Professional Counselor - Adult Psychiatric Inpatient - Days

WellSpan Health•Chambersburg, PA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

This is a full-time position (80 hours biweekly) with weekday, daytime hours. The role involves performing clinical interventions with patients of all age groups (children through older adults), their families, staff, and external organizations to coordinate patient care, implement treatment, and perform discharge planning. The counselor will provide psychosocial assessments and clinical therapies, including individual, couples, group, play, and family therapies, to patients within Behavioral Health Services.

Requirements

Graduate of an accredited Master's degree program in counseling, psychology, social work or other mental health field.
Experience applying customer service behaviors and communication skills required.
A minimum of two 6 to 12 months clinical experience in the mental health field including the provision of psychotherapy to individuals, families, couples, and/or groups is required.
Play therapy experience required as applicable.
Current CPR certification required.
Child Abuse History Clearance and Criminal Background Check required.

Responsibilities

Performs clinical interventions with patients (children through older adults), families/significant others, staff, outside organizations and providers in order to coordinate patient care, implement treatment and perform discharge planning.
Provides psychosocial assessments and clinical therapies (i.e., individual, couples, group, play, and family therapies) to patients of Behavioral Health Services.
Demonstrates service excellence and patient and family centered care by showing respect, honesty, fairness and a positive attitude toward all customers.
Maintains confidentiality.
Demonstrates dependability, to include attendance and punctuality.
Is accountable - takes initiative and ownership of issues.
Displays a professional demeanor. Represents hospital in a positive way. Has a compassionate working relationship with patients and families.
Assumes personal responsibility for 2-way communication. Communicates and listens effectively with patients, families, coworkers, other departments, physicians/providers and community.
Supports coworkers, initiatives and a patient and family centered philosophy; pitches in; does own part and helps others.
Works to continuously improve work environment/processes (Performance Improvement). Demonstrates a patient and family centered focus when considering/developing improvement solutions.
Represents willingness/enthusiasm to create, embrace and facilitate change.
Develops self and others; supports a learning environment; leads by example. Encourages patients and families to give feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Develops working relationships critical to the organization including patients, families, coworkers, other departments, physicians/providers and community.
Encourages others by providing recognition and support.
Thinks critically; utilizes sound judgment; promptly reports potential risks.
Maintains state of art knowledge of area of specialty, healthcare trends and practice, populations served.
Maintains a level of computer literacy appropriate to their role.
Meets and maintains current all unit specific and organizational skills/competencies, certifications/licensures, as required.
Completes hospital-required reviews, e.g. HIPAA, safety, health screening, care concerns, and others as assigned.
Adheres to National Patient Safety Goals.
Maintains current Child Abuse Clearance and Criminal Background checks.
Clinical knowledge and skills remain current to meet the needs of all age/population groups served. Demonstrates understanding of age-appropriate behavior and psychosocial development for children through older adults.
Communicates plan of care based on assessment of patients and family; keeps appropriate people aware of pertinent changes or problems in a timely manner.
Participates productively in treatment team meetings and ensures attendance on a regular basis.
Achieves minimum thresholds for productivity on a consistent basis.
Effectively performs intake assessments as scheduled and documents appropriately.
Ensures that admission assessments for clients contain the following documented components: Background information, current mental status, treatment recommendations, discharge planning needs, target problems for treatment, expected patient outcomes.
Appropriately utilizes standardized tools and scales to assess and reassess patient functioning. Uses the appropriate tool for the age/population of the patient being assessed (e.g., adolescent and geriatric depression scales, GAF, etc.)
Assumes appropriate responsibility and accountability for the development, review and revision of the plan of care for outpatients: completes within 2 visits.
Expected outcomes/target objectives and interventions measurable and are developed with recognition given to expected age-related variations in the baseline psychosocial and developmental functional capacity of the individual (child to older adult).
Incorporates patient/family teaching into plan of treatment; including patient identified target symptoms with severity ratings.
Documents discharge plan, revisions to the Plan of Care, and final discharge instructions and linkages community services, as per current policy.
Meets required thresholds for chart review and documentation.
Utilizes therapeutic communication skills with patients and family.
Accurately assesses interventions made and reassesses data to plan further interventions throughout the therapeutic process in a responsive and timely manner, in order to meet patient needs and third party payor requirements.
Effectively implements the treatment modalities appropriate to age/population served.
Markets the therapeutic value of therapy group participation and solicits referrals from appropriate sources.
Implements, facilitates and maintains therapy group(s) participation, the majority of the calendar year.
Effectively and consistently demonstrates the successful ability to facilitate a therapy group.
Accurately maintains attendance and participation documentation as required by licensors regulations.
Responds appropriately to emergency situations.