Arts Therapist (Music Therapist)

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; Watford; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent mental health service provider in Watford is seeking an Arts Therapist (Music Therapist) to join their team. The role involves providing music therapy assessments and treatment to service users with learning disabilities and mental health challenges. Candidates should have an M.A. in arts therapies and significant professional experience. This position offers competitive salary and ongoing support for professional development.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Ongoing professional development support

Qualifications

• Good Honours degree in relevant subject and relevant work experience.
• Significant post-qualifying professional experience in mental health.
• Experience supervising Arts therapies students.

Responsibilities

• Provide individual and group music therapy assessments and treatment.
• Develop alliances with adults with learning disabilities and mental health difficulties.
• Provide clinical supervision to other arts therapists.

Skills

Therapeutic interventions

Communication skills

Analytical skills

Evidence-based practice

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Education

Good Honours degree in relevant subject

M.A. Arts psychotherapies (art, drama or music)

Registered with Health and Care Professions council (HCPC)

Job description

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

Arts Therapist (Music Therapist)

The closing date is 30 November 2025

A great opportunity has arisen for a creative and experienced arts psychotherapist (Music ) to work within the Arts Therapies Team in the Specialist Learning Disability Community Team.

As part of our team in Hertfordshire, you’ll have the chance to work alongside other talented arts therapists, helping to provide exceptional care and support to our service users. We’re committed to helping you develop your professional knowledge and skills, with plenty of opportunities for CPD. And with our excellent rating from the CQC on our last inspection, you can be sure you’ll be part of a team that’s making a real difference. Plus, you’ll receive fantastic ongoing support with a range of supervisions, including operational, professional, and clinical.

Main duties of the job

• You will have developed a strong and compassionate alliance with adults with a learning disability, and mental health difficulties and understand the important role of families and paid carers.
• You will understand how to provide innovative evidence‑based individual and group music therapy assessment and treatment programmes, within various community settings across West Herts.
• You will be a highly motivated communicator, with the team’s shared passion for achieving the best outcomes for our service users.
• You will provide clinical supervision and support to other arts therapists and students when required.
• The post may require working across a number of locations in West Hertfordshire, and will require some travel across the county.

About us

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of ‘Outstanding’ from the Care Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.

Our family of over 4 000 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400 000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services.

The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers – everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout:

Our Trust values are:

Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.

These values are at the core of who we are, everything we do, and how we do it!

Would you like to be part of the HPFT family? Would you like work with us to ensure our service users live the fullest lives possible they can? Would you like to be supported in your career to be the best that you can be?

Then please read on...

Job responsibilities

For further details regarding the role and responsibilities please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification documents attached.

Person Specification

QUALIFICATIONS/EDUCATION/TRAINING

• Good Honours degree in relevant subject and relevant work experience
• M.A. Arts psychotherapies (art drama or music)
• Significant postqualifying professional experience and a demonstrable knowledge of and commitment to best practice and evidence based practice.
• Registered with Health and Care Professions council (HCPC)
• Experience of working as a therapist with services users who have experienced a variety of mental health problems including psychotic symptoms.
• Experience of working as a therapist with service users with complex learning disability including those with autism, and personality disorders
• Experience of working as a therapist role with services users with profound and severe learning disabilities who may have limited communication skills and challenging behaviours
• Experience of working with carers and families as therapist
• Substantial experience of own personal therapy.
• Experience of keyworking and care co‑ordination of clients
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Experience of supervising Arts therapies Students/trainees /liaising with university courses
• Experience of working consistently within a multidisciplinary team especially in community and in patient settings as therapist .

SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/ABILITY

• Demonstrates skills required of providing individual and group therapeutic interventions in own field including: assessment and treatment and discharge planning.
• Ability to work in various settings inpatient and outpatient work in community settings with a range of complex cases.
• Knowledge and skills in how to improve learning through work based and evidence based approach
• Demonstrates how to adapt skills in own field from work based learning to support people with a complex Learning disability and challenging behaviour, and or autism and/ or range of mental health problems including: a degree of personality disorder, a history of psychosis.
• Demonstrates understanding of organisational and self management skills including management of complex systems and personnel.
• Demonstrates clear use of different types of supervision and how it has benefitted work role

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

• Ability to communicate effectively in own field in a highly emotive atmosphere, ie with patients' psychological resistance to personal disclosure and potentially threatening information, e.g. child protection and self harm.
• Computer competency, including knowledge of electronic care records, email, word processing and audit tools.

ANALYTICAL SKILLS

• Highly developed knowledge of and skills in assessing clients for own specific field (art music or dramatherapy)
• Highly developed skills in own field for the application of psychodynamic formulations and theory to work for individuals, groups in caseload.
• Able to describe clearly the clinical process to other professionals service users and carers

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.

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

£50,008 to £56,908 a yearper annum, pro rata (inclusive of 5% HCAS)