Job Description:

Mental Health Consultant - Acute Care Coordinator

We seek leaders, achievers and doers who bring skill and passion to a challenging and evolving environment.  At the Multnomah County Health Department, we are all inspired by the mission. We work with communities to advance health equity, protect the most vulnerable, prompt health and wellness for everyone and we uphold the values: Compassion and Care, Empowerment, Racial Equity, Creativity and Integrity. We create a culture of respect, trust and understanding for the highly diverse population we serve in our communities. 

We’re seeking social workers and mental health professionals to join our team as a Mental Health Consultant - Acute Care Coordinator. 

The Multnomah County Behavioral Health Call Center is a 24-hour, continuous crisis operation that constitutes the hub of mental health services for all residents of Multnomah County and Washington County. The vast majority of services are provided via telephone with approximately 75,000 calls received per year. 

All ACCs answer and triage multiple distinct telephone lines that ring into the Call Center, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year including:

1) Multnomah County Crisis Line

2)  911 transfers

3)  EASA Referral Line

4)  Emergency Line (major event communication, e.g. terrorist attack, major earthquake, etc.)

5)  Washington County Crisis Line

6) Answer the Mental Health Referral Line, The CATC/Respite referral line, and the 988 transfer line.

The eligible list created from this recruitment may be used to fill future regular, limited duration, temporary, on-call, full or part-time assignments within the department.

As the Mental Health Consultant - Acute Care Coordinator, duties include:

Crisis Intervention 

• Crisis intervention including risk assessment of clients who may be involved in potentially life threatening situations. 
• Facilitate access to emergency and crisis services for clients as needed, including coordination with 911, mobile outreach, and UWIC/Hawthorn. 
• These functions require the extensive use of computer and phone technology, managing multiple computer screens and programs simultaneously, making rapid clinical decisions, adhering to complex policies and procedures, and concurrent documentation, while attending to a caller on the phone. Touch-typing without looking at one’s fingers is also required.

Advocacy Services and Triage 

• Provide a full spectrum of MMH services to members. 
• Provide advocacy services for members with contracted providers, as needed. 
• Triage and refer to MMH specialists for determination of specialty mental health services not able to be provided by members of MMH’s provider panel, upon request by member/provider, to ensure that client needs are appropriately and adequately addressed.

After-hours Coverage 

• Serve as after-hours coverage for MMH UR (Utilization Review) and for HSO/Washington County Mental Health to ensure that client needs are appropriately and adequately addressed by acute care providers, including: determination of appropriateness of type and amount of services to be provided; authorization, deferral or denial of inpatient treatment authorization requests; documentation of clinical rationale; authorization or deferral for Washington County Mental Health requests for Inpatient, respite, intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization.
• Provide short-term case coordination and follow up for callers with urgent and/or complex needs, including those with specialized health-care needs to ensure that needs are appropriately and adequately addressed by service providers.

TO QUALIFY:

We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying unless an item or section is labeled required. Please be clear and specific about how your background is relevant. For details about how we typically screen applications, review our overview of the selection process page.

 

Required Minimum Qualifications:

 

Education/Certification: Must meet the standards of Qualified Mental Health Professional - (QMHP - R) with the Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO) - more information can be found at MHACBO website, current QMHP - C, and/or licensed Board of Oregon (LPC, LCSW, PHD, etc.)

• Graduate degree in psychology or
• Graduate degree in social work or counseling or
• Graduate degree in a behavioral science field
   

Other:  

• This position requires a Background Investigation, which may include being fingerprinted. 

*Transferable skills: Your transferable skills are any skills you have gained through education, work experience (including the military) or life experiences that are relevant for this position. Be sure to describe any transferable skills on your application and clearly explain how they apply to this position.

Preferred Qualifications/Transferable Skills: 

• Respect and appreciation for ethnic and cultural diversity.
• Ability to apply an equity, intersectional and anti-racist lens. 
• Understands cultural, racial and ethnic factors, including systemic advantage or disadvantage; acculturation, intergenerational immigrant family challenges, effects of trauma during immigration, war, separation from family and/or primary supports, detention, refugee camps, etc.; generational trauma, and any factors related to non-dominant culture affecting mental health and treatment. 
• Ability to provide information/referrals to community mental health providers.
• Crisis intervention, including risk assessment of clients who may be involved in potentially life threatening situations.
• Advanced skills in managing sensitive information and ability to support the community.
• Knowledge of cultures, customs and social experiences of communities experiencing marginalization and barriers to opportunity.
• Ability to exercise good judgment, diplomacy, and tact in dealing with sensitive, complex, confidential information and situations, in addition to acting professionally, and empathically, with individuals, internal/external partners and communities. 

 

SCREENING & EVALUATION:

REQUIRED: 

The Application Packet: You must submit all requested items below. Failure to do so will be deemed as an incomplete application.

