Job Title: Mental Health Specialist, QMHP-A
Reports To: Program Director and Clinical Supervisor
Position Objective
To provide the necessary mental health treatment and social support through individualized counseling and life skills training to adults 18 or older who, due to mental illness are currently experiencing mental and emotional instability. Some major areas of focus include coordination of care, health and safety, daily living skills training, accessing community resources, financial management and social supports. Mental Health services are individualized, client centered and facilitated in the client home and their community.
Mental Health Specialist are expected to model through their behaviors and attitudes the values of New Hope Wellness as outlined in the Policy and Procedures Manual. Services are time-limited interventions provided typically, but not solely, in the home of the client who is either at risk of being moved into an out-of-home placement or in temporary housing.
Clinical Services are primarily to be provided via face-to-face involvement with the client and other stakeholders which may occur in various community settings. The counselor is required to assist in the development and implementation of the person-center, recovery-based treatment plan.
Education and/or Experience
To qualify as a QMHP (Qualified Mental Health Professional) to provide services, the individual must have the designated clinical experience and must:
- Be a physician; or
- have master’s degree in psychology from an accredited college or university with at least one year or clinical experience; or
- have a social work bachelor’s or master’s degree from an accredited college or university with at least one year of clinical experience with client’s: or
- be a registered nurse with at least one year or clinical experience with children, adults, and/or adolescents;
- have at least a bachelor’s degree in human service field or special education from an accredited college and with at least one year of experience o Clinical experience means providing direct clinical services to persons with mental illness. It includes supervised internship, practicums, and fields, experience. A human service field is defined as social work, psychology, sociology, or counseling.
Training
Staff must be trained and certified in: Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), First Aid, TOVA and become orientated to the company’s guidelines, policy and procedures, and take part in staff trainings as they occur.
Additional Requirements
- Employee must be certified as tuberculosis free
- Employee must clear criminal background and CPS registry checks
Transportation
Counselors are required to use their personal vehicles for visits and for engaging in community activities. Therefore, at the time of hire Counselor’s must provide proof of Driver’s license and proof of Automobile Insurance. Should a Counselor receive a moving traffic violation at any time after their hire date the Counselor must notify the Program Director about the incident the next business day after receiving the violation. Further, Counselors will be taken off the schedule in the event they have any lapse in automobile insurance coverage.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities include but not limited to the following:
- Ongoing assessment of the treatment needs.
- Provide behavioral intervention to the client.
- Facilitate coordination of care with Primary Care Physician and Psychiatrist within 48 hours.
- Provide close working relationships with other professionals and stakeholders. These stakeholders might include but are not limited to social workers, psychiatrists, court official, police and teachers in (if applicable) and other human service professionals
- Assure a safe living environment.
- Develop treatment plans that identify problem behaviors and set measurable objectives to ameliorate problems.
- Use therapeutic relationship to build client’s positive skills/behaviors.
- Maintain current training in behavior modification models, CPR, and First Aid.
- Case management functions of linking, arranging for services and referrals
- Respond to crisis on a 24-hours, seven days a week basis
- Maintain up-to-date client records, and prepare required/ necessary reports in a timely and accurate manner
- Attend court and appointments as necessary
Supervision
LMHP or a licensed – eligible mental health professional will provide clinical supervision once per week with individual face-to-face supervision to each active Mental Health Specialist.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
The Mental Health Specialist (Counselor or QMHP-A) is required to provide service coordination activities for the ISP development and implementation as follows:
- Ability to provide and / or deliver various skills building activities
- Ability and skills for enhancing caregiver roles
- Ability to assist consumers in developing daily and community living skills
- Ability to assist consumers in development of leisure time interests/activities
- Knowledge and ability for symptoms monitoring and management
- Ability to assist consumers in developing behavior and anger management skills
- Ability and skills to maintain required confidentiality regarding client case materials in compliance with the Commonwealth of Virginia Human Rights Code 2007 and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)
- Knowledge skills and abilities to provide closure and aftercare planning for each family/client
- Ability and skills to work with individuals who have serious emotional disturbances and who may be hostile, oppositional and volatile, while at all times maintain composure and behave in a dignified manner
- Knowledge about normal adolescent development
- Knowledge about abnormal adolescent behavior
- Knowledge and a firm understanding of family development issues
- Skills and abilities necessary to develop/ write the required direct or collateral/ stakeholders contact in progress note format
- Knowledge of effective parenting skills