Mental Health Counselor

The Broderick Street Adult Residential Facility (BSARF) is an innovative partnership program between RAMS, a non-profit community-based organization, and SF Department of Public Health, Community Behavioral Health Services and Housing & Urban Health sections, to operate a 33-bed residential facility for consumers who suffer from both mental illness, as well as chronic medical illness.

This is a unique opportunity to work in a milieu community setting with a complex client population, many of whom have experienced long-term institutional or locked placement and/or difficult placement histories.

Treatment, language-capacity, food, activities, and bilingual/bicultural services are tailored to fit the diverse & various needs of the residents.

Essential Job Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provide clinically & culturally competent outpatient mental health services on-site to adult residents in the forms of individual or group counseling/psychotherapy, clinical evaluation, rehabilitation services, case management and collateral services.
• Participate in milieu support & cross coverage with other program staff, and facilitate various client-resident activities to further support engagement, including educational & training workshops related to mental health and/or substance use issues and psycho-educational topics.
• Assist in conducting intakes & initial screening assessments for referred clients.
• Liaison with community treatment providers to coordinate client care.
• Coordinate with client and attending physician regarding treatment planning (including developing and implementing treatment plans and goals), assessing progress, and disposition.
• Develop and maintain administrative and treatment records related to client care, in accordance to standards specified by agency's policies, clinical standards, and funding source (California State Licensing, SF City & County, Medi-Cal, Medicare).
• Provide outreach & education on mental health services and issues to clients, families of consumers, community members, other professionals, schools, and community settings as deemed necessary.
• Participate in case conferences, treatment team & staff meetings, in-service training and other staff development activities.
• Preform crisis intervention and assessment.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Minimum Required Qualifications

• Masters in Psychology, Counseling, Social Work, or other related disciplines, REQUIRED. Valid clinical licensure in California (i. e., MFT, LCSW) or registered (i. e., MFTi, ASW) with the Board of Behavioral Sciences, preferred but not required
• At least two to three years of experience in the mental health field working in a community mental health setting. Residential experience a plus.

Other Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with community behavioral health systems of care in San Francisco, including the philosophy of care, levels of care for clinical services, and the delivery of such services, highly preferred.
• Familiarity with various treatment modalities, strategies, and approaches to recovery in working with dually diagnosed clients (i. e., mental health and substance abuse/dependence).
• Combination of education and clinical experience related to substance abuse/dependency treatment issues and working knowledge of mental health and substance abuse counseling, assessment and crisis intervention skills.
• Familiarity with the San Francisco community resources/services (may include health, mental health, substance abuse, vocational, housing, etc), highly preferred. Strong commitment to the philosophy, goals, & mission of RAMS in providing community-based, culturally competent, and consumer-guided mental health services to the community.
• Commitment to engaging in professional development activities such as trainings, continuing education seminars, case conferences, and reviewing up-to-date material, etc., as related to treatment strategies for the population of Broderick St Adult Residential Facility.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively, function independently, and interact professionally with a diverse, multi-cultural, and interdisciplinary staff of all levels.