Job Title:Music Therapist

JOB DESCRIPTION

JOB TITLE:MUSIC THERAPIST

RESPONSIBLE TO:HEAD OF ARTS TEAM

OVERALL AIM OF POST

The post holder will provide effective specialist music therapy interventions for service users across all areas that support is offered in order to meet the needs of patients, their families and their carers. Working as part of the Arts team and multi-disciplinary team, they will develop effective individual and group interventions within the hospice and wider community. They will coordinate with other Arts team management, team members and MDT members to ensure the service meets identified needs.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES

To contribute music therapy intervention to multi-disciplinary treatment plan
Assessing service user’s ability to make use of music therapy intervention.
Conferring with service users and treatment team in devising treatment plan.
Using specialist knowledge and techniques to implement group/ and or individual treatment to meet the needs of service users.
Assessing efficacy of this treatment
Applying clinical knowledge and understanding of issues of death and dying faced by patients/their families/their carers.
To maintain written and verbal feedback on service users according to Hospice policy
To maintain a high degree of professionalism at all times, including when workingin a highly emotive atmosphere and/or challenging situations.
To adhere to your Professional Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and localand national standards of practice.
To participate in Hospice community programmes.

MANAGEMENT

To co-ordinate, monitor and evaluate music therapy interventions.
To contribute to operational planning for arts therapy service development in theHospice
In conjunction with other arts team members, to plan and implement projects for the artswithin the Hospice and wider community

SUPERVISION

To undertake regular clinical and management supervision in accordance withprofessional codes of practice.
To provide clinical and professional supervision for Music Therapy students on placementas required.

COMMUNICATION

To communicate effectively with service users, Arts team members, and otherstaff.
To participate in relevant clinical meetings regarding multi-disciplinary careplanning and implementation.
To maintain up to date clinical records and music therapy reports in multidisciplinarynotes in line with local and Trust policies and professional standards.
To participate in arts team meetings and contribute to disseminating an understanding of the role of the arts in the hospice and wider community.
To promote the contribution of the arts therapies to the dying process.

ADMINISTRATION

To maintain up to date clinical and statistical records in accordance with Hospicepolicy and professional standards.
To care for materials and equipment and alert the relevant staff when replacementor repairs are required.
To participate in administrative duties required of team members of each service.

TRAINING STAFF AND STUDENTS

To train, educate and advise both junior and senior members of staff of alldisciplines, of the value of music therapyand the arts in clinical practice
To participate in the induction and training of staff and students of all disciplines inthis setting and conduct workshops for training external professionals when required.
To supervise and assess music therapy students on practice placement asrequired.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Actively participate in own supervision and appraisal process.
To be responsible for ongoing professional development through internal andexternal development opportunities.
To attend appropriate meetings of professional associations or other appropriatebodies.

CLINICAL GOVERNANCE, RESEARCH AND PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT

To participate in evaluation, audit and practice development activities as part of amulti-disciplinary team.
To work with other staff on the implementation of national guidelines for practice.
To critically evaluate current research and apply to practice where relevant.
To participate, if required, in on-going research and audit programmes.

CONFIDENTIALITY

All information concerning patients/clients and staff must be treated as strictlyconfidential at all times.

Professional Behaviour: Code of Conduct

The post holder must comply with their relevant professional code of conduct at all times, where this exists. All roles have identified competencies to which post-holders will be regularly assessed against.

A job description does not constitute a ‘term and condition of employment’. It is provided only as a guide to assist employees in the performance of their role. St Christopher’s is a fast moving organisation and therefore changes to employees’ duties may be necessary on occasion. The job description is not intended to be an inflexible or finite list of tasks and may therefore be varied from time to time, after discussion with the post-holder.

Safeguarding/MCA and DoLS

Staff are required to take responsibility in all areas of work for safeguarding people at risk (both adults and children) from any form of abuse or neglect. When delivering care and support, staff are required to comply with the requirements of legislation relating to care in the UK, including the Care Act (2014), and Mental Health Capacity Act 2005, which incorporates the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). In order to achieve this, all staff are required to read St. Christopher’s Safeguarding Policy and Procedure and to participate in both regular training and training updates and to incorporate preventative strategies into their work, as applicable.

General

All employees are required to undertake the following:

To make positive contributions to all internal and external quality and/or best practice measures/processes.
To fully participate in the annual appraisal process, to agree targets and objectives with line managers and to report on activity against agreed targets on a regular basis.
To fully comply at all times, with St. Christopher‘s policies and procedures and to take responsibility for own actions/inactions.
To fully comply with all mandatory and StC role specific training requirements
To act in accordance with workplace legislation/requirements including Health and Safety, Equality and Diversity and Data Protection.
To share and model St. Christopher’s values and expected behaviours at all times.
To fully support and engage with St. Christopher’s fundraising activities and initiatives.
To participate in all employee engagement activities including team, departmental or other staff meetings as required and to contribute to St. Christopher’s annual staff survey.
To maintain professional registrations (where applicable) and to keep up to date with mandatory training and other training requirements within own area of specialism/responsibility.

Those in managerial or supervisory roles are expected to support the teaching, training and development of staff, and in some cases volunteers, as appropriate.

A job description does not constitute a ‘term and condition of employment’, it is provided only as a guide to assist employees in the performance of their role. St Christopher’s is a fast moving organisation and therefore changes to duties and responsibilities may be necessary on occasion. The job description is not intended to be an inflexible or finite list of tasks and may therefore be varied from time to time in discussion with the post-holder.

PERSON SPECIFICATION: MUSIC THERAPIST

Qualifications: / Essential / Desirable
MA or equivalent qualification in Music Therapy / √
Registration with Professional Body / √
State Registration (HPC) / √
Knowledge and Experience: / Essential / Desirable
Experience of working in a hospice or Care home / √
Experience of running Community projects / √
Experience of Group work / √
Personal psychotherapy/therapy
Music performance / √
Skills and Competencies: / Essential / Desirable
Ability to contain, hold and work with the stress and anxiety of others. / √
Ability to work with trauma and emotional impact through supervision and team support / √
Highly developed interpersonal skills enabling therapeutic alliances to be developed and maintained with dying patients/ carers/family members who have complex needs. / √
Ability to apply specialist skills in individual and group based music therapy assessments and interventions. / √
Ability to work both independently and as part of a team and resolving conflicts that can arise within a team. / √
Ability to assess and manage frequent distressing clinical interactions with patients / √
Ability to plan and prioritise own workload / √
Excellent organisational and time management skills / √
Excellent verbal and written skills. / √
Ability to working with diversity both in therapy and professional relationships / √
Plan, organise and implement community programmes. / √
Ability to explain and promote your professional skills to other professional colleagues. / √
Ability to use clinical and management supervision effectively. / √
Ability to adapt practice to acutely ill client group. / √
Other Qualities: / Essential / Desirable
Professional and approachable / √
Tactful and diplomatic / √
Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team / √
Sound IT skills / √
Flexibility in approaching work situations / √
Able to work confidentially / √

Job Description: Music Therapist September 2017Page 1