Psychological Assistant Adult

Job Summary

Under the supervision of a licensed Psychologist or board certified Psychiatrist, provides mental health assessment, diagnosis, treatment and crisis intervention services for adult and/or child members who present themselves for psychiatric evaluation with a broad range of mental health needs.

Essential Responsibilities

• Develops, implements, coordinates, and evaluates clinical treatment programs for the diagnosis, treatment, and/or referral of Health Plan members with acute or chronic mental illness.
• Participates in staff conferences to select, plan, and evaluate treatment programs.
• Provides outpatient psychotherapy to individuals, couples, families and groups.
• Instructs and counsels patients and their families regarding compliance with prescribed therapeutic regimens and adherence to prescribed medication regimens, within the scope of practice.
• May administer specialized therapeutic procedures, as appropriate.
• Provides appropriate support to members family.
• Develops and conducts psychoeducational classes and groups.
• Conducts psychological assessments, including test administration, interpretation, and recommendations.
• Prepares intake summaries, treatment plans, and case summaries and maintains ongoing confidential records.
• Charts members treatment and progress in accord with state and NCQA regulations and in keeping with accepted community standards.
• Collaborates with physicians in screening and evaluating patients for psychotropic medications, within the scope of practice.
• Utilizes resources of public and private agencies and community organizations to meet the needs of the members treatment.
• Develops, implements, and evaluates behavioral medicine and health psychology programs in a variety of settings, including primary care.
• Provides consultation to other care providers and health educators on matters relating to mental health, health psychology and behavioral medicine.
• Provides clinical supervision to psychology doctoral interns, psychology postdoctoral residents, and other mental health trainees/fellows as necessary.
• Confers and consults with supervisor regarding members progress and treatment and may consult with psychiatrist as well, if both are involved in members care.
• May provide appropriate support to members family, including explanation of treatment, instructions in how to support treatment and interventions to increase acceptance of and adherence to treatment, at members request.
• Utilizes resources of public and private agencies and community organizations to meet the needs of the members treatment to include referral of the member and/or members family to external resources, as appropriate.
• Participates in departmental program development, implementation and evaluation.
• Reports safety concerns to mandated reporting agencies.

Basic Qualifications

• Completion of a psychology doctoral internship - minimum of 1 year (1500 hours).
• Education PhD/PsyD/EdD in Clinical, Counseling, Health or School Psychology from an accredited college or university.
• Pychologist License (California) within 24 months of hire.
• Psychological Assistant Registration (California) required at hire.

Additional Requirements

• Once hired as an Assistant, an employee will be offered and must work a schedule that would accumulate at least half the required supervisory hours annually.
• Must be familiar with DSM-V as a means of diagnosis.
• Has experience in assessing, diagnosing and treating a broad range of psychiatric conditions.
• Knowledge of Evidence-Based Practice and psychotherapy research methods.
• Knowledge of the bio-psycho-social functions that contribute to mental health.
• Accuracy in diagnosing patients and developing effective treatment plans.
• Competence in individual, family and group psychotherapy.
• Professional maturity and ethical integrity necessary for assuming professional responsibilities.
• Commitment to quality of service, teamwork, and participation in a highly interactive multidisciplinary clinic.
• Ability to complete multiple tasks/objectives in a timely manner.
• Knowledge of social service agencies, state regulations and APA standards as it related to client treatment, patient rights and client/patient confidentiality.
• Previous clinical responsibilities to include psychological testing, diagnosis, crisis intervention, brief individual and group psychotherapy.
• Knowledge of psychological testing techniques, administration and interpretation.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Must be able to work in a Labor/Management Partnership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous clinical responsibility to include crisis intervention, individual and group psychotherapy.
• Demonstrated experience in psychological evaluations of adults, children, adolescents, & families, including administering & writing up psychological testing & assessment batteries preferred.
• Demonstrated professional maturity and ethical integrity necessary for assuming professional responsibilities, preferred.
• Demonstrated commitment to quality of service, teamwork, and participation in a highly interactive multidisciplinary clinic, preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to complete multiple tasks/objectives in a timely manner, preferred.
• Accuracy in diagnosing patients and developing effective treatment plans, preferred.
• Competence in individual, family and group psychotherapy, preferred.