Activities Therapist

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Youth Behavioral Health Hospital (YBH) is a 54-bed, 24-hour locked psychiatric facility located in Butner, North Carolina. YBH provides specialized care through four units serving children, adolescents, and young adults ages 10-21 with mental health diagnoses, dual diagnoses, substance misuse, and complex behaviors. The facility's philosophy is grounded in a trauma-informed, milieu-based approach that ensures a safe, therapeutic setting. YBH serves patients with complex histories, including aggression and psychosis, focusing on safety while promoting positive coping skills, healthy living, and engaging leisure activities. As part of a large, interdisciplinary team including Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, and Nursing Services, the Activities Therapist will play a vital role in the recovery process.


Join Our Team at UNC Health Youth Behavioral Health as an Activities Therapist ! We are seeking an Activities Therapist with experience in child and adolescent mental health to collaborate with this multidisciplinary team to help our patients grow and thrive. You will design and facilitate therapeutic activities that support patients' physical, emotional, and social well-being in line with the therapeutic goals of YBH.


In this role, you will design and facilitate engaging activities that support the physical, emotional, and social well-being of our patients. Working alongside a multidisciplinary team of Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, and Nursing professionals, you will play a key role in helping patients build skills for growth and recovery in a therapeutic setting. These activities may include music, art, recreation, and other therapeutic modalities, addressing the recreational, physical, intellectual, spiritual, and social needs of the patients. You will work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary treatment team, contributing to a safe, healing environment while fostering resilience and growth.

Responsibilities:

1. Must perform proficiently in all competency areas including but not limited to: general activities duties, supervisory responsibilities, care plan and documentation responsibilities, patient rights, and safety and sanitation principles and techniques of therapy as applies in an acute care psychiatric facility
2. Must demonstrate understanding of basic medical and psychiatric terminology as well as basic regulations governing the treatment of people in psychiatric health facilities.
3. Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing while appropriately and descriptively charting patient progress and behavior. Maintain detailed records of activity programs and participation of individual residents, identifying progress toward established care plan goals.
4. Adapt treatment programs by graduating tasks to meet patient's level of function
5. Develop, organize, and implement a program of adjunctive therapy activities to meet the social, emotional, physical and other therapeutic needs of patients as identified on the patients' plan of care and within the specified budget.
6. Must be able to make regular in-room visits to patients uninterested or unable to participate in group activities
7. Must exhibit excellent customer service and a positive attitude towards patients. Coordinate and verify that assistance is provided to residents for activities and events as necessary. Create an ongoing calendar of activities, which creatively meets multiple needs and is accessible and appealing to both men and women of all ages and abilities.

Other Information

Other information:
Education Requirements:
• Bachelor's Degree in human services field required
Licensure/Certification Requirements:
• No licensure or certification required.
Professional Experience Requirements:
• No experience is required
Knowledge/Skills/and Abilities Requirements:
• A variety of individual and group facilitation techniques• Demonstrated proficiency in arts/crafts/music is preferred• Knowledge of one or more therapeutic activity area such as recreation/occupational/music/art therapy; individual and group behavior and effective ways of working with clients; knowledge of the general nature of physical or mental illnesses/disabilities and/or developmental disabilities;• Ability to apply and adapt skills and knowledge of activity areas to planned sessions of therapeutic activities; Ability to foster interest, initiative, responsibility, and experimentation in clients and discourage inappropriate responses;• Experience facilitating therapeutic groups.• Familiarity working with forensic and/or psychiatric consumers preferred.

Job Details

Legal Employer: STATE

Entity: UNC Medical Center

Organization Unit: UNCH YBH Recreational Therapy


Work Type: Full Time

Standard Hours Per Week: 40.00

Salary Range: $19.78 - $28.12 per hour (Hiring Range)

Pay offers are determined by experience and internal equity

Work Assignment Type: Onsite

Work Schedule: Day Job

Location of Job: Butner:NC:27509

Exempt From Overtime: Exempt: No

This is a State position employed by UNC Health Care System with UNC Health benefits. If, however, you are presently an employee of another North Carolina agency and currently participate in TSERS or the ORP, you will be eligible to continue participating in those plans at UNC Health.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran or political affiliation.

UNC Health makes reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as applicants and employees with disabilities. All interested applicants are invited to apply for career opportunities. Please email View email address on click.appcast.io if you need a reasonable accommodation to search and/or to apply for a career opportunity.