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Jefferson Health Plans
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Per Diem Creative Arts Therapist

CounselorPer Diem

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting

Schedule not stated in this posting — no days, weekends, call or nights given.

Ask the employer about the pay range, the work setting, call expectations and time off.

Posted 1h ago · Verified live

Job Description

Number of Positions In Requisition

1

Job Details

The Creative Arts Therapist is responsible for providing creative art therapies (art, music, or dance) to best serve the needs of the patient. The Creative Arts Therapist will collaborate with other allied health specialists such as Physical or Occupational Therapists to plan, implement, and evaluate counseling and treatment interventions.

Job Description

Summary

The Creative Arts Therapist is responsible for providing creative art therapies (art, music, or dance) to best serve the needs of the patient. The Creative Arts Therapist will collaborate with other allied health specialists such as Physical or Occupational Therapists to plan, implement, and evaluate counseling and treatment interventions.

Job Duties

Interacts with co-workers, visitors, and other staff consistent with the values of Jefferson.(Do not delete, move or over-write this statement)

Plan, direct, deliver, and evaluate music/art/dance-movement and horticulture therapy based interventions for a full patient caseload in skilled facility, acute rehab, outpatient settings as appropriate.

Designs music/art/dance/horticulture sessions or programs in consultation with clients or site administrators to meet client's goals and objectives. Gathers client information from sources such as case documentation, client observation, or interviews of client or family members.

Assesses client needs or disorders using artistic and horticultural processes. Analyzes or synthesizes client data to draw conclusions or make recommendations for art, music, dance movement, horticultural therapy. Selects or prepares artistic media or related equipment or devices to accomplish therapy session objectives.

Confers with other professionals on client's treatment team to develop, coordinate, or integrate treatment plans.

Documents patient’s participation and reactions during creative arts and horticultural therapy and evaluates therapeutic effects.

Continues research in developments in creative arts therapies and horticultural therapy via conferences and other staff development opportunities.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Master’s Degree Art Therapy: in creative therapy or counseling

Bachelor’s Degree Music Therapy: BS or higher in Music Therapy by an AMTA approved college or university (academic coursework, 1200 hours of clinical training, and a supervised internship). May have Graduate degrees in Music Therapy focus on advanced clinical practice and research.

Bachelor’s Degree Horticultural Therapy: Horticultural Therapist-Registered (HTR)-bachelor's degree in horticultural therapy and 480-hour internship to professionally registered with the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA).

Master’s Degree Dance Therapy: R-DMT Registered Dance/Movement Therapist. Requires a Master’s degree from an accredited program and achievement professional requirements.

  • Less than 1 year 0-2 years of clinical practice
  • 1 year preferred.
  • ATR - Registered Art Therapist - Art Therapy Credentials Board
  • MT-BC - Music Therapist-Board Certified - Certification Board for Music Therapists
  • BLS - Basic Life Support AHA - American Heart Association

Additional Qualifications

Strong interpersonal skills with an emphasis on developing and maintaining the therapeutic relationship.

Physical Demands

Lift and carry 40-50 lbs. Examples: Push/pull patients on bed, stretcher (requires 29 lbs. push force), lateral transfers up to 50 lbs. of the patient's weight. Frequent to continuous standing/walking. Patient transporters can walk 8-10 miles per shift. *Patient care providers may be required to perform activities specific to their role including kneeling, bending, squatting and performing CPR.

Job Description Disclaimer: This position description provides the major duties/responsibilities, requirements and working conditions for the position. It is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current position, however management reserves the right to revise or change as necessary to meet organizational needs. Other responsibilities may be assigned when circumstances require.

Work Shift

  • Workday Day (United States of America)
  • Worker Sub Type
  • Regular
  • Employee Entity
  • Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Inc.
  • Primary Location Address
  • 1020 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Nationally ranked, Jefferson, which is principally located in the greater Philadelphia region, Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, is reimagining health care and higher education to create unparalleled value.

