Licensed Mental Health Professional

State of North Carolina•Mecklenburg County, NC

About The Position

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Responder Assistance Initiative (RAI), housed within North Carolina Emergency Management, provides mental health and wellness resources to DPS employees and first responder agencies. Its regional team includes licensed mental health providers, wellness coordinators, and peer support professionals. The program offers behavioral healthcare, wellness initiatives, peer support and intervention, and consultation to public safety organizations, with plans to expand services to additional agencies and potentially responders’ family members. This is a regional position based in Fayetteville, serving Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, and Wake counties, with occasional travel elsewhere in the state. The position addresses the mental health needs of DPS employees and external partner agencies—including police, fire, EMS, dispatch, and emergency management personnel—who experience traumatic events and critical incidents related to first responder work. The role provides advanced clinical services and collaborates with clinical and administrative leadership. Associate- or provisional-level candidates may be considered if supervision is available; such candidates will be designated trainees, with salary and progression based on experience and advancement toward independent licensure. This is a permanent, full-time position of 40 hours per week with state benefits. New hires must work in-office/on-site for their first 90 days.

Requirements

Master’s degree in psychology, clinical social work, marriage and family therapy, clinical counseling, or a related human services field from an appropriately accredited educational institution.
Hold an independent North Carolina license to practice as a mental health clinical practitioner, or meet North Carolina requirements for associate- or provisional-level licensure as a mental health clinical practitioner.
Applicants must hold one of the listed credentials: Health Services Provider–Psychologist (HSP-P), Licensed Psychologist (LP), Licensed Psychological Associate (LPA), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate (LCSW-A), Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate (LMFT-A), Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC), or Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate (LCMHC-A).
Travel within the Fayetteville regional counties and occasionally elsewhere in North Carolina.

Nice To Haves

Experience conducting clinical assessments or diagnoses, developing or implementing treatment plans, conducting individual, couples, or family therapy, or providing crisis intervention.
Experience providing interventions in complicated cases.
Skill administering and interpreting selected screening and assessment instruments.
In-depth knowledge of theoretical approaches to treatment and working knowledge and use of the DSM-5-TR.
Considerable knowledge of trauma symptoms that contribute to physical, emotional, and psychological distress, particularly as they relate to the population served by RAI.
Skill in determining and conducting appropriate therapeutic interventions.
Experience supporting or participating in critical incident debriefings and providing psychoeducational training to small and medium-sized groups on behavioral health topics related to victimization, trauma, and stress reactions.

Responsibilities

Provide advanced direct counseling services and care coordination.
Conduct individual, couples, and family therapy, program briefings, community outreach, training, and crisis intervention.
Provide behavioral health screening, consultation, and crisis intervention regularly by telephone and in face-to-face meetings.
Conduct biopsychosocial evaluations and individual, couples, family, and group treatment for participants and eligible family members.
Deliver outcomes-driven, evidence-based, and best-practice clinical interventions.
Develop and implement treatment plans; collaborate with providers; prepare clinical and discharge summaries; and develop and facilitate referrals as appropriate.
Provide regional critical incident response.
Consult with clinical and administrative leadership about clinical or organizational problems and recommendations for resolving concerns and addressing problematic patterns and trends.
Travel to responder organizational units to provide outreach, education, and services within the region and across the state as needed.