PSYCHOLOGIST I -Juvenile Forensic Evaluator- Statewide ** $14,000 Sign On Incentive

This position has a residency waiver and will be accepting applications from residents and non-residents of Colorado. This announcement is open to potential candidates who are legal residents of the United States. All legal residents of the United States are eligible to apply and compete. If appointed to a position, applicants from outside of Colorado will be required to relocate to Colorado prior to their start date, at their own expense.

Please note: This posting will be used to fill multiple positions

Most State of Colorado employees are eligible for a great benefit package! Please see the Supplemental Information section below for details!

Located within the Colorado Department of Human Services, the Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health (OCFMH) is responsible for policy development, service provision and coordination, program monitoring and evaluation, and administrative oversight of the public behavioral health system. OCFMH funds, supports, and monitors numerous mental health and substance abuse community programs and providers. OCFMH also operates the Colorado Mental Health Hospitals at Fort Logan and Pueblo and the Forensic Services
Division.

OCFMH executes the States’ federal responsibilities as the State Mental Health Authority and State Substance Abuse Authority for the purposes of administering federal mental health and substance abuse block grant funds.

The Forensic Services Division is responsible for six departments including Forensic Community Based Services (FCBS), Jail Based Evaluation and Restoration (JBR), Outpatient Restoration (OPR), the Forensic Support Team (FST), Forensic Community Based Services (FCBS), and the Court Services Department. The Court Services Department responds to court-ordered referrals for the evaluation of competency, restoration, sanity, and mental condition.  Court Services has offices located in both Denver and Pueblo on the Mental Health Hospital campuses. Court Services manages and monitors the completion and deadlines for orders issued by the courts and assigns the evaluations to be performed by psychologists and psychiatrists in accordance with Colorado Revised Statute 16-8.5.  The work unit is responsible for compliance with the Barnes v. DLC Consent Decree.

Our teams work within various settings including community agencies, jails, courts, and hospitals. The locations can include locked units and secure facilities and our clients may at times be unpredictable due to their mental health needs. Our team is required to make critical decisions in dynamic and fast-paced environments in order to ensure a high level of accountability for patient care. Our staff are required to maintain updated skills, knowledge, abilities, and competencies necessary to the position through continuing education, clinical supervision, literature review, and discipline and team development. This position may be required to travel throughout Colorado to meet the needs of the department.

The current schedule will be a hybrid work arrangement (remote work and report on-site 2 days per week)  but may change without prior notification based on business demands.  

About this Position: 
This position exists to perform and ensure the quality and timely completion of court-ordered evaluations and restoration reports required by Colorado courts. The evaluator is authorized to represent the Department in communication with Judges and Courts directly. A forensic evaluator must be a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist by Colorado Statute.  This position performs competency evaluations, restoration to legal competency evaluations, and sanity/mental condition evaluations (if the evaluator meets qualifications per statute) and provides a written report containing their opinion to the courts and both attorneys assigned to a defendant's case. 

 
Job Duties:

• This position completes the equivalent of 12 court-ordered evaluations for competency or restoration of competency per month and a minimum of 6 assigned evaluations will be competency evaluations in the jail.

• This position completes a written report detailing their opinion regarding competency or sanity/mental condition, and if their opinion is incompetent an explanation of barriers to competency, clearly detailed in their report.  Written reports also include information and opinions specified in C.R.S 16-8.5 and the Consent Decree. 

• This position may be subpoenaed to testify to provide the court with information regarding their opinion.  

• Evaluations may occur in various settings including hospitals, jails, or in the community and this position responds to the location specified in the court order.  

• This position requests collateral information as needed to inform their opinion and seeks consultation from their supervisor or colleagues on difficult, complex, or ambiguous cases.

• Develop and deliver to courts, via expert testimony, professional opinion regarding the legal question of competency, restoration, and sanity of mental condition.  

• This position can detail information utilized to inform their opinion, remain objective and neutral provide testimony regarding opinion to a legal question in the court order, and explain the basis for any clinical (i.e. diagnosis, prognosis) and forensic opinions. 

• This position is able to testify regarding the assessment process, including instruments utilized during evaluation and collateral sources requested to inform opinion.

• This position attends annual and ongoing competency training as mandated by statute and  Forensic Services to ensure evaluators stay informed of current trends and research in the field of forensic psychology.  

• Evaluators present and provide feedback to peers during case presentations for continued growth and development and will have their work periodically reviewed for quality assurance.

• This position may be called upon to perform tasks or undertake special assignments or projects deemed necessary by OBH, but not specifically referenced in the above duties.

