Lead Activity Therapist

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Job Attributes

Job ID

20958

Job Title

Lead Activity Therapist

Job Category

Social Services

Location

Haven Behavioral Hospital of West Chester 400 E. Marshall Street

West Chester, PA 19380 https://www.havenwestchester.com

Posted

10/29/2026

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Job Description

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Lead Activity Therapist

Haven Behavioral Healthcare, an Oceans Healthcare Company, is a behavioral healthcare system providing high-quality, specialty behavioral health services for individuals with mental health and substance abuse issues. Our success is a reflection of the excellence and dedication of our employees at every level of our facilities. The culture of our hospitals is built around service. All jobs performed on our team are worthwhile and every employee makes a difference. If you are looking for an opportunity to grow personally and professionally while delivering compassionate, quality care we encourage you to explore career opportunities with Haven.

Position Summary: The Lead, Activity Therapist is responsible for coordinating and overseeing therapeutic activity programming that supports the emotional, cognitive, and social well-being of patients in a psychiatric hospital setting. This role provides day-to-day leadership and guidance to Activity Therapy staff across all certified disciplines, ensuring programming aligns with treatment goals, regulatory standards, and hospital policies. The Lead, Activity Therapist collaborates with the interdisciplinary treatment team to incorporate activity-based interventions into patient care and promotes recovery, resilience, and functional improvement. This position provides clinical direction only within their certified discipline and partners with the Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) or other credentialed staff when discipline-specific oversight is required.

Essential Functions

• Plans, organizes, and oversees therapeutic activity programming that supports patient recovery, resilience, and functional improvement.
• Develops and schedules individual and group activities in coordination with the multidisciplinary treatment team, ensuring alignment with patient needs and facility resources.
• Provides day-to-day guidance and workflow oversight for Activity Therapy staff across all certified disciplines (CTRS, MT-BC, ATR/ATR-BC, COTA), ensuring effective and compliant programming.
• Provides clinical supervision and direction only within the Lead Activity Therapist's own certified discipline, and coordinates with the CTRS or other licensed/certified staff when discipline specific oversight is required.
• Collaborates with physicians, nursing, social services, and other team members to integrate activity therapy into individualized treatment plans.
• Ensures timely and accurate documentation of programming, patient participation, and outcomes, including clear identification of each staff member's credentials.
• Monitors patient engagement, progress, and safety during programming and communicates significant changes to the treatment team.
• Manages departmental resources-including staffing support, equipment, and supplies-to ensure efficient, high-quality operations within budgetary guidelines.
• Participates in audits, quality improvement activities, and regulatory compliance reviews, including discipline-specific compliance coordinated with the CTRS as needed.
• Provides training, onboarding, and discipline-appropriate guidance for staff and assists with hospital initiatives that support the mission and standards of care.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Recreational Therapy, Music Therapy, Art Therapy, Occupational Therapy or related field.
• Current certification as Certified Therapeutic Recreational Specialist (CTRS) or other activity therapy credentials: MT-BC, ATR, ATR-BC, ATR-P (LPAT), COTA.
• Minimum of three (3) years' clinical experience in a psychiatric setting, preferably with at least one (1) years' experience applying activity therapy methods and techniques.

Skills/Abilities:

• Demonstrates knowledge and skills to provide care appropriate to the age, disability, and cultural needs of the patient population served.
• Understands principles of growth and development relevant to the patient population.
• Able to assess and interpret patient data to identify needs and provide individualized care for adolescent, chronically mentally ill, adult, geriatric, chemically dependent, and dually diagnosed populations.
• Possesses in-depth knowledge of mental illness, chemical dependency, and associated family dynamics.
• Maintains basic knowledge of chronic mental illness.
• Demonstrates in-depth knowledge of clinical therapy modalities.
• Exhibits excellent communication and group facilitation skills appropriate to patient age and needs.
• Flexible, versatile, and able to perform effectively in stressful situations.
• Demonstrates strong time management and organizational skills.
• Capable of coordinating a complex, multi-faceted workload.
• Works effectively under supervision.
• Successfully completes and maintains Basic Life Support (BLS) certification and an Oceans approved behavioral health de-escalation program.

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It is the policy of Oceans Healthcare to provide equal employment opportunity in employment to all associates and applicants for employment. No person is to be discriminated against in employment because of race, religion, color, sex, age, genetic information, national origin, pregnancy, disability, military status or any other classification protected by applicable local, state or federal law. This policy applies to all terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Although the company does not discriminate on the basis of citizenship, it is required to comply with federal laws to ensure that its workforce is legally eligible to work in the United States.

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