Mental Health Counselor, Mental Health Unit, Per Diem

Hours: Per Diem

Job Summary

Position includes admission intakes, individual, and group therapies. Counselor will participate in planning, implementing and evaluating the Patient Therapy program. The Mental Health Counselor will also work in cooperation with other health care disciplines to provide psychiatric service to clients.

Essential Functions

• Systematically gathers and evaluates relevant information and data from the patient interview and/or from patient information sources.
• Assures that the patient exams, tests and/or procedures are consistent with the nature of patient’s needs and orders.
• Identifies variations from expected findings and/or test values.
• Informs the charge nurse when variations are identified.
• Plans for and provides patient teachings.
• Identifies situations when it is appropriate to involve the family and/or significant other and/or friends in patient’s education.
• Prioritizes requests based on the nature of request and the condition and/or situation of the patients.
• Assesses and reassesses the patient’s condition.
• Coordinates and communicates with other healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive patient service and care.
• When appropriate, delegates to other healthcare professionals.
• Works together to complete assignments with departmental and healthcare team members.
• Supports comprehensive case management to assure patient success and meet standards of care and standards of practice.
• Collects patient information from all available resources to formulate a comprehensive database and initial treatment plan
• Coordinates care with the patient care provider (PCP), outpatient providers, and other services.
• Participates in multi-disciplinary team in treatment planning to assure care delivered is matched to identified patient needs.
• Responds to all assigned case management within Heywood Hospital for the provision of differential diagnostics, treatment planning and disposition.
• Identifies insurance and obtains approval and/or a referral for services provided.
• Provides individual and group therapies according to Mental Health Unit standards to meet identified patient needs.
• Documents the interventions provided and responses of each patient according to established policies and procedures.
• Supports the Mental Health Unit Staff in the supervision of students and interns so that performance standards and documentation requirements are met.
• Seeks professional growth experiences to gain knowledge skills, and abilities, as well as, share what is learned with other team members.

Statement of Other Duties

This document describes the major duties and responsibilities for this job, and is not intended to be a complete list of all tasks and functions. It should be understood, therefore, that employees may be asked to perform job-related duties beyond those explicitly described.

Functional Demands

Physical Requirements:

Exerts 20 to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or 10 to 25 pounds of force frequently, and/or greater than negligible amount of force to move objects. Frequently reaches (extending hands and arms in any direction), handles (seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or working with hands), and feels (perceiving attributes of items as size, shape, temperature, or texture by fingertips. Rapid physical movements (walking rapidly, running up and down stairs) and lifting and/or holding of patient's extremities may be required in the event of responding to behavioral emergencies (i.e Code100’s).

Organizational Expectations

Behavioral Attributes:

The following behavioral attributes are required: achievement motivation; concern for order; flexibility; initiative; self confidence; self control; customer service orientation; interpersonal effectiveness; teamwork and information seeking.

Job Requirements

Minimum Education

• BA or BS required in Psychology, Human Services or related field.  Master's degree preferred. 

Minimum Work Experience

• 1 year minimum clinical experience in the Human Services field
• Evidence of good personal interactions with a wide range of patients and caregivers. 
• Physical and mental health to meet the demands of the position.

Minimum Licenses and Certifications

• AHA BLS required or obtained within 90 days of hire.