Mental Health Worker

Kaiser Permanente; Fremont (CA); On-site; USD 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider seeks a Mental Health Worker to support psychiatric and physical care for patients. This role involves direct patient interactions, ensuring safety, facilitating therapy groups, and assisting with daily living activities in a therapeutic environment focused on recovery.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6 months direct patient care experience in acute psychiatric settings.
• Knowledge of mental health functions and basic patient care activities.

Responsibilities

• Initiate and observe patient needs to ensure safety on the unit.
• Participate in treatment planning and implementation.

Skills

Communication

Empathy

Critical Judgment

Education

Associates Degree or equivalent coursework in nursing or social sciences

Tools

Basic Life Support

Job description

Job Summary:

The Mental Health Worker provides support to ensure both the psychiatric and physical nursing care needs of patients are met. These staff members have an essential role in promoting and maintaining a healthy, safe, and therapeutic treatment setting that allows the recovery process to occur within the individual. This includes functioning as a member of the health care team and evaluating, intervening and providing therapeutic one to one interaction to patients using the Wellness and Recovery Philosophy. The Mental Health Worker provides direct care to patients on the unit and participates in observing, recording and reporting patient behaviors. Under the direction of the leadership of the facility, these individuals are responsible to ensure the unit is safe and patients are actively participating in the program.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Responsible for initiating, observing, documenting and communicating the needs of the patient in order to ensure safety on the unit. This may include, but is not limited to, Line of Sight precautions or one on one supervision of the patients as clinically indicated and assigned. Requires critical judgment and communication to staff in a timely manner in order to ensure appropriate intervention of Clinical involvement.
• Facilitates and/or co-facilitates groups with other members of the team based upon training and level of competence.
• Assist in ensuring patients are maintaining activities of daily living including feeding, hygiene and ambulating.
• Thorough knowledge of treatment philosophy, treatment goals, policies, rules and regulations must make independent judgments in the course of providing basic patient care activities, which include but may not be limited to orienting the patient to the unit, taking vital signs, meal observations and other critical patient care activities designed to ensure safe patient care.
• Participates in the treatment planning process and supports the implementation of the treatment plan on the unit with the patient.
• Assists in the delivery of physical care as needed and performs other related duties as assigned.
• Perform other related duties as necessary.

Grade 375

Basic Qualifications: Experience

• Minimum 6 months direct patient care experience in an acute psychiatric hospital or psychiatric health facility or two (2) years of experience within the last five (5) years delivering direct patient focused on behavioral disabilitities.

Education

• Associates Degree or an equivalent of two years college course work in nursing, the social or behavioral sciences.

License, Certification, Registration

• Basic Life Support

Additional Requirements:

• Demonstrated skills and ability to care for acutely mentally ill individuals.
• Knowledge of the challenges involved in management of the acute or chronically mentally ill patient and possible associated behaviors.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing including computer skills.
• Knowledge of basic mental health functions, such as assisting with activities of daily living, obtaining vital signs, documentation observations.
• Ability to relate empathetically to adult psychiatric patients.
• Must be willing to work in a Labor Management Partnership environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bilingual skills preferred.
• Knowledge of treatment philosophy, treatment goals, policies, rules and regulations related to patient care as well as interest in working in a recovery promoting environment using a Wellness/Recovery Model preferred.
• Knowledge of the principles involved in the treatment, interventions, and procedures provided by the service preferred.
• Knowledge of the medical terminology used in psychiatric care of patients preferred.