Young Adult Mental Health Clinician, Safe Options Support (SOS) - South Team

ACMH INC•New York, NY

13h•Onsite

About The Position

The Young Adult Mental Health Clinician works on the Safe Options Support (SOS) South Team, providing community outreach to unhoused young adults on the streets and in places they frequent. The clinician coordinates participants’ needs before and after their transition from street to home, supports development of daily living skills, accompanies participants to appointments, and advocates for them when they encounter discrimination or inequities in healthcare. The position serves Midtown, Lower Manhattan, and Brooklyn. The role involves persistent, strength-based outreach and engagement, assessment and short-term therapeutic support, crisis intervention, housing navigation, and coordination with community providers, hospitals, outreach teams, and other stakeholders. Once participants are housed, the clinician works with them and their housing providers to address clinical issues that may affect their ability to manage and retain supportive housing. The clinician documents and reports participant progress and collaborates with the team to use data to inform care delivery.

Requirements

Licensed master’s degree or higher in social work, mental health counseling, nursing, or psychology.
Knowledge of counseling principles and methods for mental illness and substance use disorders.
Knowledge of treatment, rehabilitation, and community support programs as they relate to recipients or residents, families, and staff.
Ability to develop, evaluate, implement, and modify treatment interventions to meet individual needs.
Ability to prepare accurate and timely reports.
Computer proficiency in health information technology and Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Knowledge of best practices in mental illness and substance use disorders.
Knowledge of techniques for identifying, assessing, and preventing potentially violent behavior, including crisis management and de-escalation.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with homeless or precariously housed populations.
Knowledge of homeless resources, NYC shelter systems, and MTA transit systems.
Methods for supporting individuals in developing real-world skills and identifying educational or vocational goals.
Methods for supporting community inclusion and strengthening support networks.
Experience working with peers.
Experience implementing positive youth development strategies.
Familiarity with homeless outreach teams or programs and temporary housing options.

Responsibilities

Conduct persistent, assertive, strength-based outreach and engagement at known hangouts and transit-system hotspots, or during inpatient hospital admissions and emergency department visits.
Continue outreach and engagement attempts with all referred individuals, including those who initially decline services.
Build lasting partnerships with community stakeholders and providers, including peer programs, Safe Horizon, LGBTQIA+ community programs, hospitals, the NYPD, shelters, and housing providers.
Collaborate with street outreach teams, police precincts, hospitals, the MTA, the Department of Homeless Services, and family members or caregivers to identify people in need of outreach and care.
Assess participants’ health and social needs through conversational, observational, and formalized risk assessments.
Work with the centralized SOR Hub to identify housing and support participants through applications, interviews, provider follow-up, moving in, obtaining supplies, and learning their neighborhood.
Participate in hospital discharge planning to identify appropriate community resources for returning patients.
Provide short-term therapeutic counseling and support before and after participants obtain housing.
Collect and report data, and collaborate with the team leader, data analyst, and other SOS teams to inform future care delivery.
Work with housed participants and housing providers to resolve clinical issues affecting participants’ ability to manage and retain supportive housing.
Connect participants with appropriate community services as they transition back into the community.
Support appointment navigation through accompaniment, travel training, reengagement in community care, and addressing barriers to care.
Facilitate crisis interventions, referrals, and hospitalizations as appropriate.
Review documentation and conduct comprehensive psychosocial assessments of medical, psychiatric, housing, and other social needs.
Obtain historical and collateral information from multiple sources to support participants’ behavioral and physical health needs.
Monitor, evaluate, and record participant progress toward care-plan goals.
Attend and participate in team meetings and supervisory sessions.
Perform other related duties as assigned.