Associate Therapist

POSITION PURPOSE

Clinical therapists provide therapy and therapeutic processes to Benchmark Transitions clients and oversee/assist all therapy-related services. The therapist is a member of the clinical department which provides overall clinical support for our clients and their families and referral agents. This includes leading or participating in various groups, effectively managing a caseload of up to 12 to 14 clients for individual therapy, providing family therapy and guidance, and providing written or phone updates to proper outside and referral sources on a regular and systematic basis. The role of the therapist is to also assist in helping our clients to embrace other parts of their treatment program, which includes learning independent living skills as well as academic or vocational pursuits. The therapist further provides crisis intervention, clinical assessments and monitoring for self-harm, group safety levels, and emotional readiness for events/activities.

Requirements

• Proactively develop client treatment plan and monitor for client involvement and progress.
• Provide interventions, and facilitation of group and individual and family sessions.
• Provide routine communications to the treatment team, appropriate family members, referral sources, utilization review specialists, and other related professionals as needed.
• Provide enrollment orientation and discharge planning as appropriate within time limits.
• Must provide routine and accurate documentation in EMR files pertaining to each client and the continuum of care process and do so within the time allotted, (24 hours).
• Provide guidance to clients and participate in program development for Benchmark clients.
• An example would be to support learning independent living skills or other care components such as learning animal care and horsemanship skills, work skills and such tasks that are outside of the normal treatment modalities.
• Provide crisis intervention as needed and determine transfer needs if applicable.
• Must participate in our emergency/administrator on-call rotations and assist with floor duties if possible.
• Provide assistance to new staff to help them learn our processes at Benchmark.
• Display flexibility in delivery of services to adjust where adjusting would provide better therapeutic alliance.
• Exercise sound judgment and display the use of independent discretion in dealing with young adult issues.
• Display strong professional yet interactive interpersonal skills and work in a safe manner as well as recognize that Benchmark can often be a fast-paced environment.
• Adhere to all Benchmark standards.
• Maintain mental and emotional stability yet be able to express assertive personality when necessary.
• Know State Licensing and Joint Commission rules and regulations and be willing to participate in reviews prompted by either.
• Keep certification active and current.
• Work collaboratively with other staff to ensure a safe and supervised milieu including support in the classroom and elsewhere.
• Support and comply with all incident/injury policies and appropriately report any unsafe practices or situations or concerns to the proper department or leadership team.
• Ensure the mission and philosophy of Benchmark Transitions is clearly communicated, represented, demonstrated and reflected within all program operations and interactions.
• Occasionally be asked to attend conferences or present lectures to related professional development as requested therefore some travel should be expected.
• Aid in the collection of client urine.
• Assist with occasional duties as needed to ensure the collection of client urine.
• Perform other duties as assigned within the scope of appropriate duties.