Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences (Practitioner)

Purpose

The USC Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences seeks a licensed clinical social worker to deliver specialized psychosocial and psychotherapeutic services as part of an interdisciplinary palliative care team.

About the Role

This is a full-time clinical faculty position with academic appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and clinical service assignments at Keck Hospital of USC / Norris Cancer Hospital, and USC Health Sciences Campus ambulatory clinics. Salary is competitive and contingent on experience. A generous benefits package includes: health, dental and vision coverage; significant retirement benefits; child care; tuition assistance for the faculty member and their eligible spouse and dependent children; tuition exchange for eligible faculty children; paid professional days; access to free continuing education credits through our Grand Rounds lecture series; generous paid time off and parental leave; life insurance, malpractice coverage, long-term disability coverage, pet insurance, and more.

Essential Functions

• Joint reporting to Care Coordination Senior Director, Director of Consultation Liaison Services at Keck Medicine of USC, and Section Head, Palliative Medicine & Supportive Care.
• Interview and assist patients in Keck Hospital, Norris Hospital, and USC Health Sciences Campus outpatient settings.
• Conduct comprehensive psychosocial assessments independently and / or in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team, as clinically appropriate, to identify patient and family needs related to serious illness.
• Provide ongoing, longitudinal psychosocial support to hospitalized patients across multiple encounters during their hospital stay and maintain therapeutic relationships with families throughout hospitalization.
• Assess psychosocial distress, coping capacity, illness understanding, goals of care, and family/caregiver dynamics in the context of serious illness, including assessing family dynamics, caregiver burden, and available support systems.
• Explore patient, family, and caregiver goals and develop appropriate therapeutic interventions when complex family dynamics are present.
• Demonstrate ability to provide trauma-informed, culturally responsive care while supporting patients and families experiencing serious illness, distress, and complex psychosocial needs.
• Participate in multidisciplinary team conferences to discuss the nature of the patient’s concern and evaluate progress.
• Offer continued counseling related to grief, anticipatory grief, loss, coping with illness, changes in function, identity, and role transitions.
• Regularly reassess psychosocial needs and adapt interventions as medical conditions, prognoses, or care plans evolve.
• Address emotional responses including anxiety, depression, fear, anger, demoralization, existential distress, and grief.
• Support families as they process changing prognostic information, goals of care, and evolving caregiving expectations.
• Apply professional skills and extensive knowledge pertaining to the principles, practices, and theory of psychiatric social work.
• Train, assess, and evaluate graduate students and unlicensed clinical staff.
• Practice with a high degree of professional independence within the scope of social work practice, while collaborating with the interdisciplinary palliative care team when clinically indicated (e.g., complex family dynamics, ethical concerns, or goals of care discussions).
• Communicate proactively with team members regarding significant psychosocial concerns, risk factors, and changes in patient or family coping to support coordinated, patient centered care.
• Maintain working knowledge of electronic medical health records systems.

Palliative-Care Specific Responsibilities

• Demonstrated understanding of palliative care principles, including symptom burden, quality of life, and patient centered care.
• Skill in navigating emotionally complex conversations related to illness progression, loss, hope and meaning.
• Provide evidence-informed psychosocial and psychotherapeutic interventions for patients with serious and life-limiting illness, including supportive psychotherapy, grief and bereavement counseling, meaning-centered and existential therapies, life-review interventions, and resource-focused clinical case management.
• Offer therapy related to anticipatory grief, identity changes, loss of function, and role transitions, while delivering ongoing inpatient psychosocial support that includes reassessment and refinement of coping strategies.
• Address patient demoralization, existential distress, and anger as emotional responses to serious illness; navigate emotionally complex conversations involving loss and meaning; and demonstrate skill in supporting patients experiencing prognostic uncertainty and end-of-life concerns.
• Support families as they process prognostic changes, evolving goals of care, and shifting caregiving expectations.
• Aid patients/families in clarifying values, goals, and care preferences, and provide advance care planning support, including completion of advance directives.
• Participate in and help facilitate family meetings and goals-of-care discussions, providing follow-up emotional support.
• Practice with high professional independence within palliative care scope.
• Communicate proactively with the interdisciplinary team about psychosocial risk factors and coping changes.
• Support advance care planning including completion of advance directives and identification of healthcare proxies, in collaboration with the care team.

Minimum/Desired Qualifications

• Master’s degree in social work or equivalent degree (e.g. LMFT, LPCC) from an accredited graduate school of social work or equivalent.
• A valid and active license as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker or equivalent degree issued by the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Board of Behavioral Sciences.
• At least 5 years of experience in a medical setting providing mental health services / psychotherapy related to palliative care.
• Experience working with hospital based or medical system environment.
• Resilient, self-aware, and able to thrive in a fast paced, dynamic environment.
• Commitment to the highest ethical standards of professional practice and to professional integrity.
• Effectively works in a highly diverse, multicultural, and LGBTQIA affirmative environment.
• Desire to continue to grow as a professional; committed to excellence and lifelong learning.