JOB DESCRIPTION

The behavioral health specialist, as part of the primary care treatment team, identifies, triage and manages patients with medical and behavioral health problems within the primary care setting. In addition, the behavioral health specialist provides skill training through psycho education and patient education strategies and develops specific behavioral change plans for patients and behavioral health protocols for target populations.

Essential Functions:

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

• Assists primary health care providers in recognizing and treating mental disorders and psychosocial problems.
• Assesses the clinical status of patients referred by primary care providers through brief consultative contacts.
• Works with the primary care team to efficiently and effectively treat and manage patients with chronic emotional or health problems.
• Works with the primary care provider to refer cases to mental health specialists as appropriate.
• Assists in the detection of at-risk patients and development of plans to prevent further psychological or physical deterioration.
• Assists in preventing relapse or morbidity in conditions that tend to recur over time.
• Evaluates patient care plans with primary care team.
• Teaches patients, families and staff about care, prevention and treatment enhancement techniques.
• Monitors the site's behavioral health program, identifying problems related to patient services and making recommendations for improvement.
• Attends and participates in meetings and quality improvement activities as required.
• Serves as a member of committees as requested.
• Participates in evaluation of peers and support staff.
• Furthers the mission of the organization through active support of the strategic goals.

Competencies:

• Communication Proficiency.

• Ethical Conduct.

• Personal Effectiveness/Credibility.

• Problem Solving/Analysis.

• Thoroughness.

Work Environment:

This position works in an outpatient and inpatient detox facility. There will be frequent interaction with persons who are mentally ill, disabled, elderly and emotionally upset.

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.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to speak and hear sufficiently to communicate effectively by phone or in person at normal volumes. The employee's vision must be adequate to read correspondence, computer screen, forms, etc. The position requires good manual dexterity.