San Mateo County Health's Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) Division is seeking a well-qualified individual for the position of Supervising Mental Health Clinician – Crisis and Outreach Team.

Supervising Mental Health Clinicians supervise and coordinate the professional work of licensed/license eligible mental health professionals, paraprofessionals and interns in San Mateo County and participate in program planning, administration, and evaluation; and provide specialized psychiatric casework counseling and therapeutic services to adults and youth. Supervising Mental Health Clinicians are members of the BHRS Leadership Team and work with collaborative partners on initiatives focused on improving services and service delivery of their respective programs.  The current vacancy is in Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) Crisis and Outreach Team which is a field-based team that includes the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT), Healthcare for the Homeless (HCH), and Homeless Engagement Assessment Linkage (HEAL) team.
 
Services provided by the Crisis & Outreach Supervising Mental Health Clinician include supervising the program specialist, clinicians, and paraprofessionals who are working in tandem with city law enforcement for behavioral health crises and/or other homeless outreach programs throughout the county, , conducting annual performance evaluations of these supervisees,  conducting trainings and presentations for various partner agencies and the community, and supporting BHRS in the operation of a Crisis Response Team (CRT) deployment as needed.  This position reports to a Clinical Services Manager.
 
The teams include psychiatrists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and community worker/peer specialists who are consumers or family members. The clinical teams may also work with clinical interns.  

There is currently one vacancy for this team. The position is based in San Mateo, with travel throughout the county as needed.

Key Responsibilities 

As the Supervising Mental Health Clinician, your responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provide regular administrative and clinical supervision of all staff members of the Crisis and Outreach Team.
• Perform annual or as-needed employee performance evaluation of all supervisees.
• Consult with clinicians and staff members in the field to determine appropriate courses of action during crises that may involve law enforcement.
• Tracking data for established programs and pilot programs and reporting these statistics to leadership.
• Facilitating regular team meetings and program-related meetings with system partners collaborating with the Crisis and Outreach Team.
• Providing ongoing clinical training for field clinicians and law enforcement, including the Quarterly Crisis Intervention Training (CIT).
• Responding to active crisis scenes when required.
• Responding to and supporting requests for the deployment of the BHRS Crisis Response Team (CRT).
• Overseeing the daily operations of programs under the Crisis and Outreach umbrella.
• Performing all other duties or projects as assigned.

Rewarding Aspects of the Job:

• Make a meaningful impact by helping stabilize behavioral health crises and supporting individuals during some of their most vulnerable moments.
• Lead and develop multidisciplinary teams whose work directly improves outcomes for individuals experiencing mental health crises and housing instability.
• Contribute to innovative, community-based crisis response efforts through collaboration with law enforcement, healthcare providers, and community partners.

Professional Development & Leadership Growth: 

• Build advanced supervisory and leadership skills by guiding teams in complex, high-acuity, and fast-paced field environments.
• Strengthen clinical judgment and decision-making through consultation and support during time-sensitive and evolving crisis situations.
• Expand expertise in cross-system collaboration, program oversight, and data-informed decision-making across multiple crisis and outreach programs.

The ideal candidate will bring:

• At least two (2) years of post-licensure clinical experience providing direct mental health services, with crisis-related work preferred.
• Strong supervisory skills, including at least two (2) years of experience providing administrative and clinical supervision to mental health clinicians and paraprofessionals, including experience in supporting team-building activities, group dynamics, and complex client care needs.
• Knowledge of program management techniques and practices.
• Knowledge of crisis de-escalation, crisis evaluation, 5150-hold application, and community crisis response.
• Expertise in clinical work with older adults with serious mental illness, including individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
• Knowledge of system of care principles and crisis continuum of care, including inpatient and outpatient clinical settings.
• Ability to establish and maintain productive working relationships with consumers, families, professionals, law enforcement, Criminal Justice system, Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES), homeless services providers, and the public, including close collaboration with and engagement of community partners to plan, implement and coordinate needed services.
• Ability to make sound, timely decisions through the exercise of judgment and consideration of all available information, often during active crises situations.
• Demonstrated expertise and skill in clinical work with adults and youth with serious mental illnesses, including individuals who have had contact with law enforcement and psychiatric emergency services.
• Knowledge of evidence-based clinical practice modalities, such as motivational interviewing, solution-focused brief treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy, wellness and recovery principles, and trauma informed care.
• Knowledge of Medi-Cal and Medicare regulations and managed mental health care.
• Strong working knowledge of Avatar, EPIC and other tools or databases used by BHRS for information and charting.
• Strong clinical assessment, diagnostic and evaluation skills.
• Experience working with individuals from diverse cultures and backgrounds, including those living on the streets, in shelters, or in other community or residential settings.

NOTE: The eligible list generated from this recruitment may be used to fill future extra-help, term, unclassified, and regular classified vacancies.

 

Examples Of Duties

 

Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Coordinate assigned program activities with services provided by and responsibilities of other BHRS teams, private service providers, schools, homeless services agencies, state institutions and other public or community agencies.
• Establish and maintain program procedures which are consistent with Federal, State and local laws governing mental health services.
• Monitor and consult with supervising manager to ensure compliance with services requested by the County and help determine jointly beneficial solutions to problem areas.
•  Collaborate with partner providers, other systems, and public agencies regarding the assigned program and provide the proper program supervision and liaison to these partner agencies 
• Provide clinical consultation to various agencies.
• Compile data and prepare program evaluations and other reports.
• Perform related duties as assigned.

Knowledge of:

• Basic program management techniques and practices.
• Principles and practices of supervision and training.
• Human and health services system in the county including private agencies and their community resources.
• Current philosophy, principles and practices for services to clients with serious mental illness.
• Legal and policy aspects of community mental health methods.
• Techniques of family, individual and group counseling and diagnosis.
• Individual, group and family psychodynamics.
• Current principles and practices of psychiatric casework.
• Mental health consultation and education.
• Problems, needs, attitudes and behavior patterns of patients/clients.

Skill/Ability to:

• Supervise, train and evaluate inter-disciplinary staff.
• Work collaboratively with other senior professionals in planning and developing programs of a geographic or service unit.
• Prepare and deliver written and oral reports.
• Plan, implement and evaluate all operations of a geographic or service unit.
• Provide treatment to adults and/or children/adolescents with various dysfunctions.
• Establish and maintain objective working relationships with clients/patients, other professionals, and the public.
• Evaluate degree of mental disability or emotional distress of patients/clients.

Qualifications

 

Licensure/Certification: Possession of a current California license in at least one of the following: Clinical Psychology, Clinical Social Worker or Marriage and Family Therapy.
 
Education and Experience:  Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to qualify is a Master's degree in a mental health specialty, such as social work, nursing, or clinical counseling and two years of professional post-graduate experience in a mental health setting.