SENIOR MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR, R.N.

Full Job Description

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS A REPOSTING TO ADD SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

POSITION DEFINITION:
Supervises primary providers of mental health nursing services to individuals, families, and groups in a range of mental health care settings.

CLASSIFICATION STANDARDS:
Positions allocable to this supervisory class are assigned to a service area mental health setting and work under the technical and administrative direction of a clinical program manager or higher-level nurse or psychiatrist. Within scope-of-practice guidelines, positions supervise members of a multidisciplinary team that provides mental health services to clients and families and consultative services to community agencies. May also function as primary providers of psychiatric mental health nursing services and carry a caseload. Positions are also responsible for performing administrative functions for a mental health clinic or program. Incumbents function within agency guidelines and professional standards that require specialized knowledge of and experience in the application of principles of mental health services in the community, crisis and therapeutic intervention, and physical health care; and general knowledge of and experience in the application of agency philosophy, policies, and procedures.

Requirements

Performs administrative functions that include, but are not limited to, interviewing candidates for clinical and support staff positions and making recommendations for hire, preparing annual performance evaluations for subordinate staff, and counseling multi-disciplinary staff with respect to client services and/or agency problems.

Participates as a member of the administrative staff at the mental health care setting to formulate policies and procedures, develop annual and ongoing program plans, design training programs for the staff, and perform research or special projects to study the mental health program for modification or enhancement.

Provides technical orientation and in-service training in psychological principles related to crisis intervention, traditional counseling practices, and techniques of behavioral modification.
Assigns cases and work projects to treatment staff, taking into consideration staff capabilities and the nature of clients' mental health status.

Evaluates and screens client referrals and walk-ins by interviewing client to obtain family social, medical, work and mental health treatment history and making an assessment of the clients' mental and physical stability, memory, and emotional state.

Establishes a tentative Client Care Coordination Plan designed to address the client's mental or emotional problem, which may include individual, group, or family counseling; referral to a psychiatrist, psychologist, vocational rehabilitation counselor, or social worker; referral to a psychiatrist or nurse practitioner for medication; or referral to another agency.

Administers psychotropic medication, monitors drug effectiveness and side effects; and provides drug education to clients and clients' families.

Provides mental health consultation services to community agencies to advise on the utilization of mental health principles in connection with the treatment of mental health problems dealt with by the agency.

Participates in continuing education and training to maintain mental health nursing and administrative and supervisory skills.

Qualifications

SELECTION REQUIREMENTS:
Option I: One year of experience as a Mental Health Counselor, RN* in the service of Los Angeles County.

Option II: A Bachelor's degree** in nursing from an accredited*** college or university with specialty coursework in psychiatric nursing**** --AND-- three (3) years of full-time post-bachelor's degree experience in psychiatric nursing.

Option III: A Master's degree** in psychiatric nursing from an accredited*** college or university --AND-- two (2) years' experience**** of full-time post-Master's degree in psychiatric nursing.

LICENSE: A copy of a current, active, valid, and unrestricted Registered Nurse license issued by the State of California Board of Registered Nursing must be submitted at the time of filing or within 15 calendar days from the time of application submission.

A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.

PHYSICAL CLASS II – Light: Light physical effort which may include occasional light lifting to a 10 pound limit, and some bending, stooping or squatting. Considerable walking may be involved.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS
Credit will be given to applicants who possess the following desirable qualifications:

Experience in writing applications for further evaluation due to danger to self or others.

Clinical experience in working with clients with multiple diagnoses including substance abuse and/or homelessness.

Additional Information *Option I - Applicants must have County status in the class as evidence by holding or having held the Mental Health Counselor, RN payroll title for the required number of time or more.

No Out-of-Class experience will be accepted.** Degree(s) and/or Official Transcript must indicate the required specialized field in order to be evaluated.

A legible copy of the official diploma, transcripts, official letter, evaluation report of a transcript showing the completion of the required psychiatric nursing coursework with the corresponding unit credits must be submitted at the time of application submission or within 15 calendar days of application filing.Official Transcripts or Official Letter are defined as transcript or letter that bears the college seal and states "official and/or copy" issued by the schools Registrar Office.

A printout of the transcript from the school's website is NOT considered official and will not be accepted which may result in your application being rejected.

An evaluation report of a transcript is defined as a report issued an academic credential evaluation agency recognized by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or the Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc.

(AICE) of the United States.

A transcript submitted that is expressed in a language other than English will NOT be accepted and may result in your application being rejected.***Accredited institutions are those listed in the publications of regional, national or international accrediting agencies which are accepted by the Department of Human Resources.

Publications such as American Universities and Colleges and appropriate, are degrees that have been evaluated and deemed to be equivalent to degrees from the United States accredited institutions by an academic credential evaluation agency recognized by The National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or the Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc.

(AICE).**Option II - Specialty coursework in psychiatric nursing: A legible copy of official transcripts showing completion of the required psychiatric nursing coursework with the corresponding unit credits must be submitted at the time of application submission or within 15 calendar days of application filing.

Psychiatric nursing coursework MUST be taken at the Bachelor's degree level and must be included in the Bachelor's degree transcript.

No Out-of-Class experience will be accepted.***Option III - Master degree in psychiatric nursing.

