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UHS
Sacramento, California

Recreation/Art Therapist - Per Diem - RTC/CTRS/ATR/ATR-BC

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 1mo ago · Verified live

Job Description

Responsibilities

Sierra Vista Hospital is seeking a Per Diem Therapeutic Activities Personnel II for the Therapeutic Activities Department. If you're passionate about working in the behavioral health setting and have the desire to join a team of healthcare professionals dedicated to serving our patients, we want to hear from you!

The Sierra Vista Hospital location, a 171-bed psychiatric care facility located in south Sacramento, is a full-service mental health facility and a center of support for patients and their families. Since 1986, we have offered our clinical expertise to those suffering from emotional, behavioral and addiction problems.

Qualifications

Education

Bachelor’s Degree, from an accredited college or university, in Recreation Administration, with a Therapeutic Recreation option OR Master’s Degree, from an accredited college or university, in Art Therapy.

Experience

Two years (2), or more, of related experience, with knowledge of psychiatric patient care techniques with understanding of mental illness, preferred.

Certification

Hold a current certification: Recreation Therapist Certified (RTC), Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS), Art Therapist Registered (ATR) and/or Art Therapist Registered and Board Certified (ATR-BC) or be eligible to sit for exam and obtain certification within 1 year of working.

Additional Requirements

Successful completion of CPR certification, Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI), and Verbal De-escalation required within the first 90 days of employment and prior to assisting in the procedures. You may be required to work overtime and/or flexible hours.

  • Why is Sierra Vista Hospital a great place to work?
  • Dynamic people
  • Team-oriented environment
  • Opportunity for advancement
  • Great training program for new grads!
  • Rewarding career opportunities

EEO Statement

All UHS subsidiaries are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates. UHS subsidiaries are equal opportunity employers and as such, openly support and fully commit to recruitment, selection, placement, promotion and compensation of individuals without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), genetic information, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

We believe that diversity and inclusion among our teammates is critical to our success.

Notice

At UHS and all our subsidiaries, our Human Resources departments and recruiters are here to help prospective candidates by matching skill set and experience with the best possible career path at UHS and our subsidiaries. We take pride in creating a highly efficient and best in class candidate experience.

During the recruitment process, no recruiter or employee will request financial or personal information (Social Security Number, credit card or bank information, etc.) from you via email.

The recruiters will not email you from a public webmail client like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. If you are suspicious of a job posting or job-related email mentioning UHS or its subsidiaries, let us know by contacting us at: uhs.alertline.com or 1-800-852-3449.

Qualifications

Education
Master's degree (postgraduate degree)
Experience
2+ years of experience

Certifications

Board Certification

Key Skills

Recreation TherapyMental Health SupportAddiction Treatment

Counselor Career Context

Of the 50 active Mental Health Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 44% are remote, 30% have no call, 58% require no weekends.

The cost-of-living index for California is 110.7 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)). 63.6% of California clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

Top contract/1099 Counselor Jobs

50 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution50 jobs · 40 employers

20
<$110k
12
$110k-130k
12
$130k-150k
6
$150k-170k

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks34 jobs

401k / retirement match
91%
CME allowance
41%
Sign-on bonus
38%
Loan repayment
15%
PSLF eligible
12%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

#1

Mental Health Therapist, Contractor - WI / (Remote)Contract

Cartwheel · Remote - Nationwide

$65-$75/hr
#2

Mental Health Therapist, Contractor - IN / (Remote)Contract

Cartwheel · Remote - Nationwide

$65-$75/hr
#3

Mental Health Therapist

$53.36-$74.7/hr
#4

Dental Therapist

From $155k
+ 48 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 6.1this job 4.8
Better work-life than 40% of Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 8,084 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

Living in Sacramento

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$455k
Typical market rent
$2,056/mo
Residents’ average commute
25 min
Metro price indexU.S. average = 100
106.7
State income tax
Up to 13.3%
Sources & methodology

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

BEA 2024 · Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metro prices. Housing figures are city-level.

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