Description
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Summary:
The Activities Therapist is a vital member of the multidisciplinary treatment team, tasked with planning, organizing, developing, and directing quality activities for patients to ensure their recreational, physical, intellectual, spiritual, and social needs are met in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and Life Care standards. This role requires proficiency in various competency areas, including general activities duties, care plan and documentation, patient rights, and understanding safety and sanitation principles and techniques in an acute hospital. The therapist must demonstrate basic knowledge of medical and psychiatric terminology.
Effective communication, both oral and written, is crucial for charting patient progress and behavior accurately. The therapist must maintain records of activity programs and patient participation, identifying progress toward care plan goals. They must be adept at adapting treatment programs to meet the functional levels of patients and developing, organizing, and implementing adjunctive therapy activities. Regular in-room visits are necessary for patients who are uninterested or unable to participate in group activities.
Exhibiting excellent customer service and a positive attitude towards patients is essential. The therapist coordinates and verifies assistance for activities and events, ensuring that an ongoing calendar of activities meets diverse needs and is accessible and appealing to all patients. Patient care rounds are conducted to ensure positive engagement.
Additional skills include BLS (Basic Life Support), CPI (Crisis Prevention Intervention), organizing resources for workplace safety, and trauma-informed care. The role emphasizes the importance of customer service, effective communication, adaptability, and patient engagement.
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: Bedtower 6
Work Type: Full Time
Standard Hours Per Week: 40.00
Salary Range: $19.11 - $27.16 per hour (Hiring Range)
Pay offers are determined by experience and internal equity
Work Assignment Type: Onsite
Work Schedule: Day Job
Location of Job: US:NC:Chapel Hill
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 their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.
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 applicant.accommodations@unchealth.unc.edu if you need a reasonable accommodation to search and/or to apply for a career opportunity.