Join our team as a Rehabilitation Therapist!
(Art, Dance, Music, Recreational Therapist)
We're hiring qualified Rehabilitation Therapists at our facility in Atascadero, along California’s beautiful Central Coast.
As a Rehabilitation Therapist working with the California Department of State Hospitals (DSH), you’ll enjoy a stimulating and exciting working environment, a collegial, team-oriented treatment approach, and a host of world-class benefits. Our location in Atascadero, along California’s beautiful Central Coast affords opportunities for an excellent work-life balance. We invite you to join us as we provide care for one of California’s most vulnerable populations-those struggling with severe mental illness. At DSH, our total staff of over 10,000 employees work together to provide quality mental and health services and support to over 6,000 patients in five facilities throughout the State of California.
About our Facility
The California Department of State Hospitals-Atascadero is a secure public-sector hospital providing inpatient forensic services for mentally-ill adult males who are court committed throughout the State of California.
DSH–Atascadero recognizes that mental health recovery is most effectively achieved in an environment that fosters creative problem solving, innovation, and mutual respect within a dynamic therapeutic milieu. The hospital employs over 2,000 staff. Treatment is designed collaboratively by a multi-disciplinary team which includes psychiatrists, psychologists, rehabilitation therapists, clinical dietitians, physicians, registered nurses, and psychiatric technicians. Our Rehabilitation Therapists are vital to the hospital’s treatment mission and integral to its collegial milieu.
To experience our milieu for yourself, we offer guided tours of the facility. Please contact us using the information at the bottom of this page for more information on how to schedule a tour.
Duties
To provide rehabilitative programs and services through appropriate patient assessment, planned interventions, therapeutic activities, discharge planning and community reintegration by using the principles and practices of the respective disciplines to develop, maintain, or restore mental, physical, emotional, and social well-being of the patients. The Rehabilitation Therapist will provide recovery focused treatment activities and participate on the treatment teams of patients assigned. They will organize, plan and conduct rehabilitation therapy groups recognizing and integrating the patient’s strengths, interests and therapeutic goals. The Rehabilitation Therapist will also write timely and accurate assessments, treatment plan interventions and progress notes on patients in their caseload.
Minimum Qualifications
All Therapists - Completion of an approved clinical internship in the appropriate rehabilitation specialty.
(Individuals who are registered or certified with the appropriate therapy association but who have not completed a clinical internship because it was not a component of the academic program at the time are required to have completed a minimum of two years' full-time paid experience in a clinical, residential, or community-based setting after receipt of the required degree to be admitted into the exam.)
Art - Possession of a Master's Degree in Art Therapy or in Art with emphasis in Art Therapy, or registration with the Art Therapy Credentials Board, or eligibility for such registration.
Dance - Possession of a Master's Degree in Dance Therapy, or registration with the Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board, or eligibility for such registration.
Music - Equivalent to graduation from a recognized college with major work in music therapy, or registration with the Certification Board for Music Therapists, or eligibility for such registration.
Recreation - Possess the equivalent to graduation from a recognized college with major work in therapeutic recreation, or in recreation with an emphasis in therapeutic recreation, and certification as a registered therapeutic recreator with specialization in therapeutic recreation by the California Board of Park and Recreation Certification, or the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification, or eligibility to sit for the exam for certification as verified by the certification board.
Employment Process
Below is a list of the main steps you'll take as you pursue employment as a Rehabilitation Therapist at DSH-A. We understand this process can be a bit overwhelming - please don't hesitate to use the contact information at the bottom of this page to get in touch with any questions!
1. Create a CalCareers Account.
2. Gain eligibility by taking and passing the appropriate required employment exam:
*if the vacancy link has expired, please contact us directly, or search for DSH-Atascadero Clinical Social Worker vacancies.
Salary and Benefits
- Competitive salary ranges:
- Art, Dance, Music, Recreation Therapist: $7,777 - $9,158/month
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- Paid holidays, vacation, and sick leave
- Pension-style CalPERS Safety retirement
- 401k and 457b plans available through Savings Plus
Community
Located in California's coastal heartland midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles in beautiful San Luis Obispo County, is the Department of State Hospitals – Atascadero, a forensic, psychiatric treatment facility. The region encompasses the historic university town of San Luis Obispo, a world-class wine industry, agricultural lands, ranches, and beach communities all with a carefully preserved rural quality. An unpolluted environment, the Central Coast offers the amenities of a more urbane community, however in a serene country setting. In addition to San Luis Obispo and Atascadero, communities include Morro Bay, Cambria, Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, Templeton, Paso Robles, amongst others. Our employees enjoy a laid-back California coastal lifestyle that includes light traffic commutes, numerous food and music festivals, gorgeous wineries and vineyards, and outdoor activities like surfing, biking, and hiking. Click on the link below to learn more about our area!
Contact us!
- Melissa Munoz
- Recruitment Coordinator
- (805) 468-3660
- ASHRecruitment@dsh.ca.gov
- Britney Harris, Program Director
- Chief of Rehabilitation Therapy
- (805) 468-2047
- DSH-BritneyHarris@dsh.ca.gov
- Employment Office
- Front Desk: (805) 468-3384
