Licensed Psychologist - Taconic

Duties Description

This Licensed Psychologist serves in the role of Forensic Liaison and Chair of the Local Risk Management Committee for Taconic's five-county region: Columbia, Greene, Ulster, Dutchess, and Putnam counties providing key support to the treatment teams. The Forensic Liaison also has a residential caseload of approximately five residential houses and 35-45 individuals, some with intense behavioral and/or forensic backgrounds, completes all duties of a residential psychologist for Area 1, Ulster County and sees as many as 4 people for ongoing psychotherapy, while participating on treatment teams, committees, and special projects.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Will serve as Chair of the Local Risk Management Committee and is responsible for having close familiarity and maintains tracking of all individuals with forensic/risk backgrounds and High-Risk Behavior Support Plans in the Taconic Region.
• Has a close working relationship with statewide risk committees and local law enforcement, courts, and probation departments.
• Provides clinical crisis intervention services and psychological services directly to adults living in group homes, develops and monitors functional behavioral assessments and behavior support plans for individuals with challenging behaviors associated with Intellectual Disability/ Developmental Disability and psychiatric diagnoses, trains staff, collects data and summarizes for psychiatric consults, and completes psychological evaluations as needed, participating in all aspects of the residential treatment team.
• May serve on other committees and completes Article 16 psychotherapy and assessments as needed.
• Completes evaluations that may include, but are not limited to forensic risk assessments, assessing dementia, sexuality, and capacity.
• Participates as a member of an interdisciplinary team and attends meetings for individual service plans, case reviews, and residential habilitation.
• Develops and presents individuals’ cases to various review committees (HRC, ICC) for approval.
• Participation as a member of the Psychology Department, which includes participating on committees (Risk, HRC), attending meetings and supervision groups.
• Performs special assignments as directed; these assignments include plans to develop ADL and other skill-building, risk assessments, high risk behavior support plans, competency evaluations, and diminution assessments; performs routine capacity assessments, fire-setting assessments, performs routine psychological assessments such as intelligence testing and measures of adaptive behavior.
• Provides individualized services to people who may have challenging behavioral and forensic profiles within a community residential setting, requiring regular visits to homes, day programs, and other community settings for counseling, observation, assessment, and team support and training.
• Assists with Article 16 treatment, completing capacity and other assessments, and providing coverage to other psychology staff in Taconic Areas 1, 2, and 3.
• Consulting on and completing functional assessments and behavior planning for some of the most complex and behaviorally involved individuals; collects data and summarizes for psychiatric consults; completes psychological evaluations as needed.
  
  

The incumbent will also assist with Central Office initiatives, participation in relevant committees and project groups, and other related duties.

• Assists with enhancing utilization of electronic health records, participates in relevant committees and project groups, and other related duties.
  
  

NOTE: You must have a valid driver’s license to apply as travel is a part of the duties involved in this position. This may include a state-owned vehicle, as available, or the employee’s own car. An employee who uses his/her own car will be reimbursed at current negotiated rates.

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Minimum Qualifications

Candidates must be licensed and currently registered by New York State as a Licensed Psychologist.

Additional Comments

This title is part of the New York Hiring for Emergency Limited Placement Statewide Program (NY HELPS). HELPS Program titles may be filled via a non-competitive appointment. This means that you do not need to take an exam to qualify, but you do need to meet the minimum qualifications of the title.

At a future date (within one year of permanent appointment), employees hired under NY HELPS are expected to have their permanent non-competitive employment status converted to permanent competitive status. You will not have to take an exam to gain permanent competitive status.

• Posted Hiring Salary includes the sum of statutory hiring rate for PS&T Grade 25 ($96,336), Increased hiring rate ($25,077), Geographic Pay Differential ($20,000), and Mid-Hudson adjustment ($2,000). The Geographic Pay Differential and Mid-Hudson adjustment are also applied to the posted Job Rate ($121,413).
• If you are currently a New York State employee serving in a permanent competitive qualifying title and eligible for a transfer via Section 70.1 of the Civil Service Law, you may be appointed to this title as a permanent competitive employee.
• The assignment of PS&T employees will be made in accordance with any agreed upon Memorandum of Understanding between PEF and the local DDSO regarding the posting of job vacancies.
• Preference will be given to OPWDD employees impacted by closures. If you are being impacted by closure, please indicate this on your resume.
• All OPWDD employees must be eligible and maintain eligibility for full and unconditional participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Continued employment will depend on maintaining eligibility.
• If you are employed by state government you may be able to receive loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF). The PSLF Program forgives the remaining balance on Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments have been made under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer. For more information on PSLF, please visit www.studentAid.gov/publicservice.
• Employees on long term leave can bid on positions but must be able to report to work within fourteen (14) days and be able to perform the essential functions of their positions with or without reasonable accommodation (RA).
• If an employee or job applicant believes that they need a reasonable accommodation, they should contact the Reasonable Accommodation Unit at (518) 486-7222 or email accommodationrequests@opwdd.ny.gov to obtain information and RA forms.
• Savings programs such as the U.S. Savings Bond and the College Savings Plan.
• Voluntary pre-tax savings programs such as Health Care Spending Account and the Dependent Care Advantage Account offer employees options to pay for uncovered health care expenses or dependent care expenses.
• Access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) an assessment and referral service that connects employees with local service providers and support services to address their personal needs.
• Life insurance and Disability insurance.
• The New York State Deferred Compensation Plan is a voluntary retirement plan that offers employees the option to invest a part of their salaries for retirement on a tax-deferred basis.
• Paid Holidays and Leave:
  
  

° Thirteen (13) paid holidays each year.

° Thirteen (13) days of paid vacation leave initially.

° Five (5) days paid personal leave each year.

° Thirteen (13) days of paid sick leave each year (PEF/CSEA), which may carry over from year to year.

° Up to three (3) days professional leave each year to participate in professional development events.

• Health Care Coverage:
  
  

Employees and their eligible dependents can choose from a variety of affordable health insurance programs. Employees are provided family dental and vision plans at no extra cost.

• Paid Parental Leave:
  
  

Paid Parental Leave allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave at full pay for each qualifying event. A qualifying event is defined as the birth of a child or placement of a child for adoption or foster care.

• Retirement Program:
  
  

Participate in The NYS Employees’ Retirement System (ERS), which is recognized as one of the best-managed and best-funded public retirement systems in the nation.

• Professional Development and Education and Training:
  
  

NYS offers training programs and tuition assistance to eligible employees to maintain and increase their professional skills and prepare them for promotional opportunities. For more information, please visit https://oer.ny.gov/training-and-professional-development.

• Additionally, the Public Service Workshops Program (PSWP) offers certain professional training opportunities for PEF represented and M/C designated employees that may grant continuing education credits towards maintaining professional licensure. For more information, please visit https://oer.ny.gov/public-service-workshops-program-pswp.
• OPWDD is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer dedicated to creating and sustaining a culture of inclusion. We believe that we are most effective in managing and improving our service system with a diverse team of employees. With such a large workforce, we rely on the collective individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, self-expression, ideas and talent that our employees bring to their work. This speaks to our culture and is a key part of our successes. As we continuously recruit people for our team, we welcome the unique contributions that applicants bring in terms of their education, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation and beliefs.
  
  

***All people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.***