Senior Creative Arts Therapist/Clinical Lead

Job Title: Clinical Lead Art Therapist

Job Location: Petherton Park School, North Petherton

Salary: The full-time equivalent salary for this role is between £50,400 and £57,750 per annum. However, this position is term-time only, working 32 hours per week, 42 weeks per year.

Contract Type: Permanent

This isn’t just a job—it’s a chance to make a meaningful impact and be part of something bigger. You’ll play a key role in shaping and paving the way therapeutic support is delivered across our organisation. Not only will you directly support neurodiverse pupils and those who have experienced trauma, but you’ll also have a real voice within our leadership team, influencing practices and driving positive change.

You’ll balance the heart of hands-on work with strategic influence. Your week might begin with a morning briefing, sharing updates and hearing about the team’s progress. From there, you could be leading a training session for our teaching team, designing creative therapy sessions, or attending a leadership meeting to contribute to wider organisational goals.

When it’s time for the direct work you love, you’ll have a small caseload of pupils to connect with in truly meaningful ways. Whether it’s sharing a quiet moment over hot chocolate and colouring, spotting shapes in the clouds together, finding each other in a game of hide and seek, or simply being present through play and conversation. You’ll have the freedom to create impactful, therapeutic moments that resonate. Each of these connections adds depth to your work, allowing you to see the real difference you’re making in each child’s life.

This role gives you the chance to see the direct difference you’re making through these therapeutic moments, while also working within a collaborative team, mentoring others, and taking an active role in organisational development. Be a part of our team and bring your passion and expertise to a place where every action contributes to a brighter future for the young people we support.

A day in the life of a Clinical Lead Art Therapist will involve:

• Directly leading and supporting a team of Integrated Therapy professionals by providing clinical expertise, assessments, and guidance on therapeutic practices to enhance the emotional and mental well-being of the pupils.
• Conducting specialised psychological assessments and delivering tailored therapeutic interventions through classroom work, groups sessions and working closely with pupils in 1:1 sessions.
• Providing dedicated training and mentoring sessions for team members including Teachers, Teaching Assistants and Learning Support Assistants on best practices and effective ways in supporting pupils within the school. You’ll do this by designing classroom strategies and running reflective practice sessions.
• Working alongside and collaborating with other Clinical Lead professionals, Creative Arts Therapists, Psychologists, and Speech and Language Therapists, fostering a supportive team culture.
• Ensuring compliance with professional standards, confidentiality, and safeguarding protocols, while promoting health and safety and maintaining accurate clinical records.

To be a successful Clinical Lead Art Therapist, you’ll need:

• A recognised post-graduate qualification in Art/Music/Drama Therapy along with HCPC Registration.
• Ideally, 4+ years of post-qualification experience as an Art, Music, or Drama Therapist, with experience in supervising or managing a team.
• The desire and confidence to run supervisions and offer training and support to other therapy professionals.
• Good IT skills – We’ll train you on how to use our systems, but it would help if you had a working understanding of using Microsoft packages like Excel, Word, Outlook and Teams.
• A full driving licence. Whilst this role is based in a single location, travel to other sites will be required at times including travel to our Tiverton Hub for team meetings and training where required.

If you have experience working within the NHS, the best way for us to describe the level of experience needed for this role would be to consider it a “Band 8a” position.

In return for your time, you’ll get:

• Holidays – You’ll get 28 days annual leave, including public holidays. You’ll also get an extra day off on your birthday after being with us for a year!
• Pension scheme– Our pension scheme is based on you paying in 5%, and us adding 3%.
• Learning & Development Opportunities – We provide comprehensive learning opportunities for team members to develop themselves.
• Discounts – You’ll have access to brilliant discounts through the Blue Light Card and our own employee benefits platform.
• Wellbeing Support – Your wellbeing is always our priority. You’ll have access to mental health and wellbeing support. On top of this, our therapies team offers a monthly confidential check in clinic, and group reflective practice sessions.
• Cycle2Work -The cycle to work scheme enables you to buy a bicycle at a discounted rate.
• DBS – As this role required you to have an enhanced DBS carried out, we will cover this cost.

After 12 months service you’ll also be eligible for our Medicash scheme which covers a wide range of medical, health and wellbeing expenses (Including immediate access to a GP!). You’ll get life assurance paid at x2 your annual salary.

Please note that as part of our safer recruitment processes, successful applicants will be subject to pre-employment checks including an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check, and online and social media checks, and reference validation.

At Phoenix Learning and Care, we pride ourselves on our diverse workforce, and ensuring we have an inclusive environment for all our team members. We remain committed to ensuring our teams can bring their true selves to work without risk or fear of discrimination.