Job Description

To bridge gaps, address social determinants of health, decrease stigma of mental health and therapy, and expand behavioral health services through a new position and expand therapeutic services through group facilitation. Much of what is beneficial to our BH patients and families isn’t billable through psychotherapy services. Due to the demand for individual therapy, having a Patient Case Manager would provide a high-quality, specialized, non-billable service beneficial to our staff, patients, and their families.

Benefits of a Behavioral Health - Patient Case Manager position

A trained, bilingual (Spanish/ English) BH-PCM who provides trauma-informed care and integrated behavioral health for increased collaboration and support for our patients and their families.

Responsibilities

• Facilitating and managing patient referrals to internal and external therapy services and HUB psychiatry services through integrated behavioral health
• Referring adult patients to MyWellbrook Psychiatry and other services for increased collaboration and patient care through a thoughtful screening and triaging service.
• Maintaining in-house waitlist if appropriate.
• Ensuring HUB forms are completed and signed, Release of Information (ROIs) with MyWellbrook, and sending referrals
• Meeting with families to complete forms, ROI forms, necessary assessments, and questionnaires for referrals to psychiatric services
• Performing GAD and PhQ9 assessments prior to BH session, similar to MA responsibilities
• Conducting Warm Hand Offs (WHOs) with medical providers making internal and external referrals, and patients who have a positive depression screening
• Outreach with community mental health centers that provide higher levels of care and checking waitlists, providing education to the clinic on new programs
• Supporting families to connect with school services that are necessary for behavioral accommodation, such as counseling in school to help with peer dynamics, and helping parents advocate for students who are in need of IEP or 504 plans through DREDF training
• Creating connections with schools and the Board of Education in Newark to better understand the collaboration between the clinic’s medical and behavioral health services
• Assisting with necessary psychiatric hospitalizations, mental health clearances to return to school, and following up with families following a hospitalization or mental health crisis
• Supporting registrars with a patient who is in distress if a provider is or isn’t available for same day session to triage needs and provide crisis resources and empathic listening
• Actively participating in behavioral health and clinic meetings
• Assisting in coordinating and supporting behavioral health patient groups, including sending links and checking in with patients, and maintaining a database for patients who would be interested in groups or themes most needed
• Providing basic support to patients in connection with the patient portal and video telehealth visits
• Contacting community agencies and maintaining updated resource lists of BH resources in the community
• Encouraging appropriate consent and parental involvement for pediatric patients in behavioral health, such as de-stigmatizing therapy and mental health diagnoses, providing psychoeducation on mental health diagnoses, and encouraging parents to seek support for themselves
• Providing parents with ideas on communication and connection skills to better communicate and understand their child(ren)
• Providing patients and/or parents with community resources for food insecurity, housing insecurity, and consistently maintaining an accurate database of community resources available
• Connecting with community resources, treating pediatric patients aged 0-4 who require specialized services for pediatric patients and their families

Qualifications

• Strong organizational, administrative and problem-solving skills, and ability to be flexible and adaptive to change while maintaining a positive attitude.
• Ability to prioritize tasks, work under pressure and complete assignment in a timely manner.
• Ability to effectively present information to others, including other employees, community partners and vendors.
• Ability to seek direction/approval from on essential matters, yet work independently with little onsite supervision, using professional judgment and diplomacy.
• Work in a team-oriented environment with a number of professionals with different work styles and support needs.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written skills and ability to effectively work with people from diverse backgrounds and be culturally sensitive.
• Make appropriate use of knowledge/ expertise/connections of other staff.
• Be creative and mature with a “can do”, proactive attitude and an ability to continuously “scan” the environment, identifying and taking advantage of opportunities for improvement.
• Commitment to working directly with low-income persons from diverse backgrounds, in a helpful, supportive manner.

• Experience and sensitivity working with people who are low-income, have histories of trauma, have mental health and/or substance use disorders, and/or are HIV positive.
• Athena experience.
• Bilingual English/Spanish.