Crisis Clinician - MCAT - Per Required Need

About the job

Frontier Behavioral Health in Spokane is hiring a per diem (per required need) crisis clinician to cover shifts for its Mobile Crisis Assessment and Triage (MCAT) team, which serves people 21 and older. The clinician is part of a multidisciplinary team that gives phone and outreach crisis intervention and evaluation, aiming to keep people out of inpatient psychiatric care, emergency departments and the criminal justice system by using community resources to stabilize them.

Frontier Behavioral Health is a Spokane nonprofit offering evidence-based, trauma-informed behavioral health treatment for adults, youth and seniors. The MCAT team works within MRRCT alongside the Child, Youth, and Family Mobile Crisis team, and the people it serves may have co-occurring disorders or be homeless.

What you'll do

• Provide phone triage, assessment and de-escalation, both initial and follow-up, for people in emotional or behavioral health crises, among them people referred for Involuntary Treatment Act (ITA) services
• Do initial and follow-up assessments by phone and in person for people at risk, and follow up on referrals for at-risk and high-risk people to make sure they stabilize or get services
• Complete suicide and homicide risk assessments and staff the results with a supervisor or Clinician II, and bring high-risk cases to a supervisor promptly
• Offer hospital diversion and crisis services to families, youth and adults in a behavioral health crisis, and help them reach crisis hospital diversion resources
• With clients and their support networks, build recovery, stabilization and safety plans that a Clinician II or supervisor reviews, and document thoroughly to support each safety plan
• Arrange referrals for community stabilization and diversion, including linkage to a Designated Crisis Responder (DCR), for people in crisis or the referral sources calling for them, and refer eligible people to Trueblood forensic programs
• Provide case management and wraparound services as needed, help clients get basic needs such as emergency housing or shelter, financial help, medical services and medications, and help non-Medicaid clients enroll in Medicaid
• Offer coaching, advocacy, information and referral, and ongoing support, and work with the Mobile Dispatch Unit so case response meets contract requirements
• Maintain working relationships with police and sheriff's deputies, courts, attorneys, providers, jail staff, inpatient psychiatric facilities statewide, other agencies, advocates, consumer groups and citizens
• Keep client records and other required documentation timely and confidential, and attend peer review, supervision and in-center educational and administrative meetings

What you need

• A bachelor's degree in behavioral health or a related field
• Within 30 days of hire, apply to the WA State Department of Health for the Counselor Agency Affiliated – Registered credential
• A valid, unrestricted driver's license, active car insurance, a passing result on a motor vehicle screening and driving test, and willingness to use your own vehicle for work
• Strong engagement and customer service skills and empathy, with the ability to stay calm, professional and clear-headed in escalated situations
• Knowledge and skills in working with people who have mental health and/or substance use disorders
• Knowledge of all state rules and laws for crisis and involuntary treatment services, or the ability to learn them
• Able to communicate and engage with people of many cultures, backgrounds, education levels, trauma experiences and socio-economic groups
• Able to manage 10 to 20 active cases
• Critical thinking, decision-making and problem-solving skills, and the ability to work on your own
• Daily client work in community settings such as homes, group living settings, hospitals, shelters and the streets, some of which may not be clean or habitable
• Able to drive, walk up to several city blocks over varied terrain, climb stairs, and get in and out of vehicles often
• Daily computer use, and lifting 10 to 20 pounds when required

Preferred

• Two years of work with psychiatrically impaired populations

Schedule

• Per diem (per required need), covering shifts as needed
• New hires attend a 2-day in-person orientation and a half day of in-person training during the first week
• Daily travel between work sites and to clients in the community, using FBH vehicles and/or your own

Benefits

• A shift differential may be added, depending on the shift worked
• Per required need positions don't receive benefits and aren't eligible for the sign-on bonus