What are the responsibilities and job description for the Mental Health Therapist position at System-wide?
Mental Health Therapist
The school-based mental health therapist will assist students in achieving their optimal level of well-being. They will provide services related to the delivery of mental health care for Anderson County students enrolled in educational programs at designated school locations; supporting school site staff and parents/guardians using evidence-based best practices; conducting assessments and developing plans that conform to educational needs following Tennessee law and regulations. This position requires utilizing evaluative, preventive, therapeutic, restorative and personal care skills to assist in meeting the complex needs of children and their families.
This job reports to the District Office Student Services Supervisory staff.
Essential Job Duties:
- Provides direct mental health services to identified students within Anderson County Schools
- Provides therapy services in individual, family, and group sessions along with classroom based interventions.
- Provides crisis intervention and conflict resolution assistance and can differentiate between emergency and non-emergency tasks and responds accordingly.
- Provides services to children and families including: classroom play based intervention, conducting classroom and face-to-face assessments; creating collaborative education and success plans; linking families with community resources; establishing diagnoses as necessary.
- Establishes rapport and develops a therapeutic relationship with children, families, and colleagues.
- Maintains collaborative care with necessary parties regarding specific mental health needs
- Completes timely case notes, data collection, and documentation of communications with students, guardians, or other relevant service providers
- Participates in the collection of mental health information and student outcomes data to be used for monitoring the overall performance and effectiveness of services provided.
- Applies developmentally appropriate therapeutic interventions, advanced psychosocial theory and methods to individuals, families, and staff with appropriate regard for the complexity of given problems.
- Preserve client confidentiality while using best practices in disclosing necessary information to legal authorities
- Assures all needed releases of information and other paperwork are present in the file and up-to-date.
- Maintains an awareness of applicable laws, regulations and licensing requirements as they relate to client documentation.
- Attends regularly scheduled staff meetings and professional development
- Provides consultation for school staff regarding mental health issues of students to address barriers in social and emotional learning and regulation
- Remains current with best practices, industry trends and provides internal and external direction within our Agency and with local, regional, state and federal agencies and stakeholders.
- Maintains appropriate professional boundaries.
- Assist students who are transitioning from alternative programs to regular school programs.
- Travel from site to site and/or performs necessary home visits for the purpose of providing direct treatment, consultation, and collaboration for students and families.
- Perform related duties as assigned.
Education/Experience
- A Masters degree from an accredited University or College in the field of Psychology, Social Work, Counseling Education or Human Services field with a current licensure to provide mental health services (LPC, LMSW, LCSW, etc.) required.
- Experience working with students with mental health needs/ counseling etc. in school settings, clinical or residential settings preferred.