CLINICAL THERAPIST - THER

The Children s Center of Hamden Inc•Hamden, CT

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Clinical Therapist will be responsible for clinical services and general case management within the context of a treatment team for children and families served by The Children’s Center of Hamden. In this position, the Clinical Therapist will be responsible for providing various types of counseling and therapy to the children and families being served by the Agency. The Clinical Therapist is part of the multidisciplinary team and is responsible for providing information, strategies, and a clinical perspective, along with promoting teamwork in the treatment of children. This individual is encouraged to develop activities that enhance the program design and develop proposals for program revisions. The Clinical Therapist will be a liaison to outside agencies and personnel, including DCF, hospitals, insurance/managed care, the legal system, boards of education, and private consultants. The therapist will be directly accountable to the Director of the program to which they are assigned.

Requirements

MSW, MFT MA or MS in social services or related field.
One-year relevant experience.
Training in child psychopathology and developmental psychology.
Working knowledge of DSM IV and DSM V, ability to engage clients in a therapeutic relationship in individual, family and group modalities of treatment.
Ability to design and implement therapeutic interventions to promote positive change.
Knowledge of child development.
Ability to work well independently.
Good verbal and written communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Bi-lingual preferred.
Ability to become clinically licensed in the State of Connecticut preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide effective individual, group and family therapy.
Provide a minimum of two treatment groups weekly, specific to EDT.
Arrange for psychiatric, psychological and other specialized testing and evaluation.
Coordinate and contribute to diagnostic and discharge conferences and provider meetings.
Maintain regular contact with, and attend and contribute to, all decision-making conferences involving outside agencies, i.e. public-school systems, DCF, juvenile courts, community resources and alternative placement.
Maintain regular contact with internal members of the treatment team regarding clinical issues, and interdepartmentally regarding changes in status.
Foster a trauma-informed approach with treatment team members when discussing client needs.
Ensure that legal rights of children are protected, and incidents of abuse or neglect are reported to DCF.
Review intake material and participate in admission appointments, as assigned.
Maintain records for admissions/discharges, provider meetings, progress reports and individualized service plans per agency policies regarding documentation.
Facilitate the Individualized Service Plan process with clients and update as needed.
Demonstrate sensitivity and awareness regarding cultural diversity as it relates to the client population.
Maintain awareness of client strengths and needs based on gender, age, and development.
Provides comprehensive clinical assessments and interventions per agency policy including issues of cultural diversity.
Applies a trauma-informed approach when formulating interventions with children and families served.
Plan therapeutic recreation and enrichment activities for youth.
Responsible for coordinating and documenting effective crisis, discharge and aftercare plans.
Maintains care, welfare, safety and security of the children by reporting conditions which are or could be considered safety hazards.
Assist Childcare staff in the management of children’s behavior, when assigned.
Maintains appropriate personal boundaries with youth and families served at The Children’s Center of Hamden, Inc.
Participate in providing Quality Assurance statistics and Client Outcome Measures, which keep the employee in good standing with the Professional Staff Organization.
Successfully completes CCG (Crisis Consulting Group) training and performs physical restraints with clients as needed.
Maintains all mandatory trainings including CPR, First Aid, CCG (Crisis Consulting Group), Boundary Training, Fire Safety Training, Driver Safety Training, OSHA (Bloodborne Pathogens, Infection Control, Workplace Violence, SDS), PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) and any others as assigned.
Perform other related duties as assigned.