Jefferson is more than 65,000 people strong, dedicated to providing the highest-quality, compassionate clinical care for patients; making our communities healthier and stronger; preparing tomorrow's professional leaders for 21st-century careers; and creating new knowledge through basic/programmatic, clinical and applied research.

Thomas Jefferson University, home of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Jefferson College of Nursing, and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce, dates back to 1824 and today comprises 10 colleges and three schools offering 200+ undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 8,300 students.

Jefferson Health, nationally ranked as one of the top 15 not-for-profit health care systems in the country and the largest provider in the Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley areas, serves patients through millions of encounters each year at 32 hospitals campuses and more than 700 outpatient and urgent care locations throughout the region.

Jefferson Health Plans is a not-for-profit managed health care organization providing a broad range of health coverage options in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for more than 35 years.

Jefferson is committed to providing equal educa­tional and employment opportunities for all persons without regard to age, race, color, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, military status, veteran status, handicap or disability or any other protected group or status.

Benefits

Jefferson offers a comprehensive package of benefits for full-time and part-time colleagues, including medical (including prescription), supplemental insurance, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, short- and long-term disability, flexible spending accounts, retirement plans, tuition assistance, as well as voluntary benefits, which provide colleagues with access to group rates on insurance and discounts.

Colleagues have access to tuition discounts at Thomas Jefferson University after one year of full time service or two years of part time service.

All colleagues, including those who work less than part-time (including per diem colleagues, adjunct faculty, and Jeff Temps), have access to medical (including prescription) insurance.

For more benefits information, please click here

Key Responsibilities

The Creative Arts Therapist provides art, music, or dance therapy interventions to meet patient needs in various clinical settings. They collaborate with allied health specialists to plan, implement, and evaluate treatment plans while documenting patient progress.

Requirements

Candidates must hold a Master's degree in creative therapy, counseling, or dance therapy, or a Bachelor's degree in Music or Horticultural therapy with relevant certifications. Professional credentials such as ATR, MT-BC, or R-DMT and Basic Life Support certification are required.

Qualifications

Education
Master's degree (postgraduate degree)

Certifications

Board Certification

Key Skills

Creative arts therapyDance movement therapyPatient assessmentTreatment planningInterdisciplinary collaborationClinical documentation

Counselor Career Context

Of the 50 active Mental Health Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 36% are remote, 32% have no call, 68% require no weekends.

The cost-of-living index for Pennsylvania is 97.6 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)). 61.7% of Pennsylvania clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

Mental Health Therapy by the numbers
MeasureThis jobMarket
Listed paynot listedMental Health Therapy median $68k (middle half $59k–$80k)10 comparable listings, Oct 2026
Cost of livingPennsylvania index 97.6US average = 100BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)
Mental Health Therapy listings in Pennsylvania446 active7,857 nationallylive on WeekdayDoc, Oct 2026
Work settingon-sitepeers: 36% remote · 32% no call · 68% no weekends50 benchmarked listings
Sources: WeekdayDoc live listing index, BEA Regional Price Parities (2024); as of Oct 2026. Same values as the Weekday Verdict and Market Insights on this page.

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Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks

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Sign-on bonus
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CME allowance
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Loan repayment
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PSLF eligible
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Work-life snapshot

median 6.0this job 3.0
Better work-life than 20% of Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 7,851 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

  • On-site
Jefferson Health Plans logo

About Jefferson Health Plans

Insurance Carriers
1,001-5,000 employees

Benefits & Perks

Medical insurance (including prescription)
Supplemental insurance
Dental
Vision
Life and AD&D insurance
Short- and long-term disability
Flexible spending accounts
Retirement plans

Living in Philadelphia

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$204k
Typical market rent
$1,768/mo
Residents’ average commute
32 min
Metro price indexU.S. average = 100
102.6
State income tax
Up to 3.1%
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Aug 2026), Zillow market rents (Aug 2026), U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year.

BEA 2024 · Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro prices. Housing figures are city-level.

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.