Mental Health Specialist I

About the role

Responsible for delivering paraprofessional mental health care under direct supervision.

Core duties and responsibilities

• Facilitates or co-facilitates the therapeutic group process.
• Applies effective communication techniques in collaborating with members of the interdisciplinary team and in interacting with clients and significant others in therapeutic relationships.
• Assists clients to structure their lives in a therapeutic manner.
• Serves as an active member of the mental health team, taking developmental age of the client into account (as determined and directed by the master treatment plan).
• Provides community based mental health care, which includes providing care to clients in a manner that considers safety and patients’ rights and comfort.
• Utilizes the master treatment plan for assistance in identifying and implementing developmental age-appropriate interventions with clients.
• Identifies verbal and non-verbal cues for potential aggressive behavior and application of de-escalation techniques to the situation.
• Implements appropriate interventions and documents clients’ responses in the medical record.
• Identifies thought patterns and behaviors associated with different types of psychiatric diagnoses and developmental ages and intervenes appropriately utilizing the master treatment plan.
• Provides assistance to clients’ family members and other supportive individuals in accordance with program standards.
• Performs basic medical tasks (i.e. obtains and documents vital signs, collects urine and stool samples, weighs clients, witnessing controlled substance wastes, obtaining blood glucose levels) and exhibits a willingness to learn additional tasks.
• Assists clients in their activities of daily living (bathing, toileting, eating and ambulation) as needed.
• May transport and supervise clients to appointments and activities.
• Organizes and facilitates specific recreation, physical fitness and age appropriate leisure time activities.

Physical requirements

• Heavy/hard work: Requires strength and or stamina, lifting, moving, stooping, reaching, standing, walking, and occasionally physical restraint of a client.

Working environment

Inpatient setting or work within homes and living spaces of community based clientele.

Skills and abilities

• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Able to work successfully under highly stressful conditions, and capable of adapting to varying workloads and work assignments on a constant basis.
• Able to make sound, independent judgments based on scientific principles, and also be able to collaborate with other multi-disciplinary team members in an appropriate fashion.