Creative Arts Therapist

Job Title

Art Therapist

Duties

Major duties to include but not limited to:

• Conducts formal, standardized assessments of needs, aptitudes, interests, and abilities; includes cognitive, psychosocial, sensory-motor, and functional domains relevant to outpatient mental health and rehabilitation.
• Develops and implements evidence-informed Art Therapy plans specifying scope, duration, and frequency; aligns goals with outpatient rehab plans and mental health treatment objectives.
• Applies specialty Art Therapy modalities to address sensory integration; neuromuscular and motor-cognitive integration; cognitive components; psychosocial skills; and psychological symptoms (trauma, depression, anxiety, grief, behavioral activation).
• Exercises high-level independent clinical decision-making; designs, develops, or adapts unique Art Therapy interventions; collaborates in co-treatment for complex presentations.
• Partners with Psychiatry, CLC, Psychology, PM&R/PMRS, Nursing, Social Work, OT/PT/SLP to integrate Art Therapy into treatment plans, rounds, and care transitions.
• Completes timely, accurate documentation (assessments, progress notes, encounters, consults, care plans, discharge summaries); ensures appropriate coding/workload capture (VERA/productivity).
• Maintains professional boundaries; provides a safe, trauma-informed environment for symbolic expression, processing, and skill acquisition; supports safety planning and crisis response as indicated.
• Incorporates knowledge of the roles and meaning of art across cultures; co-develops relevant interventions and programming;
• Serves as a subject matter expert; provides consultation, in-service education, mentorship; contributes to quality improvement and program evaluation.
• Identifies community resources for discharge planning; ensures coordinated handoffs to outpatient MH RT/CAT and rehabilitation services.
• Engages when mental health symptoms impede participation or progress toward physical rehab goals, or when symptom regulation/safety is required to enable rehabilitation (e.g., PTSD symptoms affecting engagement, severe anxiety limiting therapy tolerance, depressive symptoms diminishing activation).
• Performs focused inpatient mental health Art Therapy evaluations and delivers targeted interventions (e.g., grounding, regulation, trauma-informed approaches, behavioral activation) that directly support rehab milestones and safe participation.
• Initiates coordinated care with the Experiential & Recreation Therapy team; collaborates with PM&R/PMRS, Psychiatry, Psychology, Nursing, Social Work, OT/PT/SLP to integrate Art Therapy into the inpatient rehabilitation plan of care and discharge planning.
• Ensures continuity by communicating treatment goals, progress, and recommendations to outpatient teams; supports transitions back to outpatient services to sustain gains
• Covers Outpatient mental health Creative Arts Therapy clinics and consults; Inpatient consultative involvement as clinically indicated to achieve physical rehab goals; cross-coverage for outpatient/inpatient needs during leave or program transitions.
• Serves as backup Government Purchase Card (GPC) holder, completing required training and adhering to VA/facility policies, internal controls, documentation, reconciliation, and audit requirements for micro-purchases and approved transactions.

Perform other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30 AM-4:00 PM or 8:00 AM-4:30 PM; Tour may vary based on agency needs.

Compressed/Flexible: Not Available.

Telework: Not Available.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 000000

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.