Provides assessment, diagnosis, treatment and crisis intervention as needed to members who present themselves for psychiatric evaluation. Collaborates with treating physician, psychiatric and allied health professional team to plan and direct each individual member's treatment program.
Essential Functions:
- Assesses, develops and coordinates a clinical treatment program for Health Plan members with acute or chronic psychiatric disorders.
- Consults with staff regarding diagnosis, strengths and deficits of member, as needed or appropriate.
- Provides outpatient psychotherapy to individuals and groups.
- Charts member's treatments and progress in accordance with state regulations and department procedures.
- Instructs and counsels members regarding compliance with prescribed therapeutic regimens.
- Interprets psychiatric treatment to member's family and helps to reduce fear and other attitudes obstructing acceptance of psychiatric care and continuation of treatment if asked to do so by member.
- Makes referrals to case manager, as appropriate, and/or refers member's family to community support services and resources.
- Utilizes resources of public and private agencies and community organizations to meet the needs of members.
- Collaborates with physicians in screening and evaluating members for psychotropic medications.
- May supervise PSW Assistants and PSW Interns, if supervision course has been completed.
- Works on-call evenings, weekends & holidays, assuming primary responsibility for emergency psychiatric care and acting as consultant to emergency department physicians and staff.
- Reports safety concerns to mandated reporting agencies.
Secondary Functions:
- Interviews patients and family members to assess nature and extent of psychiatric problem.
- Develops, implements and evaluates treatment approaches for patients and affected family members. This may include individual, marital, family, group and intensive therapeutic modalities.
- Maintains confidential individual case summaries.
- Confers and consults with staff physicians regarding patients progress and treatment; confers with attending physicians regarding hospitalized patients and recommends treatment plans.
- Provides appropriate support to members family, including explanation of treatment, instructions in how to support treatment and interventions to increase acceptance of and adherence to treatment.
- Utilizes resources of public and private agencies and community organizations to meet the needs of the members treatment to include referral of the member and/or members family to external resources.
- Establishes liaisons to utilize resources of public and private agencies/community organizations to meet member and program needs.
- Participates in departmental program development, implementation and evaluation.
Qualifications:
Basic Qualifications:
- Outpatient Psychiatric Social Worker:Has experience in assessing, diagnosing and treating a broad range of psychiatric conditions.
- Master's degree in Social Work required from an accredited college or university.
- Valid Licensed Clinical Social Worker license in the State of California.
- Must have a National Provider Identifier (NPI) or obtain NPI, prior to employment start date.
- Must be familiar with DMS-IV-R as a means of diagnosis.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
- Knowledge of social service agencies, state regulations, and professional board standards as is related to member treatment, patient rights, and member/patient confidentiality.
- Must be able to work in a Labor/Management Partnership environment.
- Inpatient Psychiatric Social Worker:
- Working in an inpatient setting, a minimum of three years post licensure experience in acute inpatient psychiatric settings and with the use of psychosocial assessment and psychotherapeutic methods and measures in a hospital, clinic or agency preferred.
- Previous clinical responsibility to include crisis intervention, individual and group psychotherapy preferred.
- Previous clinical responsibility to include inpatient group treatment and crisis intervention preferred.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience seeing urgent walk-in patients.
External hires must pass a background check/drug screen.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.