ACT Therapist

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide service coordination (case management) for an assigned group of clients including coordinating and monitoring the activities of the individual treatment team.
• Assume primary responsibility for developing, writing, implementing, evaluating, and revising overall treatment goals and plans in collaboration with the client and with the ITT.
• Provide individual supportive therapy and symptom management.
• Ensure immediate changes are made in treatment plans as clients’ needs change.
• Educate and support clients’ families.
• Advocate for clients’ rights and preferences.
• Participate in client-centered comprehensive assessment of psychiatric history (e.g., onset, course and effect of illness, past treatment and responses, and risk behaviors), mental status, and diagnosis; physical health and dental health; use of drugs or alcohol; education and employment; social development and functioning; activities of daily living (e.g., self-care, living situation, nutrition, money management); and family structure and relationships.
• Consult with community agencies and families to maintain coordination in the treatment process.
• Perform shift management in coordination with other ACT shift managers according to established policy and procedures.
• Provide on-call crisis intervention covering nighttime hours and serve as a backup to evening and weekend staff.
• Document client progress to maintain a permanent record of client activity according to established methods and procedures.
• Participate in daily staff organizational meetings and treatment planning review meetings.
• Participate in providing substance use and treatment services.

Psychiatric Treatment and Dual Diagnosis Substance Abuse Services

• Assist in the provision of ongoing assessment of clients’ mental illness symptoms and clients’ response to treatment.
• Make appropriate changes in treatment plans to ensure immediate and appropriate interventions are provided in response to changes in mental status or behavior which put clients at risk (e.g., suicidality).
• Assist in the provision of symptom education clients to identify their mental illness symptoms.
• Assist in the provision of direct clinical services to clients on an individual, group, and family basis in the office and in community settings to teach behavioral symptom-management techniques to alleviate and manage symptoms not reduced by medication and to promote personal growth and development by assisting clients to adapt to and cope with internal and external stresses.
• Assist in the provision of individual and group treatment in the office and in community settings in a stage-based treatment model that is non-confrontational, considers interactions of mental illness and substance abuse, and has client-determined goals.
• Coordinate with outside inpatient services to detoxify clients and establish linkage to self-help programs (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics, Anonymous), and residential facilities.
• Participate in the provision of rehabilitation services.

Structuring Time and Employment

• Provide individual vocational-supportive counseling to enable clients to identify vocational strengths and problems, establish vocational or career goals and plans to reach them, and recognize and target symptoms of mental illness that interfere with work.
• Plan and provide work-related supportive services, such as assistance with grooming and personal hygiene, securing appropriate clothing, wake-up calls, and transportation.
• Teach job-seeking skills.
• Develop individualized jobs based on clients’ needs, abilities, and interests.
• Conduct on-the-job performance assessments and evaluations, regular work review session with clients and their employers, on-the-job support, and crisis-assistance contacts.
• Perform job coaching, problem solving, and support on and off the job site.
• Coordinate with state vocational rehabilitation and other employment services.
• Provide benefits counseling (e.g., SSI, veterans’ benefits).

Activity of Daily Living Services

• Provide ongoing assessment, problem solving, side-by-side services, skill training, supervision (e.g., prompts, assignments, monitoring, encouragement), and environmental adaptations to assist clients with activities of daily living.
• Assist clients to find and maintain a safe and affordable place to live – apartment hunting, finding a roommate, landlord negotiations, cleaning, furnishing and decorating, and procuring necessities (e.g., telephone, furnishings, and linens).
• Assist and support clients to carry out personal hygiene and grooming tasks.
• Provide nutrition education and assistance with meal planning, grocery shopping, and food preparation.
• Assist and support clients to perform household activities, including house cleaning and laundry.
• Ensure clients have adequate financial support (e.g., budgeting and bill paying) and assist clients in accessing financial services (e.g., professional financial counseling, emergency loan sources).
• Help clients to access reliable transportation (e.g., help to gain employment or apply for entitlements).
• Teach clients to access reliable transportation (e.g., obtain a driver’s license and car, arrange for cabs, access bus line, find rides).
• Assist and support clients to have and effectively use a personal primary care physician, dentist, and other medical specialists as required.

Social and Interpersonal Relationships and Leisure Time

• Provide individual supportive therapy (e.g., problem solving, role-playing, modeling and support), social skill development, and assertiveness training to increase client social and interpersonal activities in community settings.
• Plan, structure, and prompt social and leisure-time activities on evenings, weekends and holidays.
• Provide side-by-side support and coaching to help clients socialize (e.g., going with a client to a basketball game, coaching and supporting a client before he or she goes to a family reunion).
• Organize and lead individual and group social and recreational activities to structure clients’ time, increase social experiences, and provide opportunities to practice social skills and receive feedback and support.

Support

• Provide practical help and supports, advocacy, coordination, side-by-side individualized support, problem solving, direct assistance, training, and supervision to help clients obtain the necessities of daily living including medical and dental health care.
• Legal and advocacy services
• Financial support such as entitlements (e.g., SSI, SSDI and veterans’ benefits) or housing subsidies (e.g., HUD Section 8)
• Supported housing (e.g., adult foster care, paid roommates, meals brought in for those who need it)
• Money management services (e.g., payeeships)
• Transportation

Qualifications: Education, Experience, and Knowledge Required

A master’s degree in a behavioral science is required and work experience with adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses or with individuals with similar human-service needs. Must have a strong commitment to the right and ability of each person with a severe and persistent mental illness to live in normal community residences; work in market jobs; and have access to helpful, adequate, competent, and continuous supports and services. Skills and competence to establish supportive trusting relationships with persons with severe and persistent mental illnesses and respect for client rights and personal preferences in treatment are essential. Must pass a criminal background check, and have a clear drug screen. Must have a valid driver’s license for the state in which the program operates.

Hours: Monday through Friday 8:00 am until 4:30 pm. Other times may be required with the job or adjusted by your supervisor.

Required Job Skills:

• Oral and written communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Ability to exercise good judgment, tact, diplomacy, and compassion when problem solving, handling conflict or in a crisis situation.
• Ability to complete record keeping in a timely fashion.
• Ability to formulate treatment objectives for the person served.
• Ability to get along with diverse personalities and maintain effective working relationships.
• Ability to work well with people of all races, backgrounds, and needs.
• Knowledgeable of the Behavioral Health Concepts and how to incorporate concepts into practical application.

Additional Responsibilities:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation must be made to enable the individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physically able to reach, push, pull, stoop, bend, stand, walk, and lift up to 20 pounds.
• Possess a valid Driver’s License and maintain a safe driving record if required for job performance.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee occasionally works in outside weather conditions, maybe off-site from normal office location or placed at a Residential Program.

The noise level in the work environment is mild to moderate.

Environmental Data and Job Hazards:

• Hours of work are structured 7.5 to 8.0 hour blocks of time but may be subject to irregular and/or flexible hours based on needs or demands.
• Position may require duties to include routine or reasonable anticipated tasks or procedures where there is a degree of actual or potential exposure to blood or other infectious materials.
• All staff is required to participate in yearly trainings regarding infection control and safety in the environment including hazardous waste and blood borne pathogens.
• All new staff must attend training regarding handling physical, verbal threats, acts of violence, or other escalating and potential dangerous situations including when police need to be summoned.

Required Job Performance:

• Provides an average of 18-25 billable hours of service per week as established by Agency. (Ranges vary based on type of services provided.)
• Successful Performance Evaluation rating of 3 or above. A Performance Improvement Plan will be initiated on all scores below a 3 rating. An employee will be terminated if the Performance Improvement Plan is viewed as unsuccessful.