Addiction Specialist (Behavioral Health Services)

Overview

This member of the Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) multidisciplinary team is responsible for providing a range of treatment, rehabilitation, and support services; and sharing shift management responsibility with other staff. The PACT Addictions Specialist functions as the team’s substance abuse specialist; leads design of intervention strategies & relapse prevention plans; works with persons served on sobriety issues, using motivational interviewing techniques and stages of change model, under the supervision of the Team Leader.

Responsibilities

The essential job duties/responsibilities of the position include but are not limited to the information listed below:• Provide case management for an assigned group of persons served, including coordinating and monitoring the activities of the individual treatment team (ITT); assume primary responsibility for developing, writing, implementing, evaluating, and revising overall Individual Action Planning (IAP) goals and plans in conjunction with the ITT, providing individual supportive therapy and symptom management, ensuring immediate changes are made in the treatment plans as persons served needs change, educating and supporting persons served families, and advocating for persons served rights and preferences.• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of psychiatric history (e.g., onset, course and effect of illness, past treatment and responses, and risk behaviors), mental status, and diagnosis; physical health and dental health; use of drugs or alcohol; education and employment; social development and functioning activities of daily living (e.g., self-care, living situation, nutrition, money management); and family structure and relationships.• Consult with community agencies and families to maintain coordination in the treatment process.• Perform shift management in coordination with other PACT shift managers according to established policies and procedures.• Provide on-call crisis intervention covering weekend and nighttime hours.• Document persons served progress to maintain a permanent record of persons served activity according to established methods and procedures.• Participate in daily staff organizational meetings and IAP review meetings.• Participate in treatment, rehabilitation, and support services.• Perform other related duties, as required. 

Psychiatric Treatment and Dual Diagnosis Substance Abuse Services• Provide ongoing assessment of persons served mental illness symptoms and persons served response to treatment. Make appropriate changes in IAPs to ensure immediate and appropriate interventions are provided in response to changes in mental status or behavior which put persons served at risk.• Provide symptom education to enable persons served to identify their mental illness symptoms.• Provide direct clinical services including individual support therapy and psychotherapy to persons served on an individual, group, and family basis in the office and in community settings; to teach behavioral symptom-management techniques to alleviate and manage symptoms not reduced with medication and to promote personal growth and development by assisting persons served to cope with internal external stresses.• Provide individual and group treatment in the office and in community settings in stage-based treatment model that is non-confrontational, considers interactions of mental illness and substance abuse and has person-determined goals.• Coordinate with outside inpatient services to detoxify person served and establish linkage to outpatient treatment, self-help programs, outpatient services, and residential facilities.• Take a lead role or participate in the provision of rehabilitation services.

Activities of Daily Living Services• Provide ongoing assessment, problem solving, side-by-side services, skill training, supervision, and environmental adaptations to assist persons served with activities of daily living.• Assist persons served to find and maintain a safe and affordable place to live.• Assist and support persons served to carry out personal hygiene and grooming tasks.• Provide nutrition education and assistance with meal planning, grocery shopping, and food preparation.• Assist and support persons served to perform household activities, including house cleaning and laundry.• Ensure that persons served have adequate financial support.• Teachmoney-managementskills.• Help persons served to access reliable transportation.• Assist and support persons served to have and effectively use a personal primary care physician, dentist, and other medical specialists as required.

Social and Interpersonal Relationships and Leisure Time• Provide individual supportive therapy, social skill development, and assertiveness training to increase persons served social and interpersonal activities in com