Behavioral Health Therapist Fellow

Bread for the City's primary care clinic is a medical home that seeks to provide wrap-around medical, behavioral, and social services to all medical patients. The Behavioral Health Therapist is a part of the Social Services, Medical, and Integrated Behavioral Health teams and builds capacity for the medical clinic to better serve its patients by assessing mental health needs and providing brief counseling, and solution-focused clinical interventions to medical patients. The Therapist will work closely with the care management and behavioral health teams.

We are looking for an experienced and energetic behavioral health therapist, who is dedicated to working in a collaborative and multi-cultural environment. The therapist will provide therapy to adult patients of the Bread for the City Medical Clinic in both NW and SE Centers. There is an opportunity for some teletherapy service provision.

This position is part of a two-year behavioral health grant. We are hopeful that the position can be extended beyond that if the Fellow is successful in building a full, billable caseload.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• This is a full time, salaried, position at 40 hours per week;
• Maintains a full caseload of 25-30 weekly scheduled sessions to the degree possible;
• Provides short and long-term counseling services to individuals and groups;
• Provides in person services at both of our offices (NW and SE);
• Completes a clinical assessment, treatment plan and diagnosis, within a week of a client's initial session
• Provides appropriate crisis intervention and emergency response during clinic hours (there is no on-call responsibility);
• Develops and leads wellness support groups to help patients learn tools to cope with chronic medical conditions.
• Provides patients with solution-focused interventions, including 1) helping patients gain insight about their mental health and socio-emotional well-being; 2) providing psycho-education; 2) teaching CBT, MI, and/or mindfulness-based coping strategies to help patients manage symptoms and become full participants in their own treatment and recovery;
• Helps patients, where indicated, to cope with chronic conditions like depression, anxiety, substance abuse pain and diabetes;
• Assists the patients in complying with any medical treatment initiated by the primary care provider, such as offering strategies to cope with medication side effects;
• Works with multi-disciplinary team to deliver health related services;
• Exercises appropriate judgment in interactions with others and with work processes;
• Maintains therapy rooms and materials to professional standards;
• Contacts collateral professionals and others in the community regarding cases when appropriate;
• Meets with supervisor regarding caseload and clinical and administrative concerns;
• Assists in the patient's community functioning by working with the care management team to link them with public benefits, vocational rehabilitation, social support, housing, etc;
• Provides caseload information to BH Manager and Director for statistical purposes;
• Works with agency staff to maintain license, credentialing, and liability insurance (all paid by the agency);
• Uses email daily to remain informed of Bread for the City business;
• Provides information for program and grant development as needed.

Required skills and experience:

• Candidate must have a current DC LICSW or LPC license;
• Minimum of 2 years of experience providing individual and group therapy to adults
• Experience working with diverse client populations
• Willingness to learn and carry out Bread for the City's commitments to social justice and racial equity and a strong commitment to promote cultural, racial, language, and gender access and equity;
• Commitment to learning about and addressing poverty and the complex social determinants that contribute to overall health and health care for our patients;
• Experience working within a model of Trauma Informed Care or a desire to do so;
• Ability to maintain strict confidentiality and comply with HIPAA regulations.
• Ability to build rapport with diverse clients, coworkers and colleagues through effective communication, listening skills, and empathy;
• Strong organizational and time management skills, attention to detail, and the ability to juggle multiple tasks and set priorities to meet deadlines;
• Professional demeanor, excellent customer service and telephone skills, and interpersonal skills;
• The ability to work independently, as well as cooperatively with a broad range of people
• Ability and commitment to document as needed and required by the agency in appropriate databases.
• Willingness to learn and carry out Bread for the City's commitments to building a socially just, racially equitable, and gender affirming culture. We define racial equity as a world where life outcomes, life chances, and life experiences cannot be predicted by race. We define a gender affirming culture as spaces that make people feel radically comfortable and safer expressing their gender identity, especially for trans and gender non-conforming people. We see racial equity work as inherently tied to all other forms of anti-oppression work; we are building a community that prioritizes Black, Indigenous, and all People of the Global Majority, DC natives, transgender and gender non-conforming people, disabled people, and all historically oppressed and marginalized people at Bread and beyond.

The following is a plus but not required:

• Fluency in Spanish, Mandarin, or Amharic

Bread for the City is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, family responsibility, physical or mental disability, medical condition, status as a veteran, or any other category protected by applicable federal, state, or local law, except where a bona fide occupational qualification applies.

Compensation:

The salary range for this position is $70,000 - $80,000 annually, with offers being made based on existing skill set, qualifications, with training and development needs being taken into consideration. Bread for the City also offers a generous benefits package.

To Apply:

You must complete an application through Bread for the City's ADP portal. Click here to review available openings and click on Behavioral Health Therapist Fellow position. Select apply at the top right-hand corner to register for a login and apply for the position. Please upload a resume and cover letter through this online application process. Only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted. No phone calls please.

Salary : $70,000 - $80,000