PSYCHIATRIC SOCIAL WORKER I/DMH INTERN

About the role

The team member we are searching for will perform professional social work services in connection with the treatment of clients in need of mental health services. Essential job functions include interviewing individuals, their families and/or significant others to obtain a family, social, employment, medical, substance abuse, and mental health treatment history; assessing client’s functioning in his/her environmental setting; developing a tentative CCCP designed to resolve or cope with the mental or emotional problem; providing psychotherapy to individuals, groups, families, and significant others; providing case management services to secure resources for clients, families, and significant others in order to achieve treatment goals; serving as a member of a mental health emergency intervention team; and participating in multi-disciplinary team conferences.

Responsibilities

• Interviews individuals, their families and/or significant others to obtain a family, social, employment, medical, substance abuse, and mental health treatment history.
• Affords assessments of client’s functioning in his/her environmental setting.
• Develops a tentative CCCP designed to resolve or cope with the mental or emotional problem, which may include individual, group, family or marital counseling, case management, and/or referral to another treatment source such as a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a vocational or rehabilitation counselor, or another agency.
• Plans and conducts the client's therapy program under the guidance of supervisory staff by considering the client's treatment goal and by determining the priorities of the programs to be dealt with and the length and modality of therapy.
• Provides psychotherapy to individuals, groups, families, and significant others.
• Provides case management services to secure resources for clients, families, and significant others in order to achieve treatment goals.
• Serves as a member of a mental health emergency intervention team and/or joint law enforcement/mental health emergency intervention team by evaluating the behavior of persons to determine if they are, as a result of a mental disorder, dangerous to themselves, others, or gravely disabled.
• Requests LPS-authorized persons to complete an application for immediate 72-hour detention at a hospital facility.
• Interviews persons seeking psychiatric assistance on an emergency basis and utilizes crisis intervention techniques to prevent hospitalization and to aid the person in dealing with the emotional crisis.
• Assists clients, families, and significant others by discussing their reactions and attitudes concerning mental health problems and co-occurring substance abuse disorders; explains need for treatment; and encourages all concerned parties to work together cooperatively to resolve the problem and minimize the stresses that impact social functioning.
• Works with families and significant others toward gaining their acceptance of and participation in treatment recommendations.
• Participates in multi-disciplinary team conferences to discuss and evaluate the nature of the client's problem, to evaluate the client's progress, and to develop a CCCP.
• Participate in research to increase knowledge of mental health problems and to improve therapeutic treatment methods, as needed.

Requirements

• Must be an intern within the Department of Mental Health and have a master's degree from an accredited college or university in Social Work.
• License: A valid and active Associate Clinical Social Worker registration issued by the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Board of Behavioral Sciences is required within sixty (60) days from commencement of employment with the County of Los Angeles.
• Registered Associate Clinical Social Workers must obtain licensure within six (6) years from the original date of registration with the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Board of Behavioral Sciences.
• Physical Class 2 - Light: This class includes administrative and clerical positions requiring light physical effort that may include occasional light lifting to a 10 pound limit and some bending, stooping, or squatting. Considerable ambulation may be involved.

Desirable Qualifications

• Experience, during Master's degree in Social Work, in individual, group, or family psychotherapy assessment in a local government mental health agency or psychiatric hospital.