Addiction Specialist II - Clinical Services at Fort Logan

Posting number: IIC 04187 8/7/2026

Department: Colorado Department of Human Services

Division: OBH - CMHIFL

Job classification: Addiction Specialist II

Posting type: Open

Categories: Social Services, Human Services

Summary

The Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Fort Logan (CMHH-FL) is one of two state hospitals serving our community. The vision of CMHH-FL is to provide the highest quality mental health services to persons with complex, serious, and persistent mental illness within the resources available. Our mission is to support those individuals in achieving their recovery goals and reaching their full potential. CMHH-FL provides inpatient treatment to adult patients, generally between the ages of 18-59. The hospital currently has 160 adult inpatient beds, over seven treatment milieus serving civil and forensic individuals. Medical services, occupational therapy, neuropsychological-rehabilitation services, and trauma-informed care services are available for all patients throughout the hospital.
The Addiction Specialist position works in the 24-hour State psychiatric hospital with individuals voluntarily and involuntarily committed for treatment. Patients receiving treatment at CMHH-FL have severe and persistent mental illness and may have traumatic brain injury, trauma disorders, and other complex dynamics. Each treatment team is multidisciplinary, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, addiction specialists, occupational therapists, recreation therapists, creative arts therapists, nurses, physicians, and mental health clinicians. In addition, the hospital offers dietary, peer, and chaplain services.

Examples of duties

Please note: Work arrangements are subject to change at any time. 

The Addiction Specialist manages the full continuum of specialized substance use and co-occurring disorder services within an acute inpatient state psychiatric setting. This position is responsible for conducting initial substance screenings and comprehensive clinical assessments, delivering evidence-based individual and group therapeutic interventions, and formulating harm-reduction strategies tailored to civil and forensic patient populations.
The position actively integrates addiction treatment into multidisciplinary care by participating in Master Treatment Plan (MTP) reviews, updating Interdisciplinary Plans of Care (IPOC), and providing clinical consultation to the broader treatment team. Additionally, the Addiction Specialist coordinates community reintegration and discharge planning—linking patients to geographic-specific recovery resources and escorting eligible individuals to mutual aid meetings—while providing operational, milieu, and educational support across the hospital. Other duties include:

Group Facilitation & Harm Reduction Education:

• To foster addiction recovery and symptom management, the Addiction Specialist implements structured, evidence-based group interventions within both civil and forensic treatment units.
• Develops specialized curricula and runs weekly harm-reduction and educational groups throughout hospital units, modifying clinical materials to meet the needs of individuals with varying intellectual functioning, cognitive levels, and active psychiatric symptomatology. By incorporating trauma-informed frameworks and motivational interviewing, the role engages patients during group sessions to navigate conversations on substance use, coping mechanisms, and relapse prevention.
• Collaborates with community volunteers to incorporate external recovery networks, including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, into the hospital's therapeutic setting.

Individualized Clinical Care & Interdisciplinary Treatment Planning:

• Provides dedicated individual clinical care, serving as the subject matter expert on substance use disorders within the multidisciplinary treatment team. Responsibilities include maintaining a direct clinical caseload, offering targeted substance use psychoeducation, harm reduction counseling, and individualized therapy focused on patient-centered recovery.
• Formulates, updates, and reviews Interdisciplinary Plan of Care (IPOC) interventions, meets at least monthly with patients to evaluate progress and adjust treatment plans, and actively participates in treatment plan reviews. 
• Involves continuous collaboration with psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and nursing staff to coordinate care by providing clinical recommendations re