Mental Health Technician, Mental Health Unit

Mental Health Technician

You Matter Here! Heywood Healthcare values our employees! We offer competitive wages, great benefits and generous earned time off. Come work where you will matter!

Hours: 32-Hours, Days, Every other weekend and holiday

$22.16 - $29.24

We are committed to equitable and transparent compensation practices. The salary range for this position reflects our good-faith estimate of base pay at the time of posting. Final compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, skills, qualifications, and internal equity. We regularly review our compensation structures to ensure fairness and consistency across our organization.

The Mental Health Technician (MHT) provides direct, supportive care to patients receiving inpatient behavioral health services. The MHT works as an integral member of the interdisciplinary treatment team and supports a safe, therapeutic, and structured environment for patients. The MHT assists with monitoring patient behavior and safety, implementing individualized treatment interventions, facilitating therapeutic and recreational activities, supporting activities of daily living, and maintaining a clean and therapeutic milieu. The MHT is expected to demonstrate professionalism, compassion, sound judgment, effective communication, and the ability to maintain appropriate therapeutic boundaries when working with patients experiencing acute behavioral health symptoms.

Responsibilities

Essential Functions

• Provide direct, compassionate, and respectful care to patients in accordance with established policies, procedures, and individualized treatment plans.
• Establish and maintain therapeutic relationships and professional boundaries with patients.
• Support patients in developing and practicing appropriate coping, communication, and behavioral skills.
• Promote patient independence while providing appropriate support and supervision.
• Maintain continuous awareness of the patient and unit environment to promote safety.
• Follow procedures related to contraband, patient belongings, searches, elopement precautions, suicide/self-harm precautions, and other identified safety risks.
• Conduct environmental and safety checks as assigned. Maintain awareness of patient legal status, precautions, restrictions, and individualized safety needs.
• Communicate effectively with nurses, providers, social workers, therapists, case managers, and other members of the interdisciplinary team.
• Assist with documenting patient belongings from admission through discharge.
• Maintain knowledge of patient orders for restricted items and work collaboratively with MHU staff to ensure restricted items are signed in/out as applicable.
• Provide supportive listening and emotional support to patients when opportunities arise, allowing patients to express concerns, feelings, or needs while maintaining appropriate professional and therapeutic boundaries.
• Ability to work effectively with patients experiencing psychiatric, emotional, cognitive, or behavioral difficulties.
• Help redirect inappropriate behaviors using approved de-escalation and behavioral management techniques. Promptly notify the unit manager or charge nurse.
• Assist with patient fresh air break adhering to current policy requirements.
• Maintain working knowledge of current fresh air requirements.
• Attend to patient needs as requested including, but not limited to nutritional replenishment, telephone charging, retrieving showering toiletries, and assist patients with patient laundering.
• Ensure that nursing inspects all items brought in for the patient by visitors.
• Other duties as assigned.

Statement of Other Duties

This document describes the major duties and responsibilities for this job, and is not intended to be a complete list of all tasks and functions. It should be understood, therefore, that employees may be asked to perform job-related duties beyond those explicitly described.

Functional Demands

Exerts 20 to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or 10 to 25 pounds of force frequently, and/or greater than negligible up to 10 pounds of force constantly to move objects. Frequently reaches (extending hands and arms in any direction), handles (seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or working with hands), and feels (perceiving attributes of items such as size, shape, temperature, or texture by means of fingertips). Occasionally stoops (bending the body downward and forward by bending the spine at the waist), and kneels (bending the legs at knee to come to rest on knee or knees).

Qualifications

Job Requirements

• High school graduate or equivalent preferred.

Minimum Licenses/Certifications

• AHA BLS CPR required or obtained within 60 days of hire.
• DMH approved hands on de-escalation training within 30 days of hire for DMH certified units and 60 days for other locations.

Minimum Work Experience

• Mental Health/Behavioral Health experience required.

Required Skills

• Limited hands on care required.