Pedi/OB Behavioral Health Clinician

Pedi/OBGYN Behavioral Health Clinician

$75000 - $88235

Reports to :Pedi/OB Behavioral Health Program Manager

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Pedi/OB Behavioral Health Clinician (BHC) functions as a core member of a collaborative care team that involves the patient and his/her family (when appropriate), the patients' primary care provider, nursing, and community health workers. The BHC provides consultation/assessment and bio-psychosocial evaluations on an urgent basis, support and linkage services, advocacy, education, brief interventions, counseling, and information in order to ensure adequacy of health care, increase access of services, enhance physical and psychological well-being and facilitate patient self-care. Patients are referred (optimally via warm hand-off) by BNHC medical providers who are at high risk due to medical diagnoses, who are frequent users of the hospital emergency rooms; and/or who have behavioral health/mental health, social or environmental concerns that impede their overall health.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide culturally sensitive assessment, consultation and brief intervention for psychological/psychiatric problems and/or disorders and diagnostic clarification utilizing DSM-5
• Evaluate crisis situations and apply appropriate interventions and treatment planning (Suicidal/Homicidal Risk Assessment)
• Assist the primary care team in developing care-management processes such as guidelines, disease management techniques, case-management and patient education to improve self-management of chronic diseases
• Provide an array of clinical services for pediatric and OB/GYN behavioral health problems and areas of behavioral medicine (treatment planning/provision) to assist patients with meeting goals including, but not limited to:
• Behavior and Mood Management
• Anxiety Management
• Support with patient advocacy related to BH issues in school context
• Substance Use Screening & referral to treatment
• Interim Check of Psychotropic Medication Response (when appropriate)
• Stress & Anger Management (particularly for parents)
• Health Behavior and Disease Management
• Medication Adherence
• Weight Management
• Sleep Hygiene and counseling
• Psychosocial & Behavioral Aspects of prevention of Chronic Disease

Some Interventions that may be used include

• Psychoeducation
• Advocacy
• Positive Parenting interventions
• Relaxation Training and Skill Building
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
• Child based mindfulness Strategies
• Behavioral Structure/Behavioral Scheduling
• Goal Setting
• Problem Solving
• Exercise
• Solution Focused Strategie
• Facilitate consultation between PCP and Social Services staff for co-management of patients
• Facilitate initial connection between internal and/or community-based social service agencies (Mental Health), community based benefits agencies, school etc. for management of patients
• Participation in Clinical Treatment Team to assist with treatment planning to provide comprehensive care for clients and families
• Participation in Administrative Treatment Team meetings to identify problems related to patient services and make recommendations for improvement
• Assist with Grow Clinic
• Manage Reach out and Read program which includes ordering books, organizing two main events, keeping lightly used books for waiting area and doing quarterly reports.
• Assistance with outcome measures and data collection (when requested)
• Documentation of Services to include behavioral health services and documentation in EHR as appropriate
• May provide supervision to other Behavioral Health staff (when appropriate)
• Perform other duties as assigned

Additional Requirements

Excellent working knowledge of pediatric behavioral health and evidence based treatment for medical and mental health conditions (particularly for Pedi/OB populations)

Ability to work through brief patient contacts as well as to make quick and accurate clinical assessment of mental and behavioral conditions.

Should be comfortable with pace of primary care, working with interdisciplinary team and have strong communication skills.

Good knowledge of child psychopathology and psychopharmacology

Ability to design and implement clinical pathways and protocols for treatment of selected chronic conditions.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Must be licensed or currently seeking licensure, in Social Work (LCSW, LICSW), Mental Health Counseling (LMHC), Psychology (PhD, PsyD). Language and cultural diversity (Cape Verdean Creole, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, French, and Spanish) preferred.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

A busy community health center located in a downtown business district. Occasional long hours may be required.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Physical demands requiring lifting of small pieces of equipment and/or boxes not to exceed 20 pounds. Mostly sedentary, with interoffice walking required. Visual acuity sufficient for frequent reading. Hearing acuity sufficient for holding conversations with or without audio devices.

About us: BNHC is a multicultural organization that collaborates with community agencies and residents to provide high quality comprehensive health care. We are committed to health promotion and disease prevention. BNHC began providing services in 1994 in a mobile medical van operating out of a church parking lot. Since then, the center has rapidly grown to provide desperately needed services to low-income and marginalized populations in the greater Brockton area. BNHC is committed to providing care that is responsive to community health needs and is linguistically, culturally and financially accessible. BNHC serves an extremely diverse patient population including Brazilian, Cape Verdean, Haitian, Latino, Portuguese, African American and Caucasian, 77% of whom live in poverty.

BNHC is committed to providing a safe and heathy environment for patients and staff. As a condition of employment, employees, to include new hires, are required to be fully vaccinated to include the most recent COVID 19 booster and annual flu vaccines, with the exception of those who have documented medical or religious exemptions, that must be approved by BNHC according to its protocols. Additional vaccines may be required based on the recommendation of the CDC. New hires who are not yet vaccinated for flu or COVID can arrange to be vaccinated on site.