Mental Health Clinician 2

Mental Health Clinician 2

The Department of Corrections, Division of Health & Rehabilitation Services, is recruiting for a Mental Health Clinician 2 to join the team at the Goose Creek Correctional Center (GCCC), located in Mackenzie Point, Alaska.

What You Will Be Doing:

• Screen & triage inmates presenting with a wide variety of diagnoses including severe and persistent mental illness, behavior problems, organic disorders, alcohol/drug abuse, developmental disabilities and personality disorders.
• Provide supportive individual counseling and treatment planning for inmates on the mental health caseload.
• Provide crisis intervention services, including suicide assessments and development of safety plans for inmates as needed.
• Facilitate group programming aimed at the adjustment and rehabilitation of inmates.

Our Mission, Values, and Culture:

The HARS Mission Statement: To provide timely access to essential care through an evidence-based multidisciplinary approach. We are committed to a culture of professionalism, quality, and safety.

We seek applicants who are interested in furthering the HARS Mission and who will strive to uphold the Division's Core Values of Respect, Integrity, Compassion, Teamwork and Safety.

Benefits of Joining Our Team:

Join a multidisciplinary team of professionals who are dedicated to providing quality care to Alaska's incarcerated population. The Department of Corrections is the state's largest behavioral health provider, we offer unique professional development opportunities, while helping to build stronger communities.

The Working Environment You Can Expect:

This position will be assigned to open population mental health treatment team at Goose Creek Correctional Center in Wasilla. Clinicians assigned to this team provide assessments, milieu management, crisis intervention; release planning; therapeutic groups; supportive counseling; and coordination with security, medical and mental health staff.

Who We Are Looking For:

• Adaptability: Adjusts planned work by gathering relevant information and applying critical thinking to address multiple demands and competing priorities in a changing environment.
• Stress Tolerance: Deals calmly and effectively with high stress situations (for example, tight deadlines, hostile individuals, emergency situations, dangerous situations).
• Oral and Written Communication: Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral and written presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

Minimum Qualifications:

Competency Based Minimum Qualifications Instructions This job class uses competency based minimum qualifications. Please ensure your application (through work history, volunteer experience (duties summary), training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports how you have gained the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors (competencies) and that you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class.

Competency Description The competency description(s) listed below have been designed to promote a common understanding of the essential elements of the job class. They highlight the more general and customary knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), tasks, and behaviors used to describe the competency. They typically list expectations, as opposed to specific tasks, and are to be used only as parameters and guidelines. A competency's description is not intended to exclusively define every KSA, task, and behavior needed to successfully meet the competency, but rather to provide the manager/agency with a broad reference of options as to how an applicant can meet the job expectation.

Mental Health Clinician 2: Master's degree from an accredited college in counseling, psychology, social work, child guidance, vocational rehabilitation, or a closely related field.

AND

Any combination of education and/or experience that provides the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities in:

• Analysis and Assessment: Uses information technology in accessing, collecting, analyzing, maintaining, and disseminating data and information.
• Decision Making: Makes sound, well-informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals; causes change.
• Interpersonal Skills: Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations; is sensitive to cultural diversity, race, gender, disabilities, and other individual differences.
• Psychology: Knowledge of the concepts, principles, and theories of human behavior and performance in various contexts, mental processes, or the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Therapy and Counseling: Knowledge of diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental ailments, and career guidance.

Equivalent to those typically gained by:

Professional experience performing psychotherapeutic casework.

Special Note:

Some positions require the incumbent be licensed as a Clinical Social Worker or a Licensed Professional Counselor. This requirement will be addressed in the job posting.

Required Documents:

• Transcript from your highest level of education
• Three professional references with contact information

Recruitment Difficulties:

Starting salary may be approved up to Step D - $3,170.25, if criteria are met.

Legal Employment:

The State's online recruitment system, Workplace Alaska, requires applicants to certify that they have a legal right to accept employment in the United States. It is the responsibility of the employee to maintain the appropriate documentation to accept or continue legal employment. The State of Alaska does not function in the role as an employer sponsor.

Education:

If post-secondary education is required to meet the minimum qualifications, you must fill in the Education section of the application. If you have not obtained a degree, please indicate the number of units completed. Copies of transcripts are required to verify educational credentials if used to meet the minimum qualifications for a position. Transcripts can be attached at the time of application or provided at the time of interview.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education:

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the minimum qualifications listed above. If utilizing this education, you must show that the education credentials have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and that such education has been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs; or an accredited U.S. post-secondary institution reports the other institution as one whose transcript is given full value, or full value is given in subject areas applicable to the curricula at the post-secondary institution. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying.

Work Experience:

If using work experience not already documented in your application, also provide the employer name, your job title, dates of employment, and whether full-or part-time. Applications will be reviewed to determine if the responses are supported and minimum qualifications are clearly met. If they are not, the applicant may not advance to the interview and selection phase of the recruitment.

PREA Notification:

The Department of Corrections follows and maintains federal and state requirements standards including, but not limited to, Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards which apply to all public and private institutions that house adult or juvenile offenders. PREA standards preclude the department from hiring or promoting anyone who has engaged in, or been convicted of any conduct which would violate PREA standards related to sexual assault including:

• Sexual abuse in a prison, jail, lockup, community confinement facility, juvenile facility, or other institution;
• Convicted of engaging or attempting to engage in sexual activity in the community facilitated by force, overt or implied threats of force, or coercion, or if the victim did not consent or was unable to consent or refuse; or
• Has been civilly or administratively adjudicated to have engaged in the activity described above.

Criminal History Checks/APSIN/ACOMS:

Please be aware – this position requires the use of the Alaska Public Safety Information Network (APSIN). A security clearance issued by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) is necessary to use APSIN. DPS will deny security clearance for any applicant who has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor in this state or another jurisdiction, or who may be a fugitive from justice. Additionally, security clearance will be withdrawn if DPS discovers that material information was falsified or omitted at the time of the initial application for security clearance.

Fingerprint Notice:

All Department of Corrections employees are required to be fingerprinted. The successful candidate must pass a criminal history check.

Driver's License Requirement: