Dramatherapist at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

The job at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Dramatherapists use role play, storytelling, movement, puppetry, improvisation and script work as the main therapeutic medium. They create a safe, structured space where people can rehearse difficult situations, express feelings at one remove through character and metaphor, and build confidence in relating to others. A typical week involves assessing referrals, planning and running individual and group sessions, adapting material for different ages and abilities, writing clinical notes, taking supervision and liaising with teachers and clinical colleagues. People of all ages — children, young people, adults and older people — with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, neurological conditions or serious illness.

At a mental health trust such as Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, that work means a mental health caseload across inpatient units, community mental health teams, crisis services and, in most organisations, child and adolescent and secure services. Rotations here tend to move between inpatient and community teams rather than between body systems, and supervision arrangements matter more than in almost any other setting. Across the profession as a whole, dramatherapists work in settings including NHS mental health trust, community mental health team, child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), mainstream and special schools and social services — an organisation of this type will run some of those services and not others, which is why two posts with the same job title in the same city can be very different jobs.

Pay is not an employer decision. Agenda for Change is negotiated nationally and set separately in each of the four nations, so Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust pays band 6 exactly what every other NHS employer in England pays it: £39,959 at the bottom of the band on the 2026/27 scale. For context, median full-time pay across all occupations in London was £49,692 in 2025. What genuinely differs between two employers is the caseload, how rotations are structured, how much protected time you get for supervision and continuing professional development, how much band 6 progression is built into the establishment, and how far you travel between sites. Those are the questions worth asking at interview.