Criteria for BIS:

• Level 1 BIS is a person with at least a master’s degree from a program in a clinical and/or treatment field of psychology, has had documented training in assessment techniques and behavior support plan development, and has at least five years of experience. Experience includes working directly with persons with developmental disabilities, including the development, implementation, and monitoring of behavior support plans and/or providing supervision and training to others in the implementation of behavior support plans.
• Level 2 BIS is a person who has national board certification in behavior analysis (BCBA) and a master’s degree in behavior analysis or a field closely related to clinical or community psychology which is approved by OPWDD.
  • Alternatively, the person may have a master’s degree in a clinical or treatment field in psychology, social work, school psychology, or a related human services field or a New York State license in Mental Health Counseling and
    • Has OPWDD approved specialized training or experience in assessment techniques and behavioral support plan development; and
    • Has provided behavioral services for an agency in the OPWDD system; or
    • Completes at least one graduate-level course in an applied health service area of applied psychology, social work, or special education each year.

Schedule

• BIS’s travel to various programs they are assigned to.
• BIS schedule is flexible and depends on the needs of their programs. BIS may work some early hours and some late hours to do observations.
• They split their time depending on the hours allotted to a specific program, however if there is a crisis in one of their programs, they may focus on that program for a short time.
• They may attend IRC/HRC and/or other committee meetings.
• BIS’s will change their schedules and go to a program if they are being visited from DQI. The Residential Manager or Coordinator must reach out to the BIS/RN to inform them that their house is being surveyed.
• It is the responsibility of the BIS to inform their program (Res Manager or Coord) if they will not be attending a meeting for the program.
• BIS’s are responsible for calling out to the Psychology Coordinator and notifying their programs. They request time off first by informing the Psychology Coordinator, if approved, they put their request in Paycom. Time is tracked by the Psychology Coordinator and their time is approved is by Juno Greaves.

Attending Meetings/Trainings & Communication with Team

• The BIS is responsible for working directly with the residential or day hab staff and is responsible for the following:

Training staff

Ensure that all clinical interventions are understood by staff and are

properly and consistently implemented

Communicating clinical rationales to the staff

Providing staff with both formal and informal feedback

Role model appropriate tone

Implementing behavioral programming.

• The BIS’s is responsible for meeting with residential staff on a regular basis to provide clinical supervision (typically done during staff meetings).
• The BIS is responsible for providing clinical oversight and training to the Asst Clinicians in their programs.
• The BIS is responsible to function as a resource to other programs when needed and to the community services department (including serving on various committees such as the Human Rights Committee, Informed Consent Committee, Incident Review Committee, etc)
• The BIS is responsible to attend monthly BIS meetings as well as the bi-monthly CS Department meetings.
• The BIS is responsible for attending the team meeting and IDT meetings for each of their programs on a regular basis. It is their responsibility to provide the clinical agenda for these meetings and take an active role in this meeting by leading the clinical discussion or provide training.
• It is the BISs responsibility to meet with the Residential Manager and/or Coordinator and their supervision on a regular basis. They are responsible to come to their meetings and/or supervision prepared with an agenda, approach clinical and programmatic issues in a solution-oriented manner, and to follow up on tasks delegated during the supervision process in a timely manner.

Clinical

• The BIS is responsible for identifying the behavioral and psychiatric needs of the individuals and bring these to the attention of the team, the Residential Manager and/or Coordinator, both programmatic and individual clinical issues and be solution-oriented in their resolution.
• The BIS is responsible for providing useful clinical information to staff working directly with individuals and to maintain accepted standards of confidentiality.
• The BIS is responsible to conduct assessments both behavioral and habilitative via formal means (Functional assessments, written questionnaires, rating scales, baseline data, etc.) and informal (observations).
• The BIS may lead the program through treatment planning for the people they support.
• The BIS is responsible for developing behavior support plans in accordance with the agency policy, evidenced based, and regulations as determined by individual need.
• Behavior support plans must be updated at least on an annual basis or more frequently if it’s needed. The BIS must ensure that timely modifications/revisions are made, as dictated by individual need.
• The BIS is responsible for designing effective data collection systems that allow progress to be monitored and measured.
• The BIS is responsible to monitor the progress of the people they support in Precision Care and make revisions/modifications and recommendations as needed at the person’s life plan meeting.
• The BIS supports the program in ensuring that all programming focused on teaching new skills or maintaining the skills they already have is implemented consistently and in accordance with the agency policy.
• The BIS is responsible for ensuring that all interventions receive the proper approval prior to implementation prior to implementation (informed consent, human rights).
• The BIS in conjunction with the team develops group curricula and ensures the implementation of group programming.
• The BIS is responsible for recommending and initiating appropriate referrals for necessary psychological consultations and evaluations.
• The BIS is responsible to ensure that individuals receive appropriate mental health care and act as a resource to the residential/day habilitative team about individual mental health needs.
• The BIS will complete a Psychiatry Summary update prior to a Psychiatry appointment with input from the team and the RN

Use of Self during CFA/Life Plan Meetings

• The BIS is responsible to attend scheduled case conferences/life plan meetings and to function as a member of the treatment team. When unable to attend a CFA or Life Plan meeting, the BIS will provide appropriate reports and recommendations prior to the meeting.
• The BIS in conjunction with the Manager/Coordinator reviews a life plan, develops a staff action plan and trains staff on goals/supports.
• The BIS will develop goals for a person’s CFA and monitor their progress.
• The BIS is also responsible to complete a Psychology Review report for a person’s Annual and Semi-Annual reports as well as completed QIDP reports in the absence of a Asst. Clinician/QIDP.
• The BIS is responsible to play a leadership role in working with families, and members of the community as well as all team meetings, and team building efforts.
• The BIS is responsible to ensure that individuals receive appropriate mental health care and act as a resource to the residential/day habilitative team about individual mental health needs. The BIS will complete a Psychiatry Summary update prior to a Psychiatry appointment with input from the team and the RN.
• The BIS is responsible to assist in the coordination of individual treatment between the residence and the day hab. The BIS should visit individuals at their day/vocational program and attend case conferences and other special IDT meetings as dictated by individual need.
• The BIS along with Residential Manager is responsible to ensure that all psychological records are maintained in accordance with OPWDD and BIRCH policy.

General Info:

• Although the BIS is part of leadership, they will be responsible to function in a direct service professional capacity on an as needed basis.
• BIS is supervised by the Psychology Coordinator. The Director of Community Services oversees the Psychology Department.
• Programs the BIS works in will follow the Chain of Support for BIS’s when they are calling the BIS after hours.