A legible copy of the diploma or official transcript must show the concentration of psychiatric nursing.

In order to receive credit a copy of diploma or official transcript must be submitted at the time of application submission or within 15 calendar days of application filing.

No Out-of-Class experience will be accepted.****Applicants whose qualifying experience had been acquired outside of California must provide their registered nurse license information from that state in the License Information section of the application and submit a copy of the license at the time of filing or within 15 calendar days from the date of application submission.

Experience claimed without the required evidence of licensure will be not considered.SPECIAL INFORMATIONPast and present mental health clients and their family members who meet the selection requirements are encouraged to apply.The County of Los Angeles is a Fair Chance employer.

Except for a very limited number of positions, you will not be asked to provide information about a conviction history unless you receive a contingent offer of employment.

The County will make an individualized assessment of whether your conviction history has a direct or adverse relationship with the specific duties of the job, and consider potential mitigating factors, including, but not limited to, evidence and extent of rehabilitation, recency of the offense(s), and age at the time of the offense(s).

If asked to provide information about a conviction history, any convictions or court records which are exempted by a valid court order do not have to be disclosed.Appointees may be required to work any shift, including evenings, nights, weekends and holidays.

AVAILABLE SHIFT: Please note this position will be required to work a 12 hour night shift schedule. The shift will be from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. work schedule.

EXAMINATION CONTENTThis examination will consist of an evaluation of education and experience based on information listed on the online application and desirable qualifications at the time of filing weighted 100%.

Candidates must achieve a passing score of 70% or higher in order to be placed on the eligible register.

VACANCY INFORMATIONThe eligible register for this examination will be used to fill vacancies in the Department of Mental Health.ELIGIBILITY INFORMATIONThe names of candidates receiving a passing grade in the examination will be placed on the eligible register in the order of their score group for a period of twelve (12) months following the date of promulgation.Retake: No person may compete in this examination more than once every twelve months.Applications will be processed on an "as-received" basis and those receiving a passing score will be promulgated to the eligible register accordingly.APPLICATION AND FILING INFORMATIONApplicants are required to complete and submit an online Los Angeles County Employment Application AND Supplemental Questionnaire in order to be considered for this examination.

Paper applications, resumes, or any unsolicited documents will not be accepted in lieu of completing the online application and Supplemental Questionnaire.

Applicants must submit their applications by 5:00 pm, PST, on the last day of filing.INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILING ONLINEApply online by clicking on the green "Apply" button at the top right of this posting.

Clear and legible copies of the required documents (e.g.

Diploma, Official Transcripts, License) must be uploaded as attachments during application submission --or -- by email to exams@dmh.lacounty.gov within 15 calendar days from date of application submission.

Indicate the Exam Title on the subject line when sending required documents by email.The acceptance of your application will depend on whether you have clearly shown that you meet the Selection Requirements.

Your online application must show complete license, education and work experience information necessary to evaluate your qualifications.

License information section must show title of license, license number, original date of issue, and expiration date.

Education information section must include name and address of school attended, complete dates attended, name of course/s taken, number of units earned, and degree/s earned.

Work experience section must include job title, employer name and address, name of work area/facility, actual payroll title held and not the working and/or functional titles, from/to dates of employment including month, day and year, total number of months, total number of hours worked per week - not a range of hours (full or part-time), and complete and detailed description of related job duties.

If range of hours is provided, experience will be prorated based on the lowest number of hours worked per week. LIST separately each job experience to be evaluated.

All information is subject to verification.

Applicants may be rejected at any stage of the selection process.For the time being, all notifications, including results letters and notices of non-acceptance, will be sent electronically to the email address provided on the application.

It is important that you provide a valid email address.

Please add exams@dmh.lacounty.gov and info@governmentjobs.com to your email address and list of approved senders to prevent email notifications from being filtered as spam/junk/clutter mail.Applicants have the ability to opt out of emails from LA County.

If you unsubscribe, you will not receive any email notification for any examination for which you apply with Los Angeles County.Regardless of whether you choose to unsubscribe, you can always check for notifications by logging into governmentjobs.com and viewing your profile inbox, which saves a copy of all emailed notices.IMPORTANT NOTES:All information is subject to verification.

Applications may be rejected at any stage of the selection process.

Utilizing VERBIAGE from class specifications and Selection Requirement serving as your description of duties WILL NOT be sufficient to demonstrate that you meet requirements. Doing so may result in an INCOMPLETE APPLICATION and you may be DISQUALIFIED.

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
Please include your Social Security Number for record control purposes. Federal law requires that all employed persons have a Social Security Number.

NO SHARING USER ID AND PASSWORD
All applicants must file their applications online using their own user ID and password. Using a family member or friend's user ID and password may erase a candidate's original application record.

DEPARTMENT CONTACT
HR Examinations Unit: (213) 972-7034
HR Examinations Unit Email: exams@dmh.lacounty.gov
Analyst Contact Phone: Irene San, (323) 705-4074
Analyst Contact Email: isan@dmh.lacounty.gov

ADA Coordinator Phone (323) 705-4074
Teletype Phone 800-735-2922
California Relay Services Phone 800-735-2922