Behavioral Health Technician - Sanctuary Recovery Centers

Purpose: Sanctuary Recovery Centers aspires to outline specific job functions and roles to eliminate ambiguity within the organization.

Position Summary:

As a behavioral health technician (BHT), the primary focus is to assist in the treatment of mental health conditions under the direction of the designated medical professional. In this role, responsibilities and duties include working alongside other healthcare professionals to administer treatment plans and providing care to patients diagnosed with behavioral disorders.

Position Qualifications:

• High School Diploma or GED
• Experience working in a mental health institution or treatment center
• Ability to treat patients with dignity and empathy
• Strong listening and communication skills
• Good physical fitness
• Acute observation skills
• Computer literacy
• CPR/FA
• Fingerprint clearance card

Position Duties:

• Carrying out individual treatment plans prescribed by medical professionals.
• Providing a safe, clean, and compliant environment for all clients.
• Monitoring clients and documenting all observations on correct platforms.
• Reporting back on each client's progress and concerns in correct reports/formats in timely fashion.
• Ensuring patients have a safe and supportive environment conducive to healing and recovery.
• Diffusing situations in which clients wish to harm themselves or others.
• Providing emotional support to clients while maintaining professional boundaries.
• Alerting medical professionals to intervene in emergencies.
• Following all facility rules and guidelines and ensuring clients are in alignment with outlined policies covered in client handbook
• Carrying out all required assessments and other necessary administrative tasks.
• Always maintaining strict patient confidentiality.

Applicability: This policy applies to all Sanctuary Recovery Centers personnel and residents.

Procedure:

If a healthcare institution is a behavioral health facility or is authorized by the Department to provide behavioral health services, an administrator shall ensure that:

1. Policies and procedures are established, documented, and implemented that:
   1. Delineate the services a behavioral health paraprofessional is allowed to provide at or for the health care institution;
   2. Cover supervision of a behavioral health paraprofessional, including documentation of supervision;
   3. Establish the qualifications for a behavioral health professional providing supervision to a behavioral health paraprofessional;
   4. Delineate the services a behavioral health technician is allowed to provide at or for the health care institution;
   5. Cover clinical oversight for a behavioral health technician, including documentation of clinical oversight;
   6. Establish the qualifications for a behavioral health professional providing clinical oversight to a behavioral health technician;
   7. Delineate the methods used to provide clinical oversight, including when clinical oversight is provided on an individual basis or in a group setting; and
   8. Establish the process by which information pertaining to services provided by a behavioral health technician is provided to the behavioral health professional who is responsible for the clinical oversight of the behavioral health technician;
2. A behavioral health paraprofessional receives supervision according to policies and procedures;
3. Clinical oversight is provided to a behavioral health technician to ensure that patient needs are met based on, for each behavioral health technician:
   1. The scope and extent of the services provided,
   2. The acuity of the patients receiving services, and
   3. The number of patients receiving services;
4. A behavioral health technician receives clinical oversight at least once during each two week period, if the behavioral health technician provides services related to patient care at the health care institution during the two week period;
5. When clinical oversight is provided electronically:
   1. The clinical oversight is provided verbally with direct and immediate interaction between the behavioral health professional providing and the behavioral health technician receiving the clinical oversight,
   2. A secure connection is used, and
   3. The identities of the behavioral health professional providing and the behavioral health technician receiving the clinical oversight are verified before clinical oversight is provided; and
6. A behavioral health professional provides supervision to a behavioral health paraprofessional or clinical oversight to behavioral health technician within the behavioral health professional's scope of practice established in the applicable licensing requirements under A.R.S. Title 32.
7. A Licensed Behavioral Health professional will obtain CAQH credentialing.