Crisis Support Specialist

Crisis Support Specialist

Position Summary: Provides crisis intervention expertise and counseling directly to patients during evening and weekend/holiday hours by performing the following duties personally. Responsible for ensuring that all critical tasks are fulfilled on a timely basis.

Critical Tasks:

• Maintains exclusive focus upon patients, the quality of their condition and care, and their individual needs without significant distraction by administrative and non-patient contact activities.
• Complies fully with all patient medical records and information privacy regulations, state and federal.
• Takes all steps necessary to fully ensure employee patient and medical data confidentiality and security.
• Ensures that patients receiving care are well cared for according to state and federal regulations as well as contemporary behavioral health practices.
• Provides crisis intervention services directly to patients and residents while ensuring that repetitive crises on individual bases are prevented.
• Utilizes professional expertise to prevent negative outcomes such as violence, anti-social behavior, suicide and self-victimizing trauma, and develops patient/family/community safety plans.
• Evaluates and accurately documents patient condition, and continually adjusts response methodologies accordingly.
• Maintains exceptional working relationships with various internal behavioral health experts and external behavioral health resources.
• Determines if acute psychiatric care is necessary and gains facility admission on a rapid basis when patient conditions and risks warrant it.
• Takes all actions necessary to ensure that all behavioral and medical care is fully coordinated in a best practice manner while creating and ensuring healthy behavioral and medical outcomes.
• Documents all pertinent and required patient information and data completely, accurately, and rapidly on a verbal, written and/or electronic basis frequently within multiple record-keeping and reporting systems.
• Consults with other members of the medical, behavioral health and EMS teams to ensure that patient needs are met and for the purpose of arranging other appropriate interventions.
• Ensures that all appropriate entities such as schools, facilities, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and other governmental authorities are notified in specific patient cases when warranted for safety and/or patient care reasons.
• Communicates thoroughly and clearly with all members of patient care and treatment teams.
• Assesses patients and residents for referral to external treatment resources and makes appropriate referrals.
• Helps patient and family through individual or group discussions to ensure that patients/residents understand, accept, and follow behavioral and medical recommendations.
• Facilitates discharge planning while notifying all appropriate authorities and agencies of risk situations, such as Adult Protective Services, Child Protective Services, law enforcement, etc.
• Maintains consistent email and phone communication with leadership, including communications that may occur outside of scheduled work hours.
• At times, evaluates inmates at the Department of Rehabilitation and Supervision for safety and suicide precautions during incarceration.
• Demonstrates ability to regularly change priorities to accomplish all tasks despite frequent interruptions.
• Demonstrates ability to clearly communicate, both orally and in writing, while performing all essential functions.
• Performs other special projects and duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Social Work, Counseling or related field.
• Associate Licensure in good standing with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners required (LAC, LASAC, LMSW, LAMFT), Independent Licensure preferred (LPC, LIAC, LCSW, LMFT).
• Experience with the Native American population preferred.
• Arizona Department of Public Safety Level 1 Fingerprint Clearance Card required.
• Current and continuing CPR/FA and/or BLS training and certification required.
• State of Arizona driver's license with no significant violations during the last 5 years.
• Demonstrates ability to relate to diverse cultures and specifically the Gila River Community and/or other Native American cultures and community health services.