Mental Health Therapist III

Sea Mar Community Health Centers•Tacoma, WA

71d•Onsite

About The Position

Sea Mar Community Health Centers is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) founded in 1978, dedicated to providing comprehensive health, human, housing, educational, and cultural services to diverse communities, with a specialization in serving Latinos in Washington State. Sea Mar serves all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, sexual orientation, or ability to pay. The organization operates over 90 medical, dental, and behavioral health clinics, along with various nutritional, social, and educational services. This role involves providing diagnostic assessments, referrals for psychiatric services, case management, individual counseling, crisis stabilization, suicide risk assessment, treatment planning, and group leadership. The position also assists the Program Manager with program development, policy and procedure implementation, compliance with WACs and RCWs, and other administrative tasks as directed. The individual in this role is expected to adhere to Sea Mar's mission and values, which emphasize respectful treatment, dignity, client-centered care, cultural awareness, integrity, compassion, social justice, teamwork, and continuous learning.

Requirements

Must hold a Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in psychology, counseling, or social work which includes course-work in psychological diagnostics.
Four or more years’ experience in the field.
Must meet criteria of a Mental Health Professional (MHP).
Must hold and maintain an active Washington State Agency Affiliated Counselor License (may be pending for up to 90 days if applied for within 7 days of being offered employment) or mental health Associate License (includes Marriage and Family Therapist, Mental Health Counselor, and Clinical Social Worker).
Must have and maintain a current TB test.
Minority mental health therapist as required by WAC.
Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.
Ability to write routine reports and correspondence.
Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization.
Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.
Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
An understanding of the Behavioral Health Organization requirements.
The ability to work effectively with all persons and groups with an open mind towards cultural differences and knowledge of cultures.
The ability to accurately diagnose mental health issues and develop treatment plans based upon diagnoses.
The ability to NOT diagnose behavioral problems as mental illnesses unless appropriate.
An understanding of chemical dependency treatment and an ability to coordinate mental health services with chemical dependency treatment providers.
Must complete an annual clinical competency test as a mental health therapist.
The Mental Health Therapist must sign a permanent oath of confidentiality covering all patient related information.
This person must pass a Washington State Patrol background check.

Nice To Haves

Additional evening/weekend hours may be required to fulfill the duties of this position.

Responsibilities

Provides diagnostic assessments for each patient, documents outcomes, justifies diagnoses, and communicates with the primary Chemical Dependency Counselor.
Demonstrates knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patients served, including understanding of growth and development over the life span and identifying age-specific needs.
Refers patients to psychiatric services as appropriate, gathers necessary information, attends sessions with psychiatric providers, monitors medication effects, and provides feedback.
Provides consultation to Sea Mar staff regarding mental health and behavioral issues and develops treatment plans with staff.
Provides individual counseling in coordination with other systems as needed.
Provides suicide risk assessment and develops treatment plans for suicidal ideation or gestures.
Utilizes case management for follow-through and community support.
Provides other crisis stabilization as needed.
Gathers information on past mental health services for treatment plan development.
Provides mental health services referrals and exchanges information with outside service providers.
Supports other staff regarding mental health needs of staff or patients, maintains confidentiality, prevents splitting between staff and patients, and offers ideas for handling challenging situations.
Assists in ensuring agency compliance with WAC's, RCW's, and other pertinent laws, regulations, and contracts.
Assists in developing and implementing policies and procedures as directed by the Program Manager.
Educates staff regarding mental health service referrals and psycho-educational topics.
Maintains documentation of mental health services and follows through in patient charts.
Performs a minimum of 80 hours of face-to-face contact and 80 encounters each month.