Job Description

The Department of Mental Health (DMH) is seeking a dynamic clinical social worker to serve as a social work clinician in the Outpatient Clinic of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. This professional will use their expertise and proficiency to develop psychosocial assessments; create collaborative treatment plans; deliver empirically supported group and individual treatment and provide care coordination services to adults who struggle with serious mental illness.Theclinical social worker C is responsible for ensuring the delivery of high quality, empirically based outpatient mental health services by maintaining operational excellence and upholding clinical standards.



Duties and Responsibilities (these are a general summary and not all inclusive):

• Provides high quality, empirically supported/evidence-based individual and group therapy to assigned caseload of clients who carry diagnoses of SMI.
• Supports staff by providing consultation/training/supervision in one or more areas of clinical specialization/expertise (i.e., clinical issues, diagnostic issues, etc.), helping to promote and disseminate clinical knowledge and skills to help MMHC clinical staff better meet the needs of persons served.
• Contacts clients within 24 hours of assignment.
• Obtains all information needed to, in collaboration with the person served or LAR, develop a clinical formulation consistent with professionally recognized theory.
• Monitors mental and functional status and informs appropriate staff, updates clinical data within one week of significant status changes.
• Plans and leads or co-leads a wide range of groups, as assigned, including but not limited to, skills training, psychoeducation, and recovery-oriented modalities specifically designed to treat adults who carry diagnoses of SMI.
• Collaborates with assigned clients and the multidisciplinary treatment team around the development of person-centered, recovery-oriented treatment and crisis/risk management plans that behaviorally describe objectives and define frequency and intensity of interventions.
• Contributes clinical perspectives in all team meetings and is available to team colleagues for the purpose of emergency/planned client coverage.
• Responsible for implementing interventions to meet clients' needs and offer support in crisis situations.
• Performs outreach activities toward assigned to foster treatment engagement.
• Responsible for completing all required trainings in line with agency policies and procedures.
• Meets all requirements as a Mandated Reporter.
• Responsible for ensuring coordination of care with DMH-sanctioned care coordination entities (Case Management, BHCP, OneCare, etc.), other contracted services (ACCS, Clubhouse, etc.) as well as a variety of other community agencies/providers from whom assigned clients receive services (i.e., PCPs, VNAs, etc.).
• Provides individual therapy and care coordination services to all persons served assigned to caseload.
• Ensures that at all documentation for assigned individual clients is completed in a timely fashion in accordance with billing, DMH, and MMHC's standards, policies, and procedures, meeting 100% of DMH, MMHC and third party legal requirements for quality assurance and utilization review.
• Completes first treatment plans within 4 weeks of intake.
• Updates all treatment plans annually or more often if clinically indicated.
• Responsible for completing and submitting the appropriate encounter (billable/non-billable) form for all direct clinical and collateral contact and submitting billing encounter form for each clinical encounter within 48 hours of the encounter and regularly updating the medical record to reflect any changes in insurance-related or demographic information.
• Ensures compliance with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations, including Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act, (HIPAA) regulations which govern the privacy and confidentiality of information about patients.
• Maintains regular contact with other DMH site representatives, case managers, ACCS Teams, BHCPs, residences, medical providers, family members, and others to ensure comprehensive care coordination.
• Follows agency risk mitigation policies and procedures with respect to reporting any significant event/incident and ensures the completion of all associated required documentation.
• Meets all requirements as a Mandated Reporter.
• Collaborates with staff on providing services that promote recovery and independence.
• Collaborates with staff and persons served to ensure an atmosphere of safety and respect at MMHC.
• Provides expert consultation and supervision for specific clinical and diagnostic issues.
• Leads clinical supervision groups about various specialized topics with the goal of contributing to professional development and further education/training of clinical staff at the Center to enhance the quality of care delivered to persons served.
• Participates in and/or assume leadership roles in center-wide committees or initiatives at the direction of the MMHC clinical leadership.
• • Assists team leader with the preparation of reports and analyses for clinic and Center leadership.
• • Assists team leader and MMHC leadership with audits and reviews to ensure compliance with protocols, evidence-based treatment interventions and regulatory standards and accreditation requirements.
• Other duties as assigned

• Knowledge of the principles of physiological, psychological, and emotional growth and development and uses of diagnostic procedures employed.
• Experience with interviewing and problem-solving techniques, psychotherapies and principles of psychosocial rehabilitation
• Able to understand and apply rules, regulations, and laws governing agency and unit operations and maintain accurate records.
• Ability to follow and give clear and precise oral and written instructions and read and interpret documents such as physician's orders and treatment plans.
• Capable of participating and contributing to a multi-disciplinary health care team.
• Capacity to exercise sound judgment, make decisions and act quickly in emergency situations.
• Adept in establishing rapport and dealing effectively with persons from diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality of client information.
• Skilled in motivating clients to participate in individual treatment plans, as well as treating and interacting with persons who are under physical/emotional stress.
• Aptitude in assessing, analyzing, drawing conclusions, and determining the applicability of clinical data in order to make and/or take appropriate actions, recommendations, or referrals.

• Knowledge of laws, regulations, policies and procedures of governing agency as well as uses of agency and unit forms.
• Experience with public and private community-based resources for clients and safety practices and procedures followed by agency and unit.
• Familiar with newer therapies, interventions and behavioral techniques.