Field-Based Behavioral Health Care Advocate in State of Louisiana - UnitedHealth Group

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by diversity and inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together. 

You have high standards. So do we. Here at UnitedHealth Group, this includes offering an innovative new standard for care management. It goes beyond counseling services and verified referrals to programs integrated across the entire continuum of care. That means you’ll have an opportunity to make an impact on a huge scale - as part of an incredible team culture that’s defining the future of behavioral health care.

The goal of the Field-Based Behavioral Health Care Advocate (Shreveport and Bossier City, LA vicinity) role is to help individuals live their lives to the fullest by promoting recovery and resiliency via coordination and collaboration with multiple internal and external partners including consumers and their families/caregivers, medical, behavioral health, and clinical network teams. Field Care Advocates work with complex and high-risk needs with a goal of engaging the consumer in the treatment process, decreasing their reliance on higher levels of care, helping them to access appropriate community services, and assisting them in improving community tenure.

Field-based Behavioral Health Care Advocate is needed in this area. You will be in the field up to 50% of the time visiting members in their homes, hospitals, and local facilities.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide case management to members to assess for and find solutions to obstacles to care
• Link members to healthcare providers and community supports
• Work with members via telephone and face to face contacts to address healthcare needs
• Provide field visits to members who have been admitted to behavioral health hospitals
• Meet with members in the hospital and their home
• Assist inpatient behavioral treatment team with discharge planning
• Collaborate treatment plans with outpatient providers
• Assist the member with transitioning back into the community following an out of home placement
• Work with members to assist with getting their medications filled, making follow up appointments and arranging transportation to medical appointments
• Explain behavioral health insurance benefits and what behavioral health services are available

You’ll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• Licensed Master's degree in Psychology, Social Work, Counseling or Marriage or Family Counseling. License must be clinically independent (i.e., LCSW, LMFT, LPC), active and unrestricted in the state of LA
• Residency and clinical licensure in Louisiana
• 2+ years of experience in a related mental health setting
• Computer / typing proficiency to enter / retrieve data in electronic clinical records; experience with email, internet research, use of online calendars and other software applications
• Access to high-speed internet from home and a dedicated workspace
• Reliable transportation and the ability to travel as needed within the designated service delivery area on a needed basis
• Willing or ability to be in the field up to 50% of the time in the territory listed

Preferred Qualifications:

• BH Field experience (client’s home, mental health rehab facility, etc.)
• Dual diagnosis experience with mental health and substance abuse
• Experience in a community mental health rehab setting
• Experience working in a behavioral health hospital 

At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone–of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income–deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes — an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment. 

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