1. Attach a Resume demonstrating you meeting minimum qualifications; AND

2. Attach a Cover Letter addressing the following: 

• Demonstrate your experience working with diverse vulnerable populations; and
• How you meet the qualifications for this position; and 
• Why you are interested in the position; 
• Which shift(s) you are interested in; AND

3. Attach a copy of your Oregon Licensure and/or QMHP Certification (if applicable)

Note: Please be mindful of checking your email inbox for messages upon submitting your application. You may be emailed requesting for additional items from the Recruiter or hiring manager. If a response is not received in a timely manner your application may not be considered. 

 

The Selection Process: For details about how we typically screen applications, review our overview of the selection process page. We expect to evaluate candidates for this recruitment as follows:

 

• Initial review of application/ resume and cover letter for minimum qualifications and all required attachments. If you do not address the minimum qualifications in the application, your application will be considered incomplete and will not move forward in the recruitment process.
• Phone screen
• Supplemental Questionnaire
• Oral exam
• Consideration of top candidates
• Background, reference, and education checks

 

 

Benefits:

As a newly hired Mental Health Consultant - Acute Care Coordinator, you will receive a one-time New Hire Recruitment and Retention Incentive payment of $1,500 on your first paycheck. The incentive will be prorated based on the position's FTE (full time equivalent) status and is applicable to regular positions only; on-call and limited duration positions are not eligible.

This hourly union-represented position is eligible for overtime.

Multnomah County offers an exceptional benefits package, including employer-funded retirement savings; health and dental insurance at very low cost to full-time employees and their dependents; paid parental leave; wellness programs; a focus on work-life balance; and much more. Find more details on our benefits website. 

**This recruitment will be used to fill multiple positions, including regular, limited duration, graveyard and on-call shifts.  Please indicate in your cover letter which shift(s) you are interested in.

 

Currently available shifts:

• Position #746300 (In-person, at Bureau of Emergency Communications): Monday-Friday 10:00am-6:30pm
• Position #709239 (Graveyard shift with $1.25/hr premium): Wednesday-Friday and alternating Saturdays 7:30pm-6:00am
• Position #739565: On-call
• Position #719839: On-call
• Position #746365: On-call

Required Qualifications and Experience:

We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying unless an item or section is labeled required. Please be clear and specific about how your background is relevant. For details about how we typically screen applications, review our overview of the selection process page.

Required Minimum Qualifications:

 

Education/Certification: Must meet the standards of Qualified Mental Health Professional - (QMHP - R) with the Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO) - more information can be found at MHACBO website, current QMHP - C, and/or licensed Board of Oregon (LPC, LCSW, PHD, etc.)

• Graduate degree in psychology or
• Graduate degree in social work or counseling or
• Graduate degree in a behavioral science field
   

Other:  

• This position requires a Background Investigation, which may include being fingerprinted. 

 

*Transferable skills: Your transferable skills are any skills you have gained through education, work experience (including the military) or life experiences that are relevant for this position. Be sure to describe any transferable skills on your application and clearly explain how they apply to this position.

 

Preferred Qualifications/Transferable Skills: 

• Respect and appreciation for ethnic and cultural diversity.
• Ability to apply an equity, intersectional and anti-racist lens. 
• Understands cultural, racial and ethnic factors, including systemic advantage or disadvantage; acculturation, intergenerational immigrant family challenges, effects of trauma during immigration, war, separation from family and/or primary supports, detention, refugee camps, etc.; generational trauma, and any factors related to non-dominant culture affecting mental health and treatment. 
• Ability to provide information/referrals to community mental health providers.
• Crisis intervention, including risk assessment of clients who may be involved in potentially life threatening situations.
• Advanced skills in managing sensitive information and ability to support the community.
• Knowledge of cultures, customs and social experiences of communities experiencing marginalization and barriers to opportunity.
• Ability to exercise good judgment, diplomacy, and tact in dealing with sensitive, complex, confidential information and situations, in addition to acting professionally, and empathically, with individuals, internal/external partners and communities. 

 

SCREENING & EVALUATION:

 

REQUIRED: 

 

The Application Packet: You must submit all requested items below. Failure to do so will be deemed as an incomplete application.

 

1. Attach a Resume demonstrating you meeting minimum qualifications; AND

2. Attach a Cover Letter addressing the following: 

• Demonstrate your experience working with diverse vulnerable populations; and
• How you meet the qualifications for this position; and 
• Why you are interested in the position; 
• Which shift(s) you are interested in; AND

3.Attach a copy of your Oregon Licensure and/or QMHP Certification (if applicable)

 

Note: Please be mindful of checking your email inbox for messages upon submitting your application. You may be emailed requesting for additional items from the Recruiter or hiring manager. If a response is not received in a timely manner your application may not be considered. 

Application email:	[email protected]
Application website:	View Website