Behavioral Health Tech - Nights

Lewis & Clark Behavioral Health Services (LCBHS) is recruiting for a Behavioral Health Technician position. The position will be responsible to assist clinical staff in caring for youth and adults experiencing mental health and addiction crisis, as well as caring for adults participating in chemical dependency treatment. The role will be positioned at The Core Center, which provides 24/7 mental health and addiction crisis care services for youth and adults, and the Ebel Recovery Center, which provides substance use treatment services for adults.

Employment Status: Full Time – 36 hours/week

Shift Rotation Options: Night Shift (1830-0700)

Weekend Rotation: Every Other Weekend

Holiday Rotation: Every Other Holiday

Reports to: Behavioral Health Technician Supervisor

Essential Functions:

• Perform screenings for youth and adults in crisis upon presentation to the facility, identifying potential risks and possible options for support/intervention, in collaboration with clinical staff. Perform breathalyzer checks and obtain vitals for patients, when indicated.
• Through controlled observation and direct patient contact and participation, educate, prevent, and intervene throughout the patient’s daily interactions including groups, 1-1s, structured recreation, and free time establishing a secure, positive, and therapeutic recovery environment.
• Perform phone screenings for the facility’s 24/7 crisis line.
• Observe and document patient self-administration of medications, documenting errors and completing incident reports to improve medication administration process. Work with nursing staff and other techs on minimizing staff medication errors.
• Monitor patients for safety via routine safety checks, communicating information regarding patient’s behavior to other members of treatment team.
• Role model appropriate social interactions. Encourage and facilitate patient’s participation in therapeutic activities and program schedule, enforcing accountability to program rules. Offer feedback, assign consequences, and provide therapeutic interventions to motivate behavioral changes.
• Engage in 1:1 supportive activities with patients, such as therapeutic communication and structured recreation.
• Maintain therapeutic posture with patients experiencing emotional instability, exercising self-control in volatile situations such as verbal/physical threats and/or confrontation. Assist in conflict resolution and de-escalation.Maintain patient confidentiality. Immediately report safety concerns related to patient care issues, maintenance concerns, property destruction, theft, or any other safety concern preventing or directly or indirectly impacting the effective provision of treatment services.
• Gather, record, and relate reliable factual information about general client behaviors including both positive and negative behaviors. Record unusual client behavior(s) or situations, including critical incidents in the correct manner, contacting designated and on-call staff when required.
• Participates in implementing patient’s treatment plans by monitoring patient whereabouts, communicating information regarding patient’s behavior to other members of treatment team, encourages and facilitates patient’s participation in therapeutic activities, provides feedback to motivate behavioral changes, supervises patients to ensure their safe involvement in treatment.
• Document and report objective and factual information about patient behaviors, unusual situations, and critical incidents as they occur, contacting designated and on-call staff when required.
• Supervise, monitor, and coach clients through schedule on assigned shifts, managing interpersonal conflicts, documenting medical and psychological incidents correctly as they occur.
• Assist with training of new staff members as required.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the leadership team.

Required Licensure / Certification and Experience / Abilities

• Minimum requirement high school diploma or GED equivalent.
• Valid driver’s license.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with patients, other professional agencies, other employees, supervisors, and the public.
• Sensitivity to special needs of the patients; and ability to recognize, and work with cultural and ethnic differences.
• Ability to community effectively, orally and in writing.
• Ability to plan and organize time effectively.
• Ability to safely operate passenger vans and non-passenger vehicles.
• Ability to interpret and follow written state guidelines.
• Ability to follow directives of supervisors.

Organization

• Lewis & Clark Behavioral Health Services (LCBHS) is an integrated behavioral healthcare agency offering a variety of different programs in southeastern South Dakota. LCBHS provides residential, outpatient, and inpatient programs as well as patient-centered medical homes, medication-assisted treatment, and crisis services to individuals experiencing substance use disorders or mental illness. LCBHS is considered by many to be the premiere, fully integrated non-profit provider of substance use disorder and mental health services in Southeastern South Dakota.

Staff and Facilities

• LCBHS provides services with a staff of 170 individuals from office locations in Yankton, Vermillion, and Lake Andes, South Dakota. Plans are well underway for the consolidation of the Yankton locations into one state-of-the-art facility. We are proud to adhere to a “no wrong door” treatment approach that allows ready access to an integrated array of services regardless of the access point.

About our Culture, Commitment to Employees

• The leadership at LCBHS is committed to ongoing professional development for their staff.
• Our employees experience professional growth through ongoing training and cutting-edge treatment practices.
• LCBHS pays for required CEU’s, licensing fees and certifications.
• Options are available for student loan repayment through the National Health Service Corp or South Dakota State Loan Repayment Program.
• LCBHS is a training site for most, if not all, behavioral health specialties.
• We know life happens, that’s why all employees start with a plan that allows 10 paid holidays, 3 weeks of paid vacation and provisions for paid sick leave and paid emergency family leave.
• Flexible work hours are available to accommodate life demands.
• LCBHS invests in employees with a pensions plan providing up to a 6 percent match and immediate vesting.
• LCBHS employees are supported by strong and competent leadership available 24/7.

LCBHS offers an excellent benefits package!

• Three weeks paid vacation per year, 10 paid holidays, paid sick leave, paid individual employee health insurance, life insurance, available vision and dental insurance, dependent care savings, health care savings, 401K with up to 6 percent employer match - 100% vested upon enrollment, potential student loan repayment and more!