Supervising Mental Health Clinician - Adult and Youth Services (20444610)

San Mateo County Health's Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Division is seeking a well-qualified individual for the position of Supervising Mental Health Clinician - Adult and Youth Services. Supervising Mental Health Clinicians supervise and coordinate the professional work of mental health professionals, paraprofessionals and interns in San Mateo County and participate in program planning, administration and evaluation; and provide specialized psychiatric casework counseling and therapeutic services to adults and youth in the field.
 
The current vacancy is in Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) Crisis and Outreach Team including the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team, the Crisis Response Team (CRT), Healthcare for the Homeless (HCH), Homeless Engagement Assessment Linkage (HEAL) team, and the law enforcement, mental health partnership within multiple cities in the County.

Supervising Mental Health Clinicians are members of the Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Leadership Team and work with collaborative partners on system wide initiatives focused on improving services and service delivery. This position reports directly to a Clinical Services Manager.
 
The Supervising Clinician oversees daily operations and directs a multidisciplinary team providing recovery-based behavioral health services, outreach and linkage for BHRS' crisis and outreach teams. Services provided include: supervising mobile clinicians who are working in tandem with city law enforcement at behavioral health crises and/or with homeless outreach programs throughout the County, supervise the program specialist for the Crisis and Outreach Team, and conduct trainings and presentations to law enforcement and the community.
 
The teams include psychiatrists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, law enforcement officers and community workers who are consumers or family members. The clinical teams may also work with clinical interns.  
 
The ideal candidate will possess:

• Knowledge of system of care principles.
• Knowledge of program management techniques and practices.
• Knowledge of crisis de-escalation, crisis evaluation, 5150-hold application, and community crisis response.
• Knowledge of crisis continuum of care.
• Strong supervisory/leadership skills, which demonstrate an ability to direct and motivate a multi-disciplinary team some of whom will be mobile and in disparate parts of the County.
• The ability to establish and maintain productive working relationships with consumers, families, professionals, law enforcement, Psychiatric Emergency Services, SMART Medics and the public; including close collaboration with and engagement of community partners to plan for, implement and coordinate needed services.
• Ability to make sound decisions based on the exercise of judgment and the consideration of all available information often with very little time during active crises.
• Demonstrated expertise and skill in clinical work with adults and youth with serious mental illnesses who may also have had contact with law enforcement and psychiatric emergency services.
• Knowledge of evidence based clinical practice modalities, e.g. motivational interviewing, solution focused brief treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy, wellness and recovery principles, and trauma informed care, for examples.
• Knowledge of Medi-Cal and Medicare regulations and managed mental health care.
• Strong knowledge of Avatar, Soarian and other tools used by BHRS for information and charting.
• Strong clinical assessment, diagnostic and evaluation skills.
• Experience working with clients of diverse cultures and backgrounds.
• Inpatient and outpatient clinical experience.
• Experience working with clients on the streets and in shelters.
• Collaborative experience or knowledge of the Criminal Justice system.

Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Consult with clinicians in the field to determine a course of action during active crises that may involve law enforcement.
• Tracking of data for established and pilot programs and report these statistics out to leadership.
• Facilitate regular meetings with clinicians and all other systems partners that Crisis and Outreach Team collaborates with.
• Ongoing clinical training for field clinicians and law enforcement including the Quarterly Crisis Intervention trainings.
• Respond to active crisis scenes when required.
• Respond to and support requests involving the deployment of BHRS Crisis Response Team.
• Day to day oversight of the programs under the Crisis and Outreach umbrella.
• All other duties or projects as assigned.

Licensure/Certification:  
Possession of a valid California license in at least one of the following:  Registered Nurse; Clinical Psychology; Clinical Social Worker; or Marriage, Family and Child Counseling.

Education and Experience: 
Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to qualify is a Master's degree in a mental health specialty, such as social work, nursing, or clinical counseling and two years of professional post-graduate experience in a mental health setting.

Knowledge of: 
Basic program management techniques and practices; principles and practices of supervision and training; human and health services system in the County including private agencies and their community resources; current philosophy, principles and practices for services to clients with serious mental illness; legal and policy aspects of community mental health methods; techniques of family, individual and group counseling and diagnosis; individual, group and family psychodynamics; current principles and practices of psychiatric casework; mental health consultation and education; and problems, needs, attitudes and behavior patterns of patients/clients.

Skill/Ability to: 
Supervise, train and evaluate multi-disciplinary staff; work collaboratively with other senior professionals in planning and developing programs in San Mateo County; prepare and deliver written and oral reports; plan, implement and evaluate all operations of assigned area; oversee/provide treatment to adults; establish and maintain positive working relationships with consumers, family advocates and stakeholders.

Open and Promotional. Anyone may apply. Current County of San Mateo and County of San Mateo Superior Court of California employees with at least six months (1040 hours) of continuous service in a classified regular, probationary, Confidential and Management extra-help/limited term, and SEIU or AFSCME represented extra help/limited term positions prior to the final filing date will receive five points added to their final passing score on this examination. 
 
Responses to the supplemental questions must be submitted in addition to our regular employment application form. A resume will not be accepted as a substitute for the required employment application and/or supplemental questionnaire.
 
The examination process will consist of an application screening (weight: pass/fail) based on the candidates' application and responses to the supplemental questions. Candidates who pass the application screening will be invited to a panel interview (weight: 100%). Depending on the number of applicants an application appraisal of education and experience may be used in place of other examinations or further evaluation of work experience may be conducted to group applicants by level of qualification. All applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement through any subsequent phase of the examination. All examinations will be given in the County of San Mateo, California and applicants must participate at their own expense.
 
IMPORTANT: Applications for this position will only be accepted online. If you are currently on the County's website, you may click the "Apply" button. If you are not on the County's website, please go to https://jobs.smcgov.org/ to apply. Online applications must be received by the Human Resources Department before midnight on the final filing date.
 
RECRUITMENT SCHEDULE
Apply immediately. This is a continuous recruitment and is open until filled. Selections may be made at any time within the process.