Mental Health Clinician I- Schools

 The School-Based Mental Health Clinician primarily works out of the School-Based Health Center (SBHC) to support a unique health care model for comprehensive physical, mental and preventive health services for youth and adolescents either within a school or on school property by providing direct patient care through brief interventions, referral, and coordination of specialty mental health services as needed, and psycho-education.  With easy access to health care in a school setting, SBHCs reduce barriers such as cost, transportation, and concerns surrounding confidentiality that often keep children and youth from seeking the health services they need.  

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: 

1. Works closely as part of a multi-disciplinary team, in collaboration with primary care providers, to support the behavioral, physical, and psychosocial needs of a diverse patient population within a school-based health center setting; 
2. Works with other members of primary care team to assess, treat, and manage patients effectively within an integrated behavioral health care model; 
3. Assists in the development of patient care plans, provides consultation as needed, and makes referrals when appropriate; 
4. Plans and provides psychological assessment and diagnosis in a primary care setting with brief psychotherapeutic interventions as needed; 
5. Develops and maintains strong collaborative relationships with a wide range of community partners, public health, and the medical community including (but not limited to):  local school districts, DHS-Child Welfare, the County Juvenile Department, Public Health, local health clinics and other programs and departments; 
6. Gathers, tracks, and presents outcome data; 
7. Provides one-to-one, group, and family counseling, case management, and mental health outreach; 
8. Works collaboratively with treatment team members and other agencies and documents those services in the client file; 
9. Leads psycho-educational, skill development, anger management, parenting, process, gender-specific, and family groups as assigned; 
10. Although stationed and working in the school-based health center, remains very closely linked to the Mental Health Team/BestCare and attends weekly mental health team meetings (i.e. child/family team meeting, and others as assigned); 
11. Learns and remains abreast of local social service network to be able to assist students and families with accessing needed resources (housing, counseling, food bank, local medical community, etc.); 
12. Maintains documentation within agency timelines in client files; 
13. Models appropriate counselor behavior to the newer staff and help train and orient new staff to the program; 
14. Completes training/certification required to perform mental health crisis work and be part of the after-hours MH crisis rotation; 
15. Will include hours in BestCare’s clinic depending on caseload size and service demand; 
16. Other duties as assigned by the Clinical Program Supervisor or Program Directo