Mental Health Clinician

Position Title: Crisis Services Clinician

Reports to: Director of Clinical Services

Location: Seattle, WA, In-person role

Payrate: $36.16/hr, and $4/hr shift differential for graveyard shift

Union Representation: Represented by OPEIU

Schedule: Day Shift and After-hours.

Crisis Connections provides a variety of telephone-based support services that are free and easily accessible to anyone in our community experiencing crisis. Our service area includes King County and WA State. Our passion is to foster resilience and wellbeing for all by connecting people to accessible and compassionate support.

As a Crisis Services Clinician, you will be a qualified Mental Health Professional with comprehensive training in four essential crisis services clinical functions:
Crisis Services Coordinator, Hospital Authorizer, One-Call Triage Clinician, and Mental Health Triage Clinician. Your primary responsibility will entail overseeing all activities within the phone room, working collaboratively with fellow clinical staff and paraprofessionals during each shift.

• Supervise Phone Workers directly and provide general oversight and direction to other staff in the phone room during scheduled shifts.
• Monitor and coach Phone Workers closely, assign and review tasks of Crisis Intervention Specialists (CIS), and offer consultation and direction to other clinical staff engaged in crisis room work.
• Provide leadership on the floor and determine when consultation from supervisors and upper managers is necessary during shifts.
• Monitor call queues to assign phone interventions promptly to support appropriate clinical service and meet contractual metrics.
• Supports the CIS with ongoing and immediate feedback as well as gives input to CIS supervisor for formal evaluation.
• Conducts formal evaluations of Phone Workers in a timely manner and provides ongoing feedback to Volunteer Services Manager regarding Phone Worker performances including discipline and commendation.
• Assist phone workers in identifying clients of agencies for which after-hours telephone support is provided or who are frequent callers of the crisis line.
• Ensure accurate and complete documentation of all calls in the Quality Assurance (QA) process.

• Conduct assessments on calls to the King County Crisis and Commitment public line, evaluating the risk of harm and implementing optimal clinical intervention practices.
• Provide compassionate emotional support to callers while remaining vigilant regarding crisis and suicide intervention strategies.
• Utilize the King County Client Lookup System (CLS) to identify callers who may be affiliated with a community mental health center.
• Complete Sheena's law referrals from Law enforcement by conducting telephonic outreach to the person of concern or facilitating crisis services such as the mobile crisis team or Children Crisis Outreach Response System Referral. Notify the Public Mental Health Agency the person of concern is enrolled with, documenting the interaction in the Sheena's law Log.

• Answers the Hospital Authorization Line, screening referrals for medical necessity eligibility using Adult and Child Level of Care Utilization Screening Systems (LOCUS and CALOCUS).
• Ensures accurate and thorough completion and maintenance of all necessary paper documentation and electronic data entry, adhering strictly to established policies and procedures for information gathering, consulting with psychiatrists, and documenting client acceptance or denial of inpatient level of care.
• Offers assistance to the Crisis Services Coordinator during peak periods and/or upon request, which may involve providing guidance to phone workers with sound clinical judgment while they are on a case.

• Answer calls from first responders 24/7, ensuring timely responses to urgent situations.
• Gather essential information from first responders regarding the individual in crisis.
• Utilize ECLS/EDIE and other electronic systems to identify available supports or resources for the client.
• Offer diversion or less restrictive options to first responders in real-time.
• Track disposition and ongoing progress of referrals, ensuring a closed-loop referral process for accountability and follow-up.

• Provides professional consultation to callers on the business line regarding access to the mental health system, crisis intervention, suicide intervention, and other mental health topics as needed.
• Completes Electronic Client Lookup System (ECLS) search inquiries, disclosing information only to callers with the right to access ECLS information according to policy guidelines, and documents each ECLS search.
• Utilizes Electronic Health Record System, Carelogic, and County communication systems such as Open Beds and ECLS Phone Message Log effectively for coordination with DCRs and Mobile Teams.
• Ensures completion of…