Licensed Social Worker - LSCSW

Description

Bluestem PACE is looking for a Clinical Social Worker to join our team!

Join our team and enjoy outstanding benefits!

At Bluestem Communities, we value our full-time team members and offer a benefits package designed to support both your personal and professional well-being. As a full-time employee you can enjoy the following benefits:

Health and insurance

• Health, dental and vision insurance
• Flexible Spending Accounts (medical & childcare available)
• AFLAC products
• Voluntary life insurance

Financial wellness

• 401(k) plan with company match
• Gradifi student loan payment program
• Payactiv: Early access to earned wages

Company-paid benefits

• Group term life and AD&D insurance
• Short-term disability insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Time off and perks

• Paid Time Off (PTO) and six (6) paid holidays
• Bluestem Wellness Center membership
• Meal discounts at our dining locations

Our benefits are designed to help you thrive both personally and professionally. Explore the full range of benefits and learn more about how Bluestem Communities can be the right fit for you—visit our Careers page today!

Position Overview:

The primary function of the Clinical Social Worker is to provide clinical behavioral health consultation/services to PACE participants consistent with the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) approach and Care Plan. The overall goal is to improve the participant outcomes and overall wellbeing. The Clinical Social Worker works as an interdependent member of the IDT and provides important components of overall participant wellbeing through direct social work behavioral health interventions, interdisciplinary collaboration, provider to provider consultation, referral and advocacy. 

The Clinical Social Worker works under the administrative supervision of the Director of Social Work.  The Clinical Social Worker also has responsibilities that include but are not limited to: participant social work assessment; treatment; and teaching and counseling of participant, caregiver or other appropriate representatives/family to maintain participant support in the community.  Clinical Social Worker interventions may also include: individual participant contacts; appropriate collateral contact; participant and family education, assessment, and counseling; assistance with locating resources; addressing mental health needs as they arise; ongoing case management; advocacy to ensure participant and caregiver needs are met and addressed; and disenrollment procedures.  The Clinical Social Worker is the liaison between the interdisciplinary team, caregiver representatives, and community agencies.

Essential Job Functions:

• Practice as an interdependent member of the IDT and provide important comprehensive assessment and diagnosis of participants engaging in behavioral health services.
• Provide assessment, consultation, and intervention to improve participant overall wellbeing and to address issues that impair participant functioning due to psychological/psychiatric problems and/or disorders.
• Assess and treat participants in individual, group and family modalities exercising professional judgment and using a wide range of social work skills to include individual, group and family counseling to assist participants and their families in dealing with chronic and acute health and behavioral problems.
• Ability to work through brief patient contacts as well as make quick and accurate clinical assessments of mental and behavioral health conditions.
• Operate from a Trauma Informed Care approach and utilize a strengths perspective to engage with participants, working to create an environment for change.
• Actively participate in meetings that support PACE’s integrated health care model to provide comprehensive care for participants.
• Serve as the liaison with outside mental health providers as appropriate.
• Perform in-person initial assessments for enrollment of potential PACE participants to obtain a complete psycho-social history, to include: descriptions of cognitive status, social supports, family dynamics, mental health and substance dependency, and other current issues and needs.
• Collaborate with the interdisciplinary team to develop a comprehensive care plan for each participant.
• Conduct in person reassessments of enrolled participants every six months and as needed when participants’ conditions change.
• Maintain regular attendance at and participate in daily Interdisciplinary Team meetings, communicate participant changes and collaborate with team members in care planning decisions and coordination for 24-hour care delivery.
• Act as liaison with participant, caregivers, and community agencies regarding orientation to and ongoing relations with Interdisciplinary Team, day center, and other PACE staff.
• Provide ongoing support, counseling, and education to staff, participants and family regarding a variety of issues, including but not limited to:  the aging process, dementia, grief and loss, end of life, disease processes, difficult family dynamics and changing roles, PACE model and PACE health services.
• Assist participant to function at most independent community level possible.
• Present requests to Interdisciplinary Team for and coordinate admission/discharge to contracted facilities for inpatient psychiatric treatment, temporary respites and permanent placement. 
• Act as facilitator for meetings with participant, family, caregivers, and community agencies to clarify or problem solve issues, including plan of care.  Mediate discussions between all parties.
• If end of life care is appropriate, actively provide emotional support, grief counseling, education, and funeral/financial planning referral. 
• Initiate referrals to external resources with community agencies.  Advocate for participants with these entities for purposes of maintaining community stability.
• Attend and actively participate in a variety of organizational meetings related to participant care or daily operations, in-services and community agency meetings.
• Act as a resource to other team members and day center staff regarding topics such as dementia, difficult behaviors, and difficult personalities.
• Complete all documentation of clinical service in participants’ medical records, including: individual therapy; initial assessments; reassessments; change of status; temporary or permanent placements; hospital admissions and discharges; home and nursing home visits; and other significant events according to PACE documentation requirements.
• Assist participants and caregivers in filing grievances and appeals.
• Act only within the scope of his or her authority to practice.
• Follow all Policies and Procedures and OSHA safety guidelines.
• Protect privacy and maintain confidentiality of all company procedures, results and information about employees, participants, and families.
• Practices standard precautions.
• Maintain safe working environment, following PACE safety policies and procedures.
• Participate in and support Quality Improvement initiatives.
• Participate in continuing education classes and any required staff and training meetings.
• Maintain professional affiliations, required certifications and continuing education requirements.
• Serve as part of a rotating on-call pool, requiring availability to respond to calls and provide support outside of regular business hours as needed

Qualifications and Experience:

• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must have working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite.
• Must have Master’s degree in Social Work from an accredited school of social work, clinical license required
• Must have active LSCSW in the state of Kansas
• Current driver’s license and proof of auto insurance
• Two (2) years of experience working on an interdisciplinary team in a hospital, nursing home or community-based setting is preferable.
• Two (2) years of clinical social work experience is preferable.

Physical Requirements:

Light Work – Exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently. Requires walking or standing to a significant degree; or requires sitting most of the time but entails pushing and/or pulling of arm or leg controls.