San Diego Youth Services

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Mental Health Clinician

San Diego Youth Services seeks a Mental Health Clinician at our East County Behavioral Health Clinic (ECBHC). This is a full-time, hybrid & exempt position reporting to the Division Director and the ECBHC Program Manager. This position works with the county but offers a private practice experience.

San Diego Youth Services: Who we are

San Diego Youth Services has helped improve the lives of more than 780,000 homeless, runaway and vulnerable youth since its beginning in 1970. We provide safe places to live and long-term solutions through shelter, foster homes, community centers and housing to more than 28,000 youth every year at 100 community and school locations. Through prevention, early intervention and treatment, we also help youth before they need higher levels of care or become homeless.

We aim to:

Meet the basic needs of youth. Hunger, poverty and youth homelessness are on the rise for many youth and their families today. We help meet these basic needs for youth. What could be more vital than food and shelter? We provide safe places to live and long-term solutions through shelter, foster homes, community centers and housing.

Create positive connection. We help youth focus on positive life changes and healthy relationships as part of providing needed resources and services. San Diego Youth Services has long provided foster homes and adoption support services for families considering adopting a youth in the foster care system.

Help youth develop life skills. In addition to a range of safe and stable housing options, we offer support to help youth develop the independent living skills necessary to become self-sufficient and keep off the streets.

Promote overall health and well-being. Early intervention and care for the whole child are critical. We provide a broad continuum of services to help youth overcome trauma and challenges that put them at risk, including case management, counseling, mental health treatment and educational support and resources.

SDYS has a staff of approximately 215 employees and 80 volunteers working across San Diego County and an annual budget of approximately $22 million.

You can learn more about us at www.sdyouthservices.org

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION HIRING FOR

The East County Behavioral Health Clinic provides trauma informed, outpatient mental health services, and case management to youth (4-21 years old) and their families who are low-income or uninsured, full scope Medi-Cal beneficiaries, or eligible for services through the Mental Health Service Act. As a Full Service Partnership program, we provide comprehensive, culturally responsive services to assist youth and families in achieving their goals. 

CONTEXT OF THE POSITION

Responsible for the development and maintenance of an integrated treatment approach for at-risk youth with co-occurring psychiatric and substance abuse disorders and quality trauma informed youth services, including providing crisis management, family, individual, and group psychotherapy. Clinician will be asked to provide psychotherapy services at several area schools, clinic, home, and community setting. In addition, clinician will be required to participate in weekly interdisciplinary treatment teams and present cases for clinical feedback. Position requires travel throughout East County and participation in on-call rotation.

Essential functions include:

• Provide crisis intervention, clinical mental health assessments, diagnosis, treatment planning, and individual/family/group therapy for identified high risk youth and their families either at clinic, home, in community or in school settings.
• Participate in rotation of managing after – hours phone and be willing to provide evening appointments. Serve on-call/stand-by duty as assigned.
• Responsible for assuring all youth are provided screening measures that assesses for a wide range of behavioral, mood, and substance related concerns.
• Carry a clinical caseload of 25-30 clients.
• Complete clinical assessments and notes within (MIS) Cerner system no longer than 10 days from service delivery date.
• Welcome and treat youth with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders as having two primary conditions each requiring attention.
• Achieve 1,200-minute weekly productivity standard.
• Conduct outreach within community as well as maintain linkages with existing community partners to ensure continuous effort to increase and/or maintain referrals.
• Maintain regular contact with outside providers invested in client treatment such as psychiatrists, psychologists, medical doctors, probation officers, school counselors, etc. in order to strengthen treatment collaboration.
• Actively participate in the training and practice of solution focused brief therapy in order to continue evidence-based treatment initiative.
• Participate in weekly Treatment Team review, Clinical Supervision, and all mandated County training meetings.
• Develop and implement transition to adulthood plans and attend IEPs.
• Ensure that all medical records are maintained according to the agency, program, and County standards for documentation of services including but not limited to behavioral health assessments, service plans, progress notes, medical history, and legal consents.
• Follow all legal and ethical guidelines pertaining to the treatment of youth and families as per state and county requirements (e.g. Child Abuse Reporting, Duty to Warn, Confidentiality, Grievance Procedures, Informed Consent, Serious Incident Reporting).
• Maintain a minimum of 20 hours of clinical-related training per year (as per your start date), 8 of which must be in Cultural Competency.
• Respond to service-partners during a crisis or urgent matter, including those that occur outside of normal business operating hours, by implementing and following the on-call procedures whenever the rotation of on-call falls into the scope of responsibilities for the assigned period.

PREFERRED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Licensed or license-eligible in Marital and Family Therapy, Social Work, or Psychology.
• Minimum of one-year experience providing therapy for adolescents and their families.
• Experience working with at-risk youth and co-occurring knowledge strongly preferred.
• Must have or be willing to train in the Solution Focused Brief Therapy orientation and/or training in Motivational Interviewing.
• Must be willing to develop or possess working knowledge of trauma-informed care and dual diagnosis treatment; experience working in trauma-informed and dual diagnosis programs preferred.
• Must be registered with the Board of Behavioral Science or Board of Psychology and be in good standing. Must have knowledge of case plan development.
• Must have strong collaboration skills with internal supports and with public entities or agencies.
• Familiarity with juvenile justice and social service systems preferred.
• Must possess excellent oral and written skills.
• Must have reliable vehicle and relevant auto insurance, plus a clean driving record.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred.

SDYS EXPECTATIONS

• Adhere to and uphold the rigorous standards of SDYS as mandated by its mission, purpose, guiding principles and standards of quality.
• Maintain confidentiality and privacy standards of service partner protected health information and other applicable information and material in accordance to agency and center policies, and applicable regulations and laws including HIPAA.
• Welcome and support SDYS volunteers and assist them in accomplishing their services whenever applicable.
• Effectively communicate with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Receive and give supportive feedback to foster equity and inclusion in working relationships.
• Recognize, nurture, and learn from strengths in co-workers.
• Maintain warm, welcoming and safe work environments.
• Possess flexibility to accomplish job responsibilities in several work environments, whether it be from home, on the road, or in an office.

Salary: $62,400

To apply, please send resume and cover letter through job posting on SDYS website.

SDYS offers a comprehensive benefits package to full time employees that includes generous PTO, personal holidays, health, vision, dental, life insurance, parental leave and a 403(b)-retirement plan with matching contribution.

Candidates must be able to follow all the guidelines provided by the agency, government, and health authorities to maintain safety and health when the job requires physical presence and/or contact with others during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the submission of proof of vaccination as mandated by the California Public Health Order. The successful candidate will need to submit verification of vaccination or have a valid religious or medical reason not to be vaccinated.

SDYS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. In compliance with the Immigration and Nationality Act as amended, all new employees must verify their eligibility to work in the United States.