How to hire an expressive therapist

How to hire an expressive therapist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step expressive therapist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an expressive therapist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new expressive therapist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your expressive therapist job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an expressive therapist for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them an expressive therapist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire an expressive therapist that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of expressive therapist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Expressive Therapist	Description	Hourly rate
   Expressive Therapist	Physical therapists, sometimes called PTs, help injured or ill people improve their movement and manage their pain. These therapists are often an important part of the rehabilitation, treatment, and prevention of patients with chronic conditions, illnesses, or injuries.	$17-33
   Physical Therapy Internship	Physical therapist interns work with patients to determine and improve their function and movement. The interns assist in the rehabilitation process through body system development and storage... Show more	$25-46
   Director Of Physical Therapy	A Director of Physical Therapy manages physical therapy services through developing strategies, policies, and procedures for a hospital, clinic, managed care organization, or similar organization. They supervise and assess the activities of medical, nursing, technical, and other personnel.	$30-87

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Adolescents
   • Administrative Documentation
   • Recreational Therapy
   • Eating Disorders
   • Discharge Planning
   • CPI
   • Behavioral Issues
   • Creative Expression
   • Mental Health Issues
   • Crisis Intervention
   • Patient Safety
   • Substance Abuse
   • Individual Therapy Sessions

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Create and manage print shop, darkroom and ceramic studio for rehabilitation purposes.
   • Offer intensive psychotherapy to patients with co-occurring disorders of serious mental illness and substance abuse.
   • Serve on interdisciplinary team responsible for the treatment of acute psychiatric and mentally-ill chemically-addict veterans on an acute unit.
   • Receive DBT, recovery model, and therapeutic communication training to enhance therapeutic techniques.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your expressive therapist job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. An expressive therapist salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, expressive therapists' average salary in tennessee is 50% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level expressive therapists earn 46% less than senior-level expressive therapists.
   • Certifications. An expressive therapist with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in an expressive therapist's salary.

   Average expressive therapist salary

   $51,137yearly

   $24.59 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level expressive therapist salary

   $37,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 22, 2026

4. Writing an expressive therapist job description

   An expressive therapist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of an expressive therapist job description:

   Expressive therapist job description example

   The Opportunity:
   
   Saint Luke's Crittenton Children's Center in South Kansas City, MO is seeking a well-rounded, passionate, responsible, and reliable Expressive Therapist to join our dynamic multi-disciplinary team of therapists. You will have the exciting and rewarding opportunity to improve the lives of children and teens. The Expressive Therapist must be flexible, organized, detail oriented, dependable, independent, creative, have excellent communication and documentation skills, willing to learn, have solid art skills, professional, and ready to work as a team player.
   
   Shift Details: 8-hour shift (9 am - 5:30 pm). Occasional need for flexibility (could potentially need to work a weekend shift or evening hours)
   
   The Work:
   
   The Expressive Therapist will implement trauma-informed and therapeutic activities to enhance the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of our children receiving residential and hospital services.
   
   * This position is responsible for creating and implementing therapeutic modalities that are consistent with the treatment needs of children and adolescents.
   * This position will serve clients in individual and group settings.
   * Will collaborate with the multi-disciplinary treatment team throughout all programs.
   * Completes assessments, documents behavior and progress in EPIC (electronic medical record).
   * Must be flexible with co-leading various therapy groups and activities (music, recreation & social events)
   * Establishes therapeutic relationships with clients to facilitate the treatment process while maintaining appropriate boundaries.
   
   Requirements:
   
   * Must have knowledge of specific age-appropriate mental health care needs of children and adolescent patients.
   * Must have the ability to intervene effectively in crisis situations.
   * Must be Mandt certified (will train).
   * Must have valid driver's license and clean driving record.
   * MUST BE 21 YEARS OLD TO APPLY
   * Basic Life Support (will train)
   * Must be able to lift up to 50 lbs
   
   Why Saint Luke's?
   
   * Saint Luke's offers competitive salaries and benefits packages to all of their employees, click here to find out more.
   * We believe in creating a collaborative environment where all voices are heard.
   * We are here for you and will support you in achieving your goals.
   
   Job Requirements
   
   Applicable Experience:
   
   1 year
   
   Mandt - Healthstream - Healthstream
   
   Job Details
   
   Part Time
   
   Day (United States of America)
   
   The best place to get care. The best place to give care. Saint Luke's 12,000 employees strive toward that vision every day. Our employees are proud to work for the only faith-based, nonprofit, locally owned health system in Kansas City. Joining Saint Luke's means joining a team of exceptional professionals who strive for excellence in patient care. Do the best work of your career within a highly diverse and inclusive workspace where all voices matter.
   
   Join the Kansas City region's premiere provider of health services. Equal Opportunity Employer.
   
   Effective November 1st, 2021, full COVID-19 vaccination is a condition of employment for all Saint Luke's Health System employees unless a medical or religious exemption is approved.

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5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right expressive therapist for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your expressive therapist job on Zippia to find and recruit expressive therapist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting expressive therapists requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new expressive therapist

   Once you've decided on a perfect expressive therapist candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new expressive therapist. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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