Behavioral Health Technician

Job Description

Lewis & Clark Behavioral Health Services (LCBHS) is recruiting for a Behavioral Health Technician position. The position will be responsible to assist clinical staff in caring for youth and adults experiencing mental health and addiction crisis at the CORE Center, as well as caring for adults participating in chemical dependency treatment at the EBEL Addiction Recovery Center. The role will be positioned at Lewis & Clark’s brand new facility, which provides a wide range of outpatient and residential services to youth, families, and adults for residents of Yankton and surrounding areas.

Employment Status: Full Time – 36 hours/week
Shift Rotation Options: Day Shift or Night Shift (0630-1900 or 1830-0700)
Weekend Rotation: Every Other Weekend
Holiday Rotation: Every Other Holiday

Essential Functions:

• Perform screenings for youth and adults in crisis upon presentation to the facility, identifying potential risks and possible options for support/intervention, in collaboration with clinical staff. Perform breathalyzer checks and obtain vitals for patients, when indicated.
• Through controlled observation and direct patient contact and participation, educate, prevent, and intervene throughout the patient’s daily interactions including groups, 1-1s, structured recreation, and free time establishing a secure, positive, and therapeutic recovery environment.
• Perform phone screenings for the facility’s 24/7 crisis line.
• Observe and document patient self-administration of medications, documenting errors and completing incident reports to improve medication administration process. Work with nursing staff and other techs on minimizing staff medication errors.
• Monitor patients for safety via routine safety checks, communicating information regarding patient’s behavior to other members of treatment team.
• Role model appropriate social interactions. Encourage and facilitate patient’s participation in therapeutic activities and program schedule, enforcing accountability to program expectations. Offer feedback and provide therapeutic interventions to motivate behavioral changes.
• Engage in 1:1 supportive activity with patients, such as therapeutic communication and structured recreation.
• Maintain therapeutic posture with patients experiencing emotional instability, exercising self-control in volatile situations such as verbal/physical threats and/or confrontation. Assist in conflict resolution and de-escalation.
• Maintain patient confidentiality. Immediately report safety concerns related to patient care issues, maintenance concerns, property destruction, theft, or any other safety concern preventing or directly or indirectly impacting the effective provision of treatment services.
• Gather, record, and relate reliable factual information about general client behaviors including both positive and negative behaviors. Record unusual client behavior(s) or situations, including critical incidents in the correct manner, contacting designated and on-call staff when required.
• Participates in implementing patient’s treatment plans by monitoring patient’s whereabouts, communicating information regarding patient’s behavior to other members of treatment team, encourages and facilitates patient’s participation in therapeutic activities, provides feedback to motivate behavioral changes, supervises patients to ensure their safe involvement in treatment.
• Document and report objective and factual information about patient behaviors, unusual situations, and critical incidents as they occur, contacting designated and on-call staff when required.
• Supervise, monitor, and coach clients through schedule on assigned shifts, managing interpersonal conflicts, documenting medical and psychological incidents correctly as they occur.
• Assist with training of new staff members as required.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the leadership team.

Required Licensure / Certification and Experience / Abilities:

• Minimum requirement high school diploma or GED equivalent.
• Valid driver’s license.

LCBHS offers an excellent benefits package!

Three weeks paid vacation per year, 10 paid holidays, paid sick leave, paid individual employee health insurance, life insurance, available vision and dental insurance, dependent care savings, health care savings, 401K with up to 6 percent employer match - 100% vested upon enrollment, potential student loan repayment and more!