Primary SUD Counselor

Holland America-Princess (Holland America Dawson City Inn); Anchorage, Northern (AK, KY); Hybrid; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Akeela in Alaska seeks a licensed counselor to provide therapeutic services to Primary Care clients, including assessments, skill-based groups, and individual counseling, with crisis management as needed. Responsibilities cover counseling, group sessions, ongoing assessment, treatment planning, and collaboration with client and family.

This role emphasizes culturally sensitive care and maintaining confidential, accurate records.

Qualifications

• BA/BS in psychology, social work, counseling, or related behavioral-health field; or certificate.
• Advanced degree in psychology, social work, counseling, or related field preferred.
• Certification such as CDC I or BHC by ACBHC or equivalent; experience may be accepted with 6 months to hire.

Responsibilities

• Establish warm, respectful client relationships and ongoing assessment.
• Facilitate client engagement in treatment and recovery processes.
• Set realistic, achievable treatment goals aligned with recovery.
• Promote strategies supporting recovery, health, and HIV/AIDS prevention.
• Provide crisis management as needed and coordinate with family members as appropriate.
• Maintain confidentiality and document services in EHR per policy.

Skills

Communication

Clinical expertise

Dealing with change

Approachability

Interpersonal skills

Time management

Education

BA/BS in psychology or related field

Master’s degree (MA/MS) in psychology or counseling

Certification as CDC I or BHC (ACBHC)

Experience in addictions or behavioral health (3+ yrs)

Job description

Position Summary

Provide therapeutic services to Primary Care clients. This includes assessment of clients to establish the level of services needed, the provision of clinical skill-based and process groups, as well as individual counseling. Provide crisis management services as needed.

Competencies

• Communication skills.
• Clinical expertise.
• Dealing with change.
• Approachability.
• Interpersonal skills.
• Time management/prioritization.

Responsibilities

Counseling

• Establish a helping relationship with the client characterized by warmth, respect, genuineness, concreteness and empathy through a continuing assessment process.
• Facilitate the client’s engagement in the treatment/recovery process.
• Work with the client to establish realistic, achievable treatment goals consistent with achieving and maintaining recovery.
• Encourage and reinforce all client actions that are determined to be beneficial in progressing toward treatment goals.
• Recognize how, when, and why to use the client’s family members or significant others (as appropriate) to enhance or support the treatment plan.
• Promote client knowledge, skills, and attitudes that contribute to a positive change in substance abuse behaviors.
• Promote client knowledge, skills, and attitudes consistent with the maintenance of good health (as defined by both the client culture and the treatment culture) and the prevention of HIV/AIDS, TB, STD’s, and other communicable diseases.
• Facilitate the development of basic and life skills associated with recovery and the understanding of their existing mental illness.
• Adapt counseling strategies to the individual characteristics of the client, including (but not limited to): disability, gender, sexual orientation, developmental level, acculturation, ethnicity, age, and health status.
• Make constructive therapeutic responses when the client behavior is inconsistent with stated recovery goals.
• Apply crisis management skills.
• Mentor the client’s identification, selection, and practice of strategies that help sustain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for maintaining treatment progress, relapse prevention, maintenance of their mental illness and continuing care.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

Group Counseling

• Describe, select, and appropriately use strategies from accepted and evidence-based, culturally appropriate models for group counseling with addicted or substance abusing client.
• Perform the actions necessary to start a group, including determining group type, purpose, size, and leadership; recruiting and selecting members; establishing group goals and clarifying behavioral ground rules for participating; identifying outcomes; and determining criteria and methods for termination or graduation from the group.
• Facilitate the entry of new members and the transition of existing members.
• Facilitate group growth within the established ground rules, and precipitate movement toward group and individual goals by using methods consistent with group type.
• Understand the concepts of “process” and “content” and shift the focus of the group when such an intervention will help the group move toward its goals.
• Describe and summarize client behavior within the group for the purpose of documenting the client’s progress and identifying needs/issues that may require modification of the treatment plan.

Continuing Assessment and Treatment Planning

• Maintain ongoing contact with the client, and involved significant others, to ensure adherence to the treatment plan.
• Understand and recognize culturally appropriate stages of change and other signs of treatment progress.
• Assess treatment/recovery progress and, in consultation with the client, client’s family and significant others, (as appropriate) make appropriate changes to the treatment plan to ensure progress toward treatment objectives.
• Describe and document treatment process, progress, and outcome.
• Utilize referral skills.
• Conduct continuing care, relapse prevention and discharge planning with the client and involve family members and significant others as appropriate.
• Apply placement, continued stay, and discharge criteria for each modality on continuum of care.
• Documents all client services using Akeela’s designated ‘Electronic Health Record’ (ERH) and maintains accurate and timely client records in accordance with Akeela policy.
• To maintain confidentiality as required by Akeela policies.

Qualifications and Requirements

Meets at least one of the following requirements for degree/certification:

• BA/BS in psychology, social work, counseling, or in a behavioral-health related field; or
• Certification as a Chemical Dependency Counselor (CDC) I or Behavioral Health Counselor I (BHC) or higher by Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification (ACBHC), or certification by another certifying body, such as a state certifying affiliate of the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) or other similar recognized organization; experience judged as meeting certification requirements may be accepted provided the applicant be certified within six months of hire.
• Advanced degree (masters-level or doctoral-level) in psychology, social work, counseling, or in a behavioral-health related field; or
• Prefer three (3) years of experience in addictions, social services, mental health, or related field.