Minimum Qualifications

Education/Licensure/Certification/Experience:

Current, valid licensure as a Psychologist from the Colorado State Board of Psychologist Examiners

AND

One (1) year of experience as a licensed psychologist or permitted psychologist
candidate

No Substitutions

Special Qualifications

• Licensed Psychologist 

Preferred Qualifications

• Training and experience in juvenile evaluation
• Experience in the area of Forensic Evaluations
• Experience in conducting and writing evaluations of competency to proceed
• Ability to work independently with little or no direction
• Clear and effective written and oral communication skills
• Ability to use independent judgment to accomplish tasks to meet deadlines

 Conditions of Employment

• CBI Name check and fingerprint check, ICON Colorado court database, Medicare fraud database, Reference check, Professional License verification (licensure requirement), PREA (Division of Youth Services), Trails check, CAPS
• Must possess a valid, unrestricted U.S. Driver's License
•  May require extensive travel between offices, Colorado Mental Hospital in Pueblo and Fort Logan, and various detention facilities.
• Pre-Employment Physical-TB Test
• Must be 21 years of age or older
• Former State employees who were disciplinarily terminated or resigned in lieu of termination must (1) disclose that information on the application (2) provide an explanation why the prior termination or resignation should not disqualify the applicant from the current position, (3) provide the employee number from the applicant’s prior State employment.  Absent extraordinary circumstances, prior disciplinary termination or resignation in lieu of termination and failure to provide this information will disqualify the applicant from future State employment with CDHS.

Appeal Rights

If you receive notice that you have been eliminated from consideration for this position, you may file an appeal with the State Personnel Board or request a review by the State Personnel Director.

An appeal or review must be submitted on the official appeal form, signed by you or your representative. This form must be delivered to the State Personnel Board by email (dpa_state.personnelboard@state.co.us), postmarked in US Mail or hand delivered (1525 Sherman Street, 4th Floor, Denver CO 80203), or faxed (303.866.5038) within ten (10) calendar days from your receipt of notice or acknowledgement of the department’s action.

For more information about the appeals process, the official appeal form, and how to deliver it to the State Personnel Board; go to spb.colorado.gov; contact the State Personnel Board for assistance at (303) 866-3300; or refer to 4 Colorado Code of Regulations (CCR) 801-1, State Personnel Board Rules and Personnel Director's Administrative Procedures, Chapter 8, Resolution of Appeals and Disputes, at spb.colorado.gov under Rules.

How to Apply

The Assessment Process

For additional recruiting questions, please contact jazzma.gamboa@state.co.us

Sign-On Incentive:

The $14,000 sign-on incentive will be provided in three payments: within two pay cycles of when the new employee starts at CDHS, 180-day anniversary, and 270-day anniversary with CDHS.  Must be currently employed at the date of the anniversary to receive the next installment. If you are separated from the state for any reason prior to the installment date, you will not be eligible to receive it.

About Us: 

If your goal is to build a career that makes a difference, consider joining the dedicated people of the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS). Our professionals strive to design and deliver high-quality human and health services that improve the safety, independence, and well-being of the people of Colorado. In addition to a great location and rewarding and meaningful work, we offer:

• Strong, secure, yet flexible retirement benefits including a PERA Defined Benefit Plan or PERA Defined Contribution Plan www.copera.org plus 401(k) and 457 plans

• Medical and dental health plans

• Employer supplemented Health Savings Account

• Paid life insurance

• Short- and long-term disability coverage

• 11 paid holidays per year plus vacation and sick leave

• BenefitHub state employee discount program

• Employee Wellness Program

• Excellent work-life programs, such as flexible schedules, training, and more

• Remote work arrangements for eligible positions

*Some positions may qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. For more

information, go to https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dhr/student-loan-forgiveness-programs.

Our Values:

We believe in a people-first approach: To serve the people of Colorado, we develop a culture and work environment that creates an energized, inspired, and healthy team capable of giving their best to Coloradans.

Balance creates quality of life: We want our team to be resilient through a supportive workplace that values flexibility, health and wellness, and employee engagement.

We hold ourselves accountable: We take responsibility through our actions, programs, and results for the state of health and human services in Colorado.

Transparency matters: We are open and honest with employees, our partners, the Coloradans we serve, and the public.

We are ethical: We abide by what is best for those we serve by doing what is right, not what is easy.

Collaboration helps us rise together: We work together with all partners, employees, and clients to achieve the best outcomes for Coloradans.

We are committed to increasing the diversity of our staff and providing culturally responsive programs and services. Therefore, we encourage responses from people of diverse backgrounds and abilities.  

ADAA Accommodations: CDHS is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, our agency will assist individuals who have a disability with any reasonable accommodation requests related to employment, including completing the application process, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, participating in the employee selection process, and/or to perform essential job functions where the requested accommodation does not impose an undue hardship. If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodation to ensure you have a positive experience applying or interviewing for this position, please direct your inquiries to our ADAA Coordinator, Nancy Schmelzer, at  cdhs_ada@state.co.us or call 1-800-929-0791.

~THE STATE OF COLORADO IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER~

Salary : $95,340