Mental Health Therapist, Mental Health Unit, Per Diem - Heywood Hospital

Hours: Per Diem

Job Summary

The Mental Health Therapist participates in planning, implementation and evaluation of the Patient Therapy program as well as works in cooperation with other health care disciplines to provide psychiatric service to clients.

Essential Functions

• Systematically gathers and evaluates relevant information and data from the patient interview and/or all the patient information sources. 
• Develops an appropriate care plan for patients based upon the systematic information gathering and analysis. 
• Identifies variations from expected findings and understands the significance for such variations.
• Takes appropriate actions when variations are identified.
• Assesses the patient’s learning needs, identifies learning style and barriers to learning and assesses the patient’s readiness to learn.
• Identifies situations when it is appropriate to involve the family and/or significant other and /or friends in patient’s education.
• Plans for and provides patient teaching.
• Evaluates the patient’s understanding of his or her condition, treatment, and/or prognosis.
• Informs the patient of his or her plan of care and/or discharge plan and follow up instructions
• Evaluates and validates the effectiveness of the patient teaching.
• Prepares the patient to accept a level of responsibility for his or her own care.
• Coordinates care with other healthcare providers.
• When appropriate, delegates to other healthcare providers.
• Assesses and reassesses the patient’s condition, status and progress.
• Prioritizes, reprioritizes, and modifies the plan of care based upon patient 
• assessment and patient condition.
• Formulates the comprehensive database utilizing all resources and ensures matching is delivered to identify patient needs to maximize outcomes as well as document this information into the patient's record to meet standard of care and standards of practice.
• Coordinates care with the patient care provider, outpatient providers, and other services to assure patient success
• Identifies insurances and obtains approval so that the patient receives appropriate care and treatment and so insurance guidelines are met.
• Responds to all assigned case management within Heywood Hospital for the provision of differential diagnostics, treatment planning and disposition.
• Provides individual and group therapies according to Mental Health Unit 
• Standards to meet identified patient needs.
• Documents the interventions provided and responses of each patient according to established policies and procedures.
• Collaborates under the direction of the Nurse Director or designee for the supervision of all student interns and technicians to ensure performance standards are met. 
• Documents the implementation of the plan of care and any adverse and/or unexpected events or outcomes.
• Provides comprehensive case management to assure patient success and meet standards of care and standards of practice.
• Provides peer review of all documentation on a concurrent and retrospective basis using the Department of Mental Health and Mental Health Unit standards.
• Seeks professional growth experiences to gain knowledge skills, and abilities, as well as, share what is learned with other team members.
• Provides formal and informal education for identified needs of staff and mentors to improve the knowledge, skills, and practice of other team members.

Statement of Other Duties

This document describes the major duties and responsibilities for this job, and is not intended to be a complete list of all tasks and functions. It should be understood, therefore, that employees may be asked to perform job-related duties beyond those explicitly described.

Functional Demands

Physical Requirements:

Exerts 20 to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or 10 to 25 pounds of force frequently, and/or greater than negligible amount of force to move objects. Frequently reaches (extending hands and arms in any direction), handles (seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or working with hands), and feels (perceiving attributes of items as size, shape, temperature, or texture by fingertips. Rapid physical movements (walking rapidly, running up and down stairs) and lifting and/or holding of patient's extremities may be required in the event of responding to behavioral emergencies (i.e Code100’s).

Organizational Expectations

Behavioral Attributes:

The following behavioral attributes are required: achievement motivation, concern for order, flexibility, initiative, self-confidence, customer service oriented, interpersonal effectiveness, teamwork, analytical thinking and information seeking, and strong communication skills.

Job Requirements

Minimum Education

• B.A. or B.S. in Psychology, Human Services or related field required.  Master's degree preferred.
• AHA CPR required or obtained within 90 days of hire

Minimum Work Experience

• Minimum 2 years of experience working with psychiatric populations.
• Experience working with substance use/addiction population preferred.

Minimum Licensure

• LMHC or LICSW preferred

Required Skills

• Possess a full working knowledge of Managed Care and public funded insurances including Medicare and Medicaid.
• Evidence of good personal interactions with a wide range of patients and care givers.