Associate Clinical Therapist

Overview

About Interfaith Community Services:
As North County's largest social services agency, Interfaith Community Services has been "helping people help themselves" since 1979. The organization provides a wide range of programs to empower hungry, homeless, and low-income community members to begin a pathway towards self-sufficiency. Each year, Interfaith Community Services impacts more than 20,000 community members by providing basic needs and nutrition support, social services, shelters and housing, employment development, senior services, veterans programs and addiction recovery support.

Together, in partnership with 250+ diverse faith communities, more than 1,700 recurrent volunteers, and a growing staff of over 275, Interfaith provides a safe-haven and pathway towards self-sufficiency for more than 20,000 community members annually. If you’re passionate about making a difference and thrive in a service-driven environment, we invite you to be part of our mission!

In the Associate Clinical Therapist role, you’ll provide comprehensive behavioral health services within a residential setting to individuals experiencing homelessness who have serious and complex behavioral health, physical health, and social service needs. This role supports clients in achieving and maintaining mental health stability through individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, assessment, advocacy, discharge planning, and collaboration with interdisciplinary teams and community partners.

The Associate Clinical Therapist focuses on improving overall functioning, enhancing quality of life, and promoting long-term stability to reduce the risk of return to homelessness by developing and implementing individualized behavioral health support plans for an assigned caseload. All services are delivered in accordance with Interfaith Community Services policies, ethical standards, and Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) regulations.

• Conduct initial behavioral health intake assessments for all individuals upon enrollment into the program
• Complete a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment and develop a detailed behavioral health treatment plan for each individual
• Provide individual therapy, group, and milieu psychosocial behavioral health services and activities for clients within scope of practice
• Provide short term crisis intervention, risk assessment and counseling for clients with Serious Mental Illness (SMI)
• Provide on-site clinical assessment and intervention during mental health crises, utilizing de-escalation and crisis stabilization techniques to ensure client and staff safety
• Utilize motivational interviewing techniques to understand, assess, and shift individual’s stage of change
• Ensure that clients with ongoing treatment needs are successfully connected with appropriate community-based behavioral health programs
• Facilitate acceptance of placement or other services that support and stabilize individuals moving from street to services
• Engage and develop trusting relationships with individuals, family and other identified support systems
• Support, develop, implement and regularly collaborate in care management and housing support plans which support individuals’ needs in the areas of physical health, mental health, substance use disorders, community-based services support, social supports, and social determinants of health
• Support treatment team meetings for clinical and/or paraprofessional staff to ensure compliance, best practices and offer clinical guidance to staff working with challenging clients
• Assist clients with discharge planning and conduct care coordination, working closely with various providers in the region or system to facilitate access to services
• Consult and coordinate with family and/or support systems regarding client care and discharge planning
• Provide comprehensive clinical case management services to individuals who have serious behavioral health conditions, including substance use disorder and experiencing homelessness utilizing trauma informed and harm reduction principles and practices as needed
• Engage in frequent client contact through scheduled or…