Mental Health Practitioner - Vocational Specialist at Northern Pines Mental Health

Northern Pines Mental Health Center is proud to offer competitive wages and an exceptional benefits package!  

Northern Pines Mental Health Center is seeking a Vocational Specialist to join our Adult Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Team. This is a full-time position and will travel throughout the six-county service region. This role will maintain an ACT caseload serving people with severe and persistent mental illness.

Essential Functions include:

• Provide case management for an assigned group of clients including coordinating and monitoring the activities of the individual treatment team
• Participate in client-centered comprehensive assessment of psychiatric history (e.g., onset, course and effect
• Consult with community agencies and families to maintain coordination in the treatment process
• Provide on-call crisis intervention covering nighttime hours and serve as a backup to evening and weekend staff
• Document client progress to maintain a record of client activity
• Participate in daily staff organizational meetings and treatment planning review meetings
• Provide substance use and treatment services
• Assist in the provision of ongoing assessment of clients’ mental illness symptoms
• Assist in the provision of symptom education to enable clients to identify their mental illness symptoms
• Assist in the provision of direct clinical services to clients on an individual, group, and family basis
• Coordinate with outside inpatient services to detoxify clients and establish connections to self-help programs (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous), and residential facilities.
• Participate in the provision of rehabilitation services.
• Provide individual vocational-supportive counseling to enable clients to identify vocational strengths and problems, establish vocational or career goals and plans to reach them, and recognize and target symptoms of mental illness that interfere with work
• Plan and provide work-related supportive services, such as assistance with grooming and personal hygiene, securing of appropriate clothing, wake-up calls, and transportation
• Teach job-seeking skills.
• Develop individualized jobs based on clients’ needs, abilities, and interests.
• Conduct on-the-job performance assessments and evaluations, regular work review sessions with clients and their employers, on-the-job support, and crisis-assistance contacts.
• Perform job coaching, problem solving, and support on and off the job site.
• Coordinate with state vocational rehabilitation and other employment services.
• Provide benefits counseling (e.g., SSI, veterans’ benefits).
• Assist clients to find and maintain a safe and affordable place to live – apartment hunting, finding a room-mate, landlord negotiations, cleaning, furnishing and decorating, and procuring necessities
• Assist and support clients to carry out personal hygiene and grooming tasks
• Provide nutrition education and assistance with meal planning, grocery shopping, and food preparation
• Assist and support clients to perform household activities, including house cleaning and laundry.
• Ensure clients have adequate financial support (e.g., help to gain employment or apply for entitlements)
• Teach money-management skills (e.g., budgeting and bill paying) and assist clients in accessing financial services (e.g., professional financial counseling, emergency loan sources)
• Help clients to access reliable transportation (e.g., obtain a driver’s license and car, arrange for cabs, access bus line, find rides)
• Assist and support clients to have and effectively use a personal primary care physician, dentist, and other medical specialists as required
• Provide individual supportive therapy (e.g., problem solving, role-playing, modeling and support), social-skill development, and assertiveness training to increase client social and interpersonal activities in community settings.
• Plan, structure, and prompt social and leisure-time activities on evenings, weekends and holidays
• Provide side-by-side support and coaching to help clients socialize
• Organize and lead individual and group social and are creational activities to structure clients’ time

Qualifications include:

• Must qualify as a mental health practitioner as defined by the Minnesota Department of Human Services in one of the following ways:
  • Holds a Master's or other graduate degree in behavioral sciences or related fields. OR
  • Has at least 2,000 hours (approximately one year working full-time) of work experience in the delivery of mental health services. OR
  • Has completed at least 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of coursework in Behavioral Sciences or related fields AND has completed a practicum or internship that required direct interaction with adults or children served, and was focused on behavioral sciences or related fields.
• This position will work as a part of an interdisciplinary team—strong collaborative and teamwork skills are essential
• Valid driver’s license

Benefits include:

• Health, Dental, Disability and Life insurance with options for spouse and/ or dependents
• Health Savings Account with employer contribution
• 401K with employer match
• Generous paid time off - full-time employees earn 19 days their first year!  
• Nine additional holidays per year
• Supportive of time off for a healthy work/life balance 
• Bereavement Pay
• Travel reimbursement
• Paid Supervision if working toward independent licensure; supervision is included in your work day!

Northern Pines Mental Health Center is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer. Please submit a resume and cover letter if interested in applying.

Keywords: Mental Health, Practitioner, Mental Health Practitioner, Assertive Community Treatment Team, Assertive, Community Treatment, Adult, Non-profit, Community, Counseling, Therapy, Social Work, Minnesota, Vocation, Vocational Specialist, Job Coaching, Employment Coaching, Employment Support

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