Social Services Specialist - START Program - days/ evenings

Full time (80 hours biweekly)

Weekdays, daytime hours and two evenings per week

Alternating Saturday mornings

Job Description:

Under general supervision, plans, organizes and implements social work services for patients and families.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Interviews patients and family members to obtain information about home environment, family relationships, health history, and patient's personality traits.
2. Evaluates data gathered in terms of the medical plan of treatment, available social service programs, and plans a pertinent therapy program that will provide each patient with maximum benefit.
3. Assists patients and families to understand, accept, and follow medical recommendations.
4. Utilizes resources to help patient resume life in the community or to learn to live with the disability.
5. Interprets nature of illness and prescribed course of treatment to patients and families. Communicates family issues to other staff members. Participates in planning conferences.
6. Assists in developing discharge and post-hospital care plans.
7. Collaborates with other hospital programs and community agencies with which patients and families are involved.
8. Performs follow-up calls and/or checks with health care and related agencies used after patient discharge.
9. Prepares and maintains required documentation on each case.

Qualifications

• Minimum Experience:
  • 1 - 2 years
• Minimum Education:
  • Master's Degree
• Preferred Certification:
  • Social work license in PA

Introduction and Program Overview

Our CCBHC clinic program is designed and committed to being a welcoming, comfortable, safe, and easy to use service for the community focused on “how can we help with what is most important to you right now?” 

Treatment is provided by an interdisciplinary team who are recovery oriented, trained in trauma-informed care, and are comfortable with the entire spectrum of presentations of behavioral health disorders.  Patients will be approached utilizing techniques of motivational interviewing and the language used is non-stigmatizing.  The staff understand that each person presenting for help is on a unique journey and in different stages of change towards their desired goals. 

Program Services and Goals

The clinic will be able to offer and/or refer to all appropriate treatments and levels of care in partnership with the patient’s goals of care and engagement in the medically recommended treatment options.  There will be an emphasis on prevention and every patient will be screened for substance misuse.  When appropriate, following standard work, patients will be offered screening for infectious diseases. 

The emphasis will be on harm-reduction, not only regarding the services delivered but the materials available in the clinic (i.e. information about naloxone, techniques to reduce harm if continuing to misuse substances, etc.…).  In addition, the CCBHC will be able to start and continue medication assisted treatment for all substance use disorders, except for methadone for the treatment of opioid use disorder.  All substance use disorders will be treated with the same veracity and importance, including nicotine use disorder and marijuana use disorder. 

Coordination of Care and External Partnerships

The clinic will operate in coordination with the other resources available in WellSpan Health, such as the Center for Mind/Body Health, pain clinics, online primary care as well as external partnerships.  Every patient will be offered a referral to a Primary Care Provider.  If medical needs are noted during their visit to the CCBHC, it will be treated if within scope of the practitioners available and/or referred for the needed treatment (whether that be the ED, in collaboration with the Community Health Center in the same building, or with other clinics).  In a similar way, psychiatric needs are addressed, and patients are referred to the Transitional Care Teams or Shared Care when appropriate.  Lastly, the clinic will be able to provide groups and refer to individual therapy/groups for the behavioral health treatment within WellSpan Philhaven as well as external partners. 

** NOTE: This position is temporary and is dependent on ongoing grant support from the US Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), lasting up to 2 years.