Associate/Licensed Clinical Social Worker

About the role

The Los Angeles Christian Health Centers (LACHC) is seeking a BBS registered associate clinical social worker (ACSW) or a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) to reduce the distress and improve the mental health of the homeless and underserved populations presenting with complex medical and psycho-social problems on Los Angeles, CA skid row.

Responsibilities

• Assess, diagnose, and treat patient’s symptoms and dysfunctional behaviors per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual via in-person visits and telehealth (i.e., video & phone sessions).
• Provide individual and group psychotherapies to clients with anxiety, depression, chronic pain, hypertension, medication non-adherence, addiction, social and interpersonal problems, personality disorders and challenging behaviors.
• Develop social assessments and formulate individualized treatment plans based on evaluation of the patient’s past, present, and future medical and socioeconomic functioning.
• Apply behavioral interventions such as motivational interviewing to increase positive outcomes and optimize patient well-being.
• Provide wellness checks (i.e., SBIRTs – Screening, Brief Intervention, & Referral to Treatment) to patients to assess their well-being and to connect them to mental health services.
• Triage patients on the mental health waitlist by calling them for SBIRTs to assess mental health conditions and needs.
• Work as a part of a multidisciplinary team alongside medical providers, nurses, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, front office staff, and case managers.
• Increase patient accessibility to care by working on-site at the clinic during the clinic’s extended hours at least one day/week. (i.e., Thurs or Fri 11:30 am - 8 pm, and/or Sun 8am - 3:30 pm). Provide consultation services to multidisciplinary team members by evaluating the biopsychosocial implications of the patient’s illness when the team is assessing and planning medical treatment.
• Refer patients to institutions, support services, psychiatry, and other specialists as needed.
• Provide functional assessments in reports to the Department of Public Social Services, Department of Child and Family Services, Social Security Administration, and the Judiciary as needed.
• Provide some case management or referral to assist homeless patients with accessing vital resources such as housing, substance abuse treatment, specialty mental health care, and public benefits as needed.
• Document all assessments, diagnoses, care plans, interventions and referrals in our electronic medical records system.
• Network with community organizations for referrals, partnership, and collaboration.
• Attend community meetings and events (i.e., street fairs and outreach events) as needed.
• Auxiliary with some administrative functions of the Mental Health Dept as needed (e.g., running daily SBIRT lists on the Relevant platform and distributing them to the team).
• Participate in weekly individual and group supervision per BBS guidelines (as a supervisee for ACSW or as a supervisor for LCSW as needed).
• Other duties may be assigned.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in social work.
• Registered in the State of California as an associate clinical social worker (ACSW) or licensed clinical social worker (LCSW).
• Minimum two years of providing mental health services (i.e., assessment, diagnosis, individual and group therapies) to homeless, mentally ill, substance addicted adult populations.
• Prior experience working at a community mental health or primary care, medical setting preferred.
• Experience with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Excel preferred.
• CPR Certification required.
• Bilingual Spanish preferred.