PSYCHIATRIC SOCIAL WORKER - JTDC

Location: Juvenile Temporary Detention Center | Department: Behavioral Health | Shift: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Pay Range: $97,116 – $109,897 yearly (commensurate with years of experience documented at time of application).

About the role

The Psychiatric Social Worker at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) delivers developmental, behavioral, and family/social system assessment and intervention for youth and adolescents. Responsibilities include timely screening of mental health and substance use conditions with assessment of family/support systems; linkage and transition services to community-based treatment; coordination with health care, court, probation, program, and school professionals; and facilitating quality linkage with community behavioral health programs, including resident preparation, transition to community care, and education of families and support systems. The role also involves supervising behavioral health trainees such as social work field placement students, psychology post-doctoral residents, pre-doctoral interns, and practicum students.

Responsibilities

• Interview residents to assess behavioral health, including diagnosis, psychosocial, family/support, and social determinants of health needs; respond to immediate concerns.
• Write reports describing all pertinent facts and conclusions from mental health assessments.
• Assemble written documentation for case files.
• Assist residents in drawing up written agreements and proposals specifying roles and responsibilities of each family participant in a treatment plan.
• Conduct behavioral assessments flowing from intake assessment (e.g., suicidal/homicidal risk) and guide program staff in keeping residents and units safe.
• Conduct daily rounds and consult with staff to ensure residents are doing well and to evaluate environmental alerts/confinement checks.
• Monitor residents for changes in clinical symptoms, treatment side effects, or complications.
• Support psychotropic medication management prescribed by JTDC psychiatry staff, focusing on education about treatment adherence, side effects, and effectiveness.
• Provide individual, group, and family counseling and crisis intervention using evidence-based practices for juvenile justice populations.
• Provide direct patient services on an “on call” basis as assigned; respond by telephone promptly and report to the facility when clinically appropriate.
• Deliver interventions designed to facilitate progress toward a more community-based level of care.
• Conduct social environment assessment and treatment work with communication and coordination among nursing, medical, program, school, probation, and court staff.
• Support residents in developing coping skills (e.g., affect and anger management) through evidence-based practices such as CBT, trauma-informed CBT, and DBT.
• Build community re-entry plans based on social work intake and assessment data.
• Assist in assessment of residents and their family/support systems toward mental health recovery in the community.
• Provide active community case coordination to establish community treatment options.
• Engage in teamwork coordination with case management services based in the court, probation, JTDC, and other resident agents and resources.
• Facilitate mental health treatment linkage for residents and families/support systems in the community.
• Uncover barriers to adjustment and provide recommendations for removing barriers to support recovery.
• Develop service and treatment plans.
• Educate, coach, and support residents and families regarding best use of educational, recreational, health/mental health, and other community resources.
• Inform residents of appointments, including scheduled appearances.
• Discuss with staff and referral sources resident reactions to services/treatment to aid in evaluating adequacy of future services and enhance engagement and recovery.
• Work with residents to modify plans to meet program requirements and education opportunities.
• Maintain records of appointments, case review dates, due dates, etc.
• Contact relatives and friends of residents (with consent) to encourage help in providing needed services.
• Recommend whether cases/situations require emergency or routine handling.
• Assess and build family, kinship, and community support systems through linkage activities such as education and brief multi-system consulting.
• Document clinical and case work services.
• Meet to coordinate services with JTDC case workers.
• Assist in training students and interns in techniques for efficient, effective use of a brief stay and solid linkage with community services.
• Assist in training techniques for step-wise transition to a lesser level of care, focusing on chronically mentally ill residents, and consult with other case-work providers.
• Participate in presentations at professional meetings pertaining to JTDC.
• Maintain records in accordance with Cook County Health and county policies; complete required outcomes and protocols.
• Work collaboratively with a team of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health specialists, and supervisees to develop and deliver an integrated plan of services.
• Share specialized clinical knowledge with colleagues.
• Participate in completing performance reports of relevant mental health staff upon request.
• Give clinical presentations for clinical staff.
• Recommend new programs for appropriate treatment of patients.
• Act as a clinical consultant within the facility.
• Respond to subpoenas and court-ordered documents in consultation with the Medical Mental Health Program Director and Chief Psychologist.
• Participate in ongoing training, education, and support of student behavioral health staff.
• Establish and maintain working relationships with institution and/or field staff to provide a continuum of care.
• Review file material and/or obtain information from institution and/or field staff to make psychological recommendations.
• Consult in the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs following guidelines from the Medical Mental Health Program Director and Chief Psychologist.
• Participate with other clinical staff in structured case conferences and staffing to conceptualize case diagnostics, formulate treatment plans, and further professional development.
• Attend workshops, training sessions, and meetings as required.
• Report to the Chief Psychologist, JTDC.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Master’s Degree in Social Work from an accredited college or university with a clinical social work concentration focusing on mental health (official transcripts due at interview).
• License in Clinical Social Work (LCSW) in the State of Illinois (proof required at interview).
• Four (4) years of prior experience as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker performing assessment, treatment, and case management for youth with mental health or substance use conditions.
• One (1) year of experience working with juvenile justice populations (youth and/or adolescents).
• Current experience using evidence-based therapy techniques for youth (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma-Informed CBT, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, etc.).

Qualifications

• Bilingual in English/Spanish preferred.
• Certification as an Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) Counselor or Board Registered as a Mental Illness-Substance Abuse Counselor (MISA I, MISA II) preferred.

Skills

• Knowledge of principles and practice of psychological diagnosis per DSM and ICD.
• Knowledge of evidence-based treatment modalities, including individual