Job Summary: The Child & Adolescent Therapist with Gateway’s Georgia Apex Program provides mental health services in select Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools.

Gateway’s Georgia Apex Program Description

• School-based mental health program that focuses on providing greater access to mental health services for students, early detection of students’ mental health needs and strengthening coordination. Services provided in the school setting includes: individual, family and group counseling; psychiatric services; case management; prevention, educational and early intervention support.

Essential Functions: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Provides school-based mental health therapy to children and adolescents in the elementary, middle and high school setting.
• Work closely with school counselors, teachers and other school staff.
• Conduct intake, screening, assessment, and referral of clients as appropriate.

• Based on the assessment, work with the client and guardians to establish an individual treatment plan outlining the goals of treatment.
• Provide individual, family or group counseling.
• Evaluates, facilitates and monitors services and client’s progress in relationship to established goals and objectives
• Maintain strict confidentiality of information at all times according to established departmental policies & procedures.
• Adjust techniques & interventions as needed to ensure barriers to progress are addressed and movement toward recovery/independence is facilitated.
• Ensure that all treatment plans are current and services are authorized before being provided.
• Deliver services that are clinically appropriate to consumer's needs as specified in the treatment plan and meet responsibilities to consumer and third party payor by providing only services that meet best practice guidelines.
• Oversee the discharge planning process.
• In all activities, coordinate closely with the interdisciplinary team to best help service users, including behavioral health specialists, Staff Psychiatrist, registered nurses, quality assurance specialists, paraprofessionals, Medical Director and the Clinical Director.
• Records services accurately that relate directly to the treatment outcomes, within approved timeframes. Completes required clinical documentation according to agency standards.
• Maintain all documentation in accordance with applicable policies, laws and instructions.
• Ensure that all services provided are within the guidelines and document care in compliance with agency requirements and standards.

Required Education, Experience and Benefits:

Desire to provide mental health services to children and adolescents. School-based mental health services in Savannah-Chatham County School District.

• Must have already completed master’s degree in counseling, social work or related human services field.
• Associate license (LAMFT, LAPC, LMSW) or full licensure (LMFT, LPC, LCSW) in Georgia is preferred,
• Strong interest in child and adolescent mental health services.
• Comfortable working in a school environment.

Work Environment:

This job operates in a variable business settings with trips into the community. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines. This role provides basic employment support which requires employee to perform in loud/quiet environments, outdoors/indoors, etc. Some minor travel between Gateway sites and in the community is required.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Employee is frequently required to walk, sit, stand or kneel and occasionally required to climb or balance and stoop. Employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. Must have the ability to sit for long periods of time at a computer. Employee frequently uses fine hand/eye coordination, hearing and visual acuity. Lighting and temperature are adequate, and there are not hazardous or unpleasant condition caused by noise, dust, etc. Employee must be able to travel between Gateway sites. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Gateway CSB promotes a drug/alcohol free work environment through the use of mandatory pre-employment drug testing.