Behavioral Health Crisis Clinician (Full-Time Remote, North Carolina Based)

The Behavioral Health Clinician is primarily responsible for conducting telephonic screening, triage and referral functions for individuals seeking services.  The Clinician ensures that individuals calling with service needs are safely linked in a timely fashion with available services and/or community resources.  The Clinician may also provide crisis service authorizations for both state and Medicaid funded emergency type services.

This position will be equipped with all supplies and technologies to be able to work from home. The candidate should have a private/personal designated workspace. Candidate must reside in North Carolina and is required to attend an initial 8 to 10- week virtual training period, Monday-Friday, between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Transition to permanent schedule to follow a successful training period. Some holiday hours are required.

Responsibilities & Duties

Conduct Initial Screenings, Assessments, and Reviews, and make referrals

• Receive escalated calls from specialists who identified callers during initial screening that have urgent or emergent needs.  Callers may be actively psychotic, actively suicidal, actively homicidal, intoxicated, in active withdrawal and/or experiencing a medical emergency
• Make clinical triage decisions based on often limited information obtained during telephonic screening
• Ensure individuals receive a comprehensive screening and appropriate referral that matches level of service needed
• Maintain safety of all callers, which may include contacting and mobilizing community first responders, (EMS, CIT officers, police, mobile crisis teams)
• Engage Decision to Warn when working with callers with active homicidal ideation, according to policy
• Report to Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services, when warranted
• Identify high risk/special health care needs populations and refer to Care Coordination
• Review caller history, when available, in the client management system to help determine most appropriate referral options
• Use electronic scheduling system to schedule and secure assessment appointments with contracted providers based on consumer’s choice of service providers – considering consumer’s needs, location, and other provider characteristics
• Complete specialized screening documentation for all service-related calls; document all incoming call activity in MCO tracking system
• Simultaneously operate and navigate a multi-function phone system with multiple software programs while managing caller needs; serially operate and navigate multiple software programs in course of all duties
• Engage in follow-up activities to ensure consumers were seen for scheduled assessments and crisis follow-up appointments
• Route incoming calls to appropriate MCO departments when inquiries cannot be adequately addressed at the Call Center level
• Work independently to prioritize tasks and maintain idle status in call queue during high call volume and/or low staffing periods
• Simultaneous to other tasks, monitor incoming fax system and overflow vendor reports to ensure written referrals receive appropriate attention within expected time frames

Provide Support, Consultation, & Leadership

• Interact with community emergency services orally while receiving information orally and in writing via IM
• Engage interpreter services when needed and adjust communication accordingly
• Provide oversight and clinical review of calls managed by overflow vendor.
• Assist callers with addressing obstacles to accessing care and identify available resources
• Provide consultation and support to non-licensed Call Center staff
• Thoroughly train incoming staff to job duties and provide additional training to staff throughout clinical operations in the functions of the call center

Compliance & Reporting

• Read, integrate, and adapt procedural tasks in a rapidly changing, paperless work environment
• Recognize and report quality concerns to supervisor and Provider Network Department
• Report patterns of atypical call and service-seeking patterns to supervisor

Minimum Requirements

Education & Experience

Master’s degree in Human Services field and minimum of three (3) years post degree experience in a community, business or governmental program that delivers mental health support services (e.g., adults with mental illness, children with severe emotional disturbance, and persons with developmental disabilities, adults, and children with substance abuse disorders).

Special Requirement

Current, active, and unrestricted behavioral health license issued by a North Carolina Professional Board, (LCSW, LCMHC, LCAS, LPA, LM