Suicide Prevention Specialist

TX-HHSC-DSHS-DFPS • Austin, TX

5d • Hybrid

About The Position

Program Specialist VI, functionally knowns as the Suicide Prevention Specialist, reports directly to the Director of Suicide Prevention, Policy and Services and is part of the Prevention and Behavioral Health Promotion (PBHP) unit in Substance Use Programs (SUP). The Program Specialist VI performs advanced (senior-level) consultative services and technical assistance work related to community behavioral health (mental health and substance use) services, with a specialized focus on a suicide prevention, intervention and postvention special projects.
The role supports the planning, development, implementation, and continuous improvement of suicide prevention projects funded through both the mental health and substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery services block grant, as assigned by the Director of Suicide Prevention Policy and Services, as well as other integrated prevention initiatives within the PBHP unit. This Program Specialist collaborates closely with the Suicide Care Coordinator to complete oversight responsibilities and tasks for the Suicide Care Initiative. Provides training, consultation, and technical assistance to providers, stakeholders, and community partners on evidence‑based, suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention practices. In addition, the position contributes to the integration of upstream prevention approaches by aligning suicide prevention efforts with substance use prevention and broader behavioral health promotion strategies.

Serves as a subject matter expert on implementation of suicide prevention special projects as needed. May serve as subject matter expert on: suicide prevention, intervention and postvention strategies; crisis intervention with children, youth, and adults; mental health; evidence-based practices; trauma-informed care and/or mental health/behavioral health promotion in order to provide high-level technical assistance, policy interpretation, and guidance to strengthen system improvement related to suicide prevention and its intersection with behavioral health promotion and other prevention domains. Works in collaboration with other behavioral health program specialists, subject matter experts, unit directors, and BHS leadership on tasks and activities to meet the goals, mission, vision, priorities, and responsibilities of HHSC and the Statewide Behavioral Health Strategic Plan.

Attends work on a regular and predictable schedule in accordance with agency leave policy. This position may be eligible for telework. Please note, all HHS positions are subject to state and agency telework policies in addition to the discretion of the direct supervisor and business need.

Requirements

• Knowledge of: a. The application of best practices for suicide care in behavioral health services;b. Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention; crisis intervention experience;c. Local, state and federal laws, agency regulations, policies, rules and requirements pertaining to the provision of community behavioral health services and mental health services and suicide deaths and prevention; d. Laws , ethic codes, and rules applicable to confidentiality and the management of protected health information and the provision of behavioral health (mental health, substance abuse services); e. Data systems for managing operations and making decisions; f. Recovery, resiliency, engagement, and disease management concepts and program components as they relate to the provision of mental health services, statewide; g. Prevention, intervention, and treatment concepts and program components as they relate to the provision of suicide screening and services in mental health and/or substance abuse services statewide; j. populations at risk of suicide; l. Trauma-informed care, system of care, and Recovery Oriented Services Model; andm. Implementation and/or provision of mental health evidence-based practices.
• Skills in: a. Effective verbal communication, to include the preparation and presentation of complex data analysis; b. Project management with complex projects that cross divisions, agencies and several lines of business; c. Identifying problems, evaluating alternatives, and negotiating and implementing solutions to organizational and service delivery problems; d. Advanced business and technical writing, reporting, and interpretation of complex data related to improve provider performance; e. Apply mental health clinical skills and knowledge into policy and procedures; f. Clinical case conceptualization utilizing psychosocial assessment and develop recovery/treatment plan; g. Statistics, data analysis and data interpretation for rapid quality improvement; h. Project management; i. Strategic planning; j. Crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and postvention, and handling complex life-threatening situations, death and critical incidents in a composed, professional and trauma-informed manner.
• Ability to: a. Organize and present information effectively, both orally and in writing; b. Analyze and solve work problems affecting the operations and functions; c. Provide information to providers, executive leadership, and persons with lived experience (suicide bereaved and suicide attempt survivors) regarding areas of behavioral health policy in an informative and professional manner based on the audience; d. Plan and manage large multi-faceted projects; e. Work appropriately in collaboration with others to manage and meet multiple deadlines; f. Gather, assemble, correlate, and analyze facts; g. Devise solutions to problems; h. Develop and evaluate policies and procedures; i. Prepare reports; j. Communicate effectively; l. Analyze data and understand data/statistical analyses to help guide strategic planning and project process and outcome measures; m. Ability to work in a fast-pace work environment with multiple competitive priorities; n. Able to deal with matters of behavioral health content, stressful life-threatening situations, death and conflictive information in an effective, professional, and ethical manner; o. Able to apply behavioral health clinical practices, theories, ethics and treatment modalities into the development of policies, procedures and operational standards for people at risk of suicide.
• Bachelors Degree in human services related field or public health is required.

