutic service to people detained in prison including psychological assessment and therapy as well as advice and consultation on patients psychological care to other members of the core healthcare team and the wider establishment (prison) staff and other partner agencies.

The post holder will be expected to work flexibly and autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of Art Psychotherapy practice within the service/team.

The post holder will contribute specialist knowledge from Art Psychotherapy assessment and treatment to the overall care plan for each service user through contribution to clinical meetings and documented summaries, considering complexity of presentation, client need, risk factors and service priorities and in liaison with prison-based services and community services.

The post holder will contribute to developing the service provided by the Arts Psychotherapists team within Health and Justice.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

• Good honours degree in art or relevant subject, equivalent performing/work experience
• MSc or equivalent in art psychotherapy
• Registered with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) as an art psychotherapist
• Other related academic qualifications
• Clinical supervision training
• Advanced keyboard skills
• Training in breakaway/de-escalation techniques
• Culture awareness training

Previous Experience

• Post-qualification experience of autonomous working with a relevant client group both in groups and individually
• Experience of working with people with disturbed and challenging behaviour
• Substantial experience of personal psychotherapy
• Experience of assessing patients for an arts psychotherapy and making recommendations to a MDT
• Being Sole Arts Therapist in a MDT
• Experience of negotiating space/therapeutic boundaries in a difficult context
• Evidence of participation in research
• Experience of supervising arts psychotherapists (trainee or qualified)
• Experience of using a trauma informed approach
• Lived experience of mental health issues
• Experience of working in secure settings, either prison or secure hospitals
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework

Skills & Knowledge

• High standard of art making and commitment to maintaining skills
• Skills in planning, organising and prioritising own workload and in working without the involvement of the team in a particular case. Knowledge of and skills in assessing patients for arts psychotherapy balancing risk with client needs and service priorities
• Knowledge of evidence based practice, clinical governance and related knowledge for research and audit
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to relevant field/s and the full range of client groups
• Knowledge of current forensic arts psychotherapies research and theories and skills in applying arts psychotherapy theories to work with individuals, groups and organisation
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by HCPC
• Skills in applying art therapy theories to work with individuals, groups and organisation
• Ability to work with people with complex needs e.g. aggressive / unstable / suicidal patients, including those with personality disorder or a mixed diagnosis
• Ability to work with non-verbal patients or patients for whom using English is a major difficulty which could be for cultural reasons, or due to their mental state
• High standard of verbal communication skills including the ability to provide concise, clear and relevant feedback to a ward round/team meeting
• Computer literacy and high standard of documented communication skills including the ability to produce clear typed reports detailing progress of therapy, selecting relevant information from sessions and expressing analytical detail without bias
• Ability to treat service users with respect and dignity at all times, adopting a culturally sensitive approach, which considers the needs of the whole person
• Ability to build constructive relationships with warmth and empathy, using good communication skills
• Experience of working with multi-disciplinary teams
• Commitment to and enthusiasm for further training opportunities and CPD
• Trained to use SystmOne
• Experienced user of P-NOMIS
• Ability to assess risk and be able to work face to face with acutely unwell patients without other staff nearby
• High degree of self awareness, Arts Therapy training and post-qualifying supervision
• Ability to work with trauma and contain emotional impact through clinical supervision and team support systems
• Ability to work with victim/perpetrators who may have distressing personal histories without colluding or over-identifying
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to 'hold' the stress of others
• Ability to adapt to physical environment when dedicated therapy rooms are not available, e.g. transporting art materials / equipment / art instruments and willingness to manipulate furniture to set up room (within Health and Safety parameters)
• Fluent in an additional language
• Ability to learn from experience
• Able to provide services in a variety of environments as meets the needs of clients
• Post qualification personal psychotherapy

Other

• Ability to work to professional guidelines
• Must be capable of working autonomously with traumatised, severely disturbed, aggressive and/or distressed people for prolonged periods individually and in groups
• Ability to travel between sites
• The post holder must have the ability to understand and implement the equal opportunities policy at a level appropriate to the job
• Ability to promote anti-discriminatory and anti-racist practices
• Ability to promote and work in line with the working model of a 7 day a week service
• Record of having published in either peer reviewed or academic professional journals and/or books
• Must demonstrate ability to support the development of the profession through participation in professional bodies and activities

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.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

£53,751 to £60,651 a year pro rata (inc. HCAS)