Psychiatric Crisis Assessment and Support Team Clinician; Student Services Professional Academi

Overview

Psychiatric Crisis Assessment and Support Team Clinician (Student Services Professional Academic Related I). The Psychiatry Crisis Assessment and Support Team (PCAST) Clinician plays a critical role in promoting campus safety, care, and well-being by providing timely mental health support before, during, and after psychiatric crises. Working through a collaborative partnership between Counseling & Psychological Services (C&PS) and the University Police Department (UPD), this position delivers crisis assessment, intervention, consultation, and prevention education to a diverse campus community.

The position serves as a trusted clinical presence during high-impact situations, builds strong relationships with vulnerable and historically underserved populations, and strengthens pathways to care through campus and community partnerships. This is a unique and impactful opportunity for a clinician who thrives in dynamic environments and is committed to trauma-informed, equity-centered crisis response.

• Provide crisis assessment, intervention, suicide prevention, and trauma-informed mental health support to students experiencing acute distress.
• Collaborate with UPD, C&PS, and campus partners during critical incidents, including on-scene response, debriefing, and follow-up care.
• Deliver consultation, training, and prevention education to students, faculty, staff, parents, and campus groups.
• Engage in outreach and relationship-building with diverse and vulnerable populations to promote trust, safety, and access to care.
• Develop and maintain referral pathways and collaborative relationships with on-campus and off-campus mental health and support services.

• Make a direct and meaningful impact on student safety, mental health, and crisis response.
• Work in a highly collaborative model that bridges mental health care and public safety.
• Apply trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices in real-world, high-impact situations.
• Engage in varied clinical, outreach, and educational work that supports the entire campus community.
• Join a mission-driven institution committed to student well-being, equity, and compassionate care.

• This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, temporary position with an anticipated end date of June 30, 2027, with the possibility of reappointment.
• This position is designated exempt under FLSA and is not eligible for overtime compensation.
• The individual hired into this role will work on campus at SDSU in San Diego.

The mission of SDSU Counseling & Psychological Services (C&PS) is to support and enhance the education of the whole person. Through innovative programming and culturally-informed psychological services, we help students realize their full academic and personal potential. We strive to cultivate partnerships and build community in order to foster a healthy and productive learning-centered campus.

The University Police Department (UPD) is committed to promoting a safe environment for all who come to the San Diego State University campuses, properties, and events in a manner that is fair, transparent, and respectful.

Together UPD and C&PS developed the Psychiatric Crisis Assessment and Support Team (PCAST) to serve the needs of campus community members experiencing mental health crises via a mobile crisis unit co-responder model. PCAST utilizes a strengths-based, holistic approach that is culturally centered and trauma-informed, to provide preventative and emergency psychiatric crisis response services to campus community members experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

As a co-responder model, PCAST mental health clinicians respond secondary to police after safety has been established with a primary goal to decrease police-initiated mental health hospitalizations by providing quality mobile crisis services to the campus community.

• Terminal degree in psychology-related area.
• Demonstrable experience and clinical effectiveness with multicultural counseling approaches with ethnically and culturally diverse clients and communities.
• Experience with case management, brief interventions, and crisis management.
• Significant knowledge of and experience making discerning judgments regarding complex ethical and legal issues is required.
• Specialized experience during which the applicant has acquired and successfully applied the knowledge and abilities shown above may be substituted for the education on a year-for-year basis.

• Basic understanding of law enforcement roles, responsibilities, and paramilitary environments and culture, with the ability to work effectively within those contexts.
• Experience providing counseling or clinical support to young adults in a college counseling center or to transitional-aged youth (TAY) populations in comparable settings.
• Demonstrated clinical effectiveness using motivational counseling approaches to engage students, identify barriers to care, and support access to on- and…