Behavioral Health Therapist - Adolescent Psych

Position Summary:
To aid the interdisciplinary team in the assessment, treatment planning, psychotherapy/counseling, and discharge planning for patients on the inpatient behavioral health units.

Qualifications:
EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Master's Degree in in Psychology, Social Work, or Counseling

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Use of usual and customary equipment used to perform essential functions of the position.
• Work may occasionally require travel to other UPH facilities/hospitals.
• required to drive your own vehicle for business purposes.

SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
Required English Skills Advanced reading skills Advanced writing skills Advanced oral skills Communication Skills Ability to respond appropriately to customer/co-worker Interaction with a wide variety of people Maintain confidential information Ability to communicate only the facts to recipients or to decline to reveal information Ability to project a professional, friendly, helpful demeanor Computer Skills Basic computer knowledge: Uses word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail application, and web browser. Comfortable within a Windows OS and learning new applications.

Essential Functions:

• Provides individual and group therapy/counseling to assist patients in achieving treatment goals. * Provides individual therapy/counseling to assigned patients as stipulated on their treatment plans * Provides support, sets limits, and/or facilitates learning from the situation when providing situational interventions with patients (individual/group therapy sessions and situations involving milieu management) * Facilitates a minimum of one regularly scheduled group process-oriented therapy session/day * Interventions reflect a knowledge of appropriate behaviors related to specific population (age, diagnosis, etc) * Group facilitation reflects expertise in group dynamics * Utilizes Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and other brief therapies * Provides leadership to content of group as it relates to individual patient needs and current milieu * Documentation is timely, succinct, legible, uses the DAIR format and reflects impairments, interventions and progress towards treatment goals as established in the individual patient's treatment plan * Employs CPI methods when assisting as a team member to control an aggressive or violent
• Completes initial and ongoing assessments of patients. * Thoroughly completes Initial Assessment (except nursing components) and completes admission note in Integrated Progress Notes * Documentation is timely, legible and succinct and includes initial clinical impressions of the patient and recommendation for treatment components * Assists in obtaining collateral information from family, significant others if they are present at time of admission * Patient is ongoing assessed during informal sessions as well as during formal individual and group therapy sessions * Documentation of ongoing assessments/individual therapy sessions reflects progress towards goals outlined in treatment plan
• Collaborates with other members of the treatment team in the development and implementation of an individualized treatment plan and assists in the Behavioral Health Clinician's absence. * Completes, reviews and updates treatment plans on assigned patients * Participates in or provides input for interdisciplinary clinical staffing as well as community, return to work, discharge, and school staffing * Participation reflects knowledge of the patient's strengths, illness, support systems, and history * Proactively meets with other members of the treatment team on a daily basis to assist in the coordination of care and discharge planning * Collaborates with Behavioral Health Clinician, especially in matters related to family issues and addresses family issues as they impact the patient * Assists the Behavioral Health Clinician in the absence of another BHC; assisting in guardianship issues, filing petitions/certificates with the court, discharge planning and providing support/intervention with patients' families as necessary * Demonstrates thorough knowledge of the Mental Health Code, the Confidentiality Act, The Mental Health Treatment Preference Act, HIPAA, laws pertaining to guardianship and custody, advance directive legislation and MMCI policies, as well as Elderly and Child Abuse reporting laws * Makes necessary phone calls to child and elderly welfare agencies to report abuse and/or neglect
• Serves as a resource in the creation and maintenance of a therapeutic milieu so the unit is a safe, caring, nurturing, healing and educational environment. * Ensures patient/staff safety by following policy/procedures, adhering to national patient safety goals; sets behavioral limits for patients according to unit policies and individual treatment plans * Completes event reports for any adverse outcomes * Assists patients in conflict resolution * Models behavior and serves as a resource in de-escalating patients utilizing CPI techniques * Generates ideas for improving processes, treatment and patient care * Communicates milieu and programming needs/suggestions to clinical supervisor and nurse manager