The Department of Mental Health (DMH) is seeking a dynamic human services professional to serve as Inpatient Clinical Social Worker (C) in a fast-moving, exciting, and rewarding environment. This professional will provide direct clinical care and care coordination services at the DMH-run inpatient psychiatric hospital units of the Metro Boston Mental Health Units (MBMHU) within Lemuel Shattuck Hospital. The incumbent of this position will provide high quality and timely assessment, treatment planning and implementation and discharge planning to an assigned caseload of patients who carry diagnoses of serious mental illness (SMI). The ideal candidate has excellent clinical and problem-solving skills, is compassionate, flexible and creative, and is committed to life-long learning and professional development.

Please note: This is a full-time, 40 hour position. The hours are 8:30am – 5:00pm, Monday through Friday, with Saturday and Sunday as the days off.

Duties and Responsibilities (these duties are a general summary and is not all-inclusive):

• Provide concise and diagnostically accurate psychosocial evaluations for patients with serious mental illness as per CMS regulations and TJC standards.
• Develop and coordinate disposition plans in conjunction with the treatment team, taking into account developmental, racial, cultural, and ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity issues that impact a patient’s aftercare needs.
• Provide focused treatment through individual and group counseling.
• Provide consultation and education to patients’ families and community supports, as appropriate, in order to enhance the patient’s return to the community.
• Participate in regularly scheduled morning rounds, team meetings, case conferences, and social services meetings; and attend case conferences as needed in the community.
• Represent the Department of Social Work within multidisciplinary team, attend unit leadership meetings, clinical management and other meetings as assigned.
• Coordinate and facilitate treatment planning meetings and periodic reviews in an efficient and timely fashion.

Required Qualifications:

• Understanding of human growth and development across the lifespan.
• Knowledge of the social, emotional, and experiential causes of social and psychiatric disorders.
• Comprehension of principles and techniques to help individuals, families, groups, and communities enhance their individual and collective well-being by developing their skills and their ability to use their own resources and those of the community to resolve problems.
• Knowledge of the principals and practices of psychosocial evaluation and diagnosis, which includes knowledge of applicable interviewing techniques for individuals and their families.
• Skilled in assessment and treatment of substance use and co-occurring disorders.
• Understanding of community resources and how to access them for patient treatment, disposition planning, and patient follow-up.
• Ability to establish and maintain professional working relationships with others, and to establish rapport and interact with people who are under stress and to handle stressful and emergent situations.
• Power to establish and sustain therapeutic relationships.
• Capacity to interpret and coordinate treatment plans among a variety of human service personnel and delivery systems.
• Familiarity and comfort working with multidisciplinary teams to analyze complex problems, build consensus and implement organizational improvements.
• Aptness to effectively communicate information and ideas, both spoken and in writing.
• Ability to develop plans to accomplish work and prioritize and organize one’s own work, often in stressful situations.
• Capability to work with resistant patients, handle complaints, arbitrating disputes, and resolving problems or otherwise negotiate with others.
• Power to understand and apply relevant laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, and agency rules.
• Capacity to combine, evaluate and reason with information and data to make decisions and solve problems, taking into consideration the relative importance of information and choosing the best solution.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge and experience of inpatient mental health treatment and services.
• Comprehension of terminology used specifically in an inpatient setting.
• Knowledge and understanding of Federal, State, and local public entitlement programs and Medicare/Medicaid.
• Knowledge of and experience applying Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission (TJC) regulations and standards.
• Given the population served, bilingual or multilingual fluency.

DMH Mission and Vision:
The Department of Mental Health, as the State Mental Health Authority, assures and provides access to services and supports to meets the mental health needs of individuals of all ages, enabling them to live, work, and participate in their communities. The Department establishes standards to ensure the effective and culturally competent care to promote recovery. The Department sets policy, promotes self-determination, protects human rights, and supports mental health training and research. This critical mission is accomplished by working in partnership with other state agencies, individuals, families, providers, and communities. Mental health is an essential part of health care. The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, as the State Mental Health Authority, promotes mental health through early intervention, treatment, education, policy, and regulation so that all residents of the Commonwealth may live full and productive lives.

Pre-Offer Process:

A criminal background check will be completed on the recommended candidate as required by the regulations set forth by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services prior to the candidate being hired. For more information, please visit http://www.mass.gov/hhs/cori

Education, licensure and certifications will be verified in accordance with the Human Resources Division’s Hiring Guidelines.

Education and license/certification information provided by the selected candidate(s) is subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law and may be published on the Commonwealth’s website.

If you require assistance with the application/interview process and would like to request an ADA accommodation, please click on the link and complete the Reasonable Accommodation Online Request Form

For questions regarding this requisition, please contact the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Human Resources at 1-800- 510-4122 Ext. #4.

Comprehensive Benefits

When you embark on a career with the Commonwealth, you are offered an outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package. We take pride in providing a work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future.

Want the specifics? Explore our Employee Benefits and Rewards!

Title 101 CMR 23.00 (“Regulation”) requires certain agency staff to have received the COVID-19 vaccination and Influenza vaccination, or have taken required mitigation measures, to prevent viral infection and transmission in State Hospitals and State Congregate Care Facilities. The Regulation applies to this position. Successful candidates will be required to acknowledge and attest to your vaccination status for both COVID-19 and Influenza.