Lead Perinatal Behavioral Specialist

Children's National Hospital; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Children's National Hospital is seeking a Lead Perinatal Behavioral Health Specialist responsible for supporting the behavioral health of pregnant and post-partum patients. This position involves leading clinical team efforts, providing supervision to staff, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality patient care. The role requires a Master's degree, relevant licensure, and significant experience in behavioral health. This is a full-time, in-person position in Washington, DC.

Qualifications

• 3 years experience in a behavioral health setting, preferably within the Perinatal or Maternal Mental Health field.
• Bilingual-Spanish Speaking a plus.
• Licenses: Ind. Clinical Social Worker LICSW, LPC or comparable license.

Responsibilities

• Lead clinical coordination for behavioral health interventions for pregnant and post-partum patients.
• Provide supervision to lower-level clinical staff and ensure compliance with best practices in care.
• Maintain and update program training material for new specialists.

Skills

Excellent communication

Problem solving

Time management

Detail oriented

Culturally sensitive care

Education

Master's Degree in Social Work, Counseling, Psychology or similar discipline

Perinatal Mental Health Certificate

Job description

The Lead Perinatal Behavioral Health Specialist (Lead PBS) is responsible for the coordination, monitoring and development of clinical staff and provides behavioral health screening and appropriate responses, including behavioral health interventions to pregnant and post-partum patients. Collaborates with all involved teams and support services to ensure that patient and family needs are met. Identifies and prioritizes clinical and psychosocial goals and problem solves as needed to ensure follow through on needed responses by multidisciplinary team. Ensure optimal outpatient coordination, excellent collaboration between teams and partner organizations with a focus on patient experience and outcomes. The Lead PBS provides clinical supervision to clinicians with a lower level of license, as well as leadership and guidance to Perinatal Behavioral Health Specialists and Care Coordinators and support to partner organizations. The Lead PBS will work closely with the program director and team psychologist for program and staffing matters and act as a voice for the PBS team. The Lead Perinatal Behavioral Health Specialist will maintain and update all program training material and also train new incoming perinatal behavioral specialist. This position is 100% in person, no telework available. Lead

Minimum Education
Master's Degree in Social Work, Counseling, Psychology or similar discipline (Required)

Minimum Work Experience
3 years experience in a behavioral health setting with care coordination and evidence of leadership within multidisciplinary teams preferably within the Perinatal or Maternal Mental Health field (Required)

Bilingual-Spanish Speaking a plus

Required Skills/Knowledge
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Ability do work with diverse patients and groups.
Excellent problem solving skills to support diverse program and patient needs.
Excellent organizational and time management skills
Detail oriented, able to work independently in a fast paced, collaborative environment

Required Licenses and Certifications
Ind. Clinical Social Worker LICSW, LPC or Behavioral Health license comparable license Upon Hire (Required)
Perinatal Mental Health Certificate (Required )

Functional Accountabilities
Professional Practice/Research

• Performs direct patient care duties of Perinatal Behavioral Specialist as needed.

• Identify patients in need of Behavioral Health support and/or interventions in a patient centered systematic manner.

• Provide appropriate screening and patient centered diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

• Support ongoing staff education regarding behavioral health screening, appropriate behavioral health response, coordination of care, culturally sensitive care, compassion fatigue, and other relevant topics.

• Identify and implement best practices for responding to perinatal behavioral health concerns.

• Provide clinical leadership to Perinatal Behavioral Health Specialists.

• Document patient care in a complete, accurate and timely manner.

• Keeps up with best practice for therapy by attendance at seminars, continuing education courses, workshops, etc.

Exemplary Professional Practice

• Provide auditing and evaluation of clinical and administrative documentation of DC Mother Baby wellness social work staff.

• Identifies areas for improvement.

• Provide Clinical Supervision to clinical staff with a lower-level license (LGSW).

• Complete documentation of all relevant conversations, meetings and referrals.

• Actively communicate with team members and escalate any family concerns or needs to the appropriate person or service.

• Actively participate in team meetings.

Leadership

• Lead clinical aspects of the program by being primary point person.

• Communicate barriers, challenges and any issues that affect progress.

• Provide technical support and training to team members and partner organizations.

• Updates team members as frequently as needed to ensure "one voice" consistent communication to families.

• Act as a liaison among clinical services and between clinical services (primary care, psychiatry etc.) and support services (ie social work and case management)

New knowledge, Innovations and Improvements

• Support research of best practices for screening and response for maternal mental health concerns.

• Provide regular feedback to the program team on screening and response practices.

• Present work to internal and external audiences through conferences, seminar opportunities and other opportunities.

Organizational Accountabilities
Organizational Accountabilities (Staff)
Organizational Commitment/Identification

• Anticipate and responds to customer needs; follows up until needs are met

Teamwork/Communication

• Demonstrate collaborative and respectful behavior

• Partner with all team members to achieve goals

• Receptive to others’ ideas and opinions

Performance Improvement/Problem-solving

• Contribute to a positive work environment

• Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to change

• Identify opportunities to improve clinical and administrative processes

• Make appropriate decisions, using sound judgment

Cost Management/Financial Responsibility

• Use resources efficiently

• Search for less costly ways of doing things

Safety

• Speak up when team members appear to exhibit unsafe behavior or performance

• Continuously validate and verify information needed for decision making or documentation

• Stop in the face of uncertainty and takes time to resolve the situation

• Demonstrate accurate, clear and timely verbal and written communication

• Actively promote safety for patients, families, visitors and co-workers

• Attend carefully to important details - practicing Stop, Think, Act and Review in order to self-check behavior and performance