Nice To Haves

• Preference given to a licensed clinician with one of the following licenses: LMSW, LPC, LMFT, LCDC, LCSW or licensed psychologist.
• Preference given to: Suicide prevention or Zero Suicide Expert with at least two years' zero suicide work experience.
• Preference given to candidate with strong project management skills and experience.
• Preference given to strong training background.

Responsibilities

• Provides suicide prevention, intervention, postvention, consultation and technical assistance to providers, stakeholder groups and communities.
• Collaborates frequently with internal and external stakeholders related to suicide prevention and broader behavioral health promotion.
• Develops and delivers presentations and trainings related to suicide prevention, intervention and postvention as requested to improve stakeholder and community understanding of suicide prevention, intervention and postvention best practices and upstream prevention.
• Responsible for the coordination and documentation of continuing education units (CEUs) for all suicide prevention trainings.
• Provides promising-practice and evidence-based trainings to communities and stakeholders regarding suicide prevention, intervention and postvention.
• Oversees policy and procedures, statements of work, regulations and other procurement documentation for suicide prevention projects.
• Provision of consultative services, technical assistance, and support to program contractors and other stakeholders: This includes serving as a subject matter expert, organization and facilitation of meetings, workgroups, conference calls, and representation of HHSC at public meetings.
• Reviews and oversees utilization and provision of community behavioral health services to maintain high quality cost effective care according to the recovery goals of the individual and evaluate the appropriateness and efficiency of behavioral health services and procedures.
• Serves as a subject matter expert for suicide prevention initiatives while supporting unit-wide alignment with substance use prevention, trauma‑informed care, resilience building, and other behavioral health promotion frameworks.
• Works closely with members of the Prevention and Behavioral Health Promotion Team to enhance collaboration and integration of suicide prevention and substance use prevention services.
• Provides technical assistance and consultation to Local Mental Health Authorities and other community providers.
• Coordinates an interdisciplinary, systems-of-care framework for suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention that incorporates behavioral health promotion and substance use prevention strategies to ensure continuity of care.
• Works with Suicide Care Coordinator to provide site visits and desk reviews to regional suicide care support centers, other local mental health and local behavioral health authorities to provide feedback on suicide care implementation.
• Uses suicide care implementation tools to assess fidelity, identify gaps, and strengthen integration with broader prevention strategies at the community and system levels.
• May work on the writing and planning of grant proposals and funding procurements to expand or improve suicide prevention for behavioral health services.
• Participates in inter-agency suicide prevention and behavioral health work groups.
• Collaborates with members of PBHP to support on going suicide prevention, behavioral health promotion, integrated prevention strategies and intervention communications both internal and external to HHSC.
• Works with the larger Prevention and Behavioral Health Promotion team to broaden provider knowledge of suicide prevention and integrate suicide prevention into the larger scope of Prevention and Behavioral Health Promotion work.
• Develops responses to legislative and/or executive leadership inquiries.
• Analyzes legislation and conducts bill analysis related to mental health and substance use services that impact children, youth, and young adults to determine programmatic impact of proposed policies or funding strategies and provides written responses.
• Performs other duties and participates in other divisional operational processes as assigned.

Benefits

• Our comprehensive benefits package includes 100% paid employee health insurance for full-time eligible employees, a defined benefit pension plan, generous time off benefits, numerous opportunities for career advancement and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level