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UHS
Panama City, Florida

Assessment Specialist - Therapist - PRN

Counselor / TherapistPer Diem

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting

Schedule not stated in this posting — no days, weekends, call or nights given.

Ask the employer about the pay range, call expectations, weekend coverage and time off.

Posted 28m ago · Verified live

Job Description

Responsibilities

Assessment Specialist - Therapist - PRN

This opportunity is per-diem therapist to work in Assessment & Referral Dept.

Emerald Coast Behavioral Hospital provides inpatient treatment services to children, adolescents and adults at our 86-bed facility in Panama City, FL and outpatient services to adolescents and adults at our three outpatient centers located throughout the Florida Panhandle. Additionally, we offer specialized treatment for active duty military members through our Military Resiliency Program, specialized chemical dependency treatment and TMS therapy for chronic depression.

Visit us online at: emeraldcoastbehavioral.com

The Assessment Specialist performs triage, psychosocial screening and evaluations of all patients, voluntary and involuntary, who present to the facility with a primary psychiatric, behavioral, or substance abuse complaint.

Provides accurate evaluation of medical necessity, offering alternative levels of care when feasible. Initiates a collection and assessment of information for payers; completes pre-certification and continued stay authorization. Works with and serves as back-up to utilization review.

Job Duties/Responsibilities

Conduct telephone triage activities. Receive telephone inquiry and crisis calls and determines appropriate disposition for emergency services, clinical crisis assessment, and referral to community resources and/or agencies.

Perform clinical crisis assessments on patients experiencing diverse mental health and/or substance abuse issues/disorders.

During assessment process, initiate crisis interventions to stabilize patient and/or family situation (i. e. safety contracts, brief behavioral contracts). Consult Nurse Supervisor when significant medical issues are identified.

Assist in collection of updated insurance and financial information. Verify insurance coverage and benefits. Utilize computer system to collect and enter core data elements such as authorization information.

Benefit Highlights

Challenging and rewarding work environment

Competitive Compensation

Career development opportunities within UHS and its 300+ Subsidiaries!

One of the nation’s largest and most respected providers of hospital and healthcare services, Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) has built an impressive record of achievement and performance.

During the year, UHS was again recognized as one of the World’s Most Admired Companies by Fortune; and listed in Forbes ranking of America’s Largest Public Companies.

Operating acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities, outpatient facilities and ambulatory care access points, an insurance offering, a physician network and various related services located all over the U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. uhs.com

Qualifications

  • Master's Degree in Social Work, Psychology, Counseling or other Human Service field required.
  • Behavioral Health experience preferred.
  • Ability to work in a fast paced Admissions Department
  • Ability to work 12 hour shifts

EEO Statement

All UHS subsidiaries are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates. UHS subsidiaries are equal opportunity employers and as such, openly support and fully commit to recruitment, selection, placement, promotion and compensation of individuals without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), genetic information, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

We believe that diversity and inclusion among our teammates is critical to our success.

Avoid and Report Recruitment Scams

At UHS and all our subsidiaries, our Human Resources departments and recruiters are here to help prospective candidates by matching skill set and experience with the best possible career path at UHS and our subsidiaries.

During the recruitment process, no recruiter or employee will request financial or personal information (e. g., Social Security Number, credit card or bank information, etc.) from you via email. Our recruiters will not email you from a public webmail client like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc.

If you suspect a fraudulent job posting or job-related email mentioning UHS or its subsidiaries, we encourage you to report such concerns to appropriate law enforcement. We encourage you to refer to legitimate UHS and UHS subsidiary career websites to verify job opportunities and not rely on unsolicited calls from recruiters

Qualifications

Education
Master's degree (postgraduate degree)

Key Skills

Crisis interventionInsurance verificationSubstance abuse counselingMedical necessity evaluationReferral coordination

Counselor Career Context

Of the 50 active Mental Health Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 46% are remote, 24% have no call, 80% require no weekends.

Mental Health Therapy pay on WeekdayDoc is up 2.0% vs. the prior quarter (through Sep 2026).

Mental Health Therapy by the numbers
MeasureThis jobMarket
Listed paynot listedMental Health Therapy median $68k (middle half $58k–$80k)13 comparable listings, Oct 2026
Cost of livingFlorida index 103.4US average = 100BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)
Mental Health Therapy listings in Florida346 active7,890 nationallylive on WeekdayDoc, Oct 2026
Work settingon-sitepeers: 46% remote · 24% no call · 80% no weekends50 benchmarked listings
Sign-on & loan repaymentnot statedFlorida Counselor listings: 6% state a sign-on bonus (median $4k) · 11% offer loan repayment626 active listings, Oct 2026
Mental Health Therapy pay trend+2.0% vs prior quarter—through Sep 2026
Sources: WeekdayDoc live listing index, BEA Regional Price Parities (2024); as of Oct 2026. Same values as the Weekday Verdict and Market Insights on this page.

Location & Logistics

Florida has no state income tax, which can significantly increase take-home pay compared to high-tax states.

Top contract/1099 Counselor Jobs

47 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution

38 jobs
15
<$65k
8
$65k-85k
5
$85k-105k
6
$105k-125k
4
$125k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks

30 jobs
401k / retirement match
87%
CME allowance
27%
Sign-on bonus
17%
Loan repayment
17%
PSLF eligible
7%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

#1

Remote Licensed Professional TherapistContract

Adjuvant Behavior Health · Charleston, West Virginia

$60-$62/hr
#2

Behavioral Health Clinician - (LPC/LCSW) - Full Time - Days - Shift Varies - M-F - Atlantic Health Overlook Medical Center, NJ

Atlantic Health System · Summit, New Jersey

$34.82-$61.26/hr
#3

Licensed Clinical Mental Health Therapist - LICSW/LPCC/LMFT

$74k-$126k
#4

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT, LPC, LCSW)

$92k-$125k
+ 45 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 6.0this job 1.5
Below most Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listings for work-life

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 7,907 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

  • On-site
UHS logo

About UHS

Hospitals and Health Care
Aiken, South Carolina
501-1,000 employees

Benefits & Perks

Competitive compensation
Career development opportunities

Living in Panama City

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$271k
Typical market rent
$1,655/mo
State income tax
None
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Sep 2026), Zillow market rents (Sep 2026).

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.