Care Coordinator - Children's Crisis Unit

The Care Coordinator at LifeStream will assist clients in the Children’s Crisis Unit in obtaining and maintaining placement in the least restricting community environment, reducing the need for crisis stabilization and psychiatric hospitalization.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS and RESPONSIBILITIES: The list of essential functions, as outlined herein, is intended to be representative of the tasks performed within this classification with or without an accommodation. It is not necessarily descriptive of any one position in the class. The omission of an essential function does not preclude management from assigning duties not listed herein if such functions are a logical assignment to the position. 

The Care Coordinator will provide care coordination and support services for clients who are at-risk for suicide for a minimum period of 90 days, or until the client can be successfully transitioned to case management services or maintain success without case management services. They will also provide clients and their families with an introduction and orientation to the program. Care Coordinators will work with the client and family to establish rapport, identify barriers to past and current service utilization, provide education about the utility of services, and build motivation to encourage participation in services.

• Care Coordinator shall provide the following linkages as applicable:
  • Access to suicide, behavioral health, and behavioral health services
  • Case management including assistance in connecting to benefits and other supportive services
  • Integration with primary healthcare physician for medical treatment and/or psychiatrist for medication management
  • Housing options; shelters, assisted living facilities, adult foster homes, independent living, etc. Residential programs, faith-based or spiritual care and support
  • Medication  clinic and/or pharmacy, entitlement and transportation services, psychosocial rehabilitation programs
  • Peer support and advocacy, Academic tutoring and mentoring
  • Substance use treatment
  • Meet with family to explain the suicide pathway policy, define care transitions and all aspects of care coordination including Well Checks if contact is not made or returned
• Upload documents outlining follow-up procedures and track contact with client (over 90 day period).
• Attend staffing meetings between agencies
• Collect and report on data measures related to client caseload
• Engage in discharge planning and education along with CSU staff, individual client and family
• Discuss and review Safety Plan/Wellness Toolkit upon discharge with client/family and CSU team and participates in discharge care instructions with nurse upon discharge
• Provide follow-up phone call within 24 and 72 hours upon discharge of CSU
• Provide follow-up calls at 7, 14, 21, 30, 60 and 90 days after day of discharge.
• Provide appointments within 7 days of the discharge from acute care with verification within 1 business day post appointment
• Collaborate with Mobile Crisis Team (MCT) to provide home visit within 24 – 36 hours after missed appointment time
• Record and document every contact and attempted contact
• Provide crisis intervention if youth is actively thinking about suicide which may include home visit, mobile crisis involvement, and any other support services deemed appropriate and document
• Ensure that PHQ-9 is completed at least every 30 days
• Review safety plan with youth and make changes as appropriate every 30 days or when there is a crisis share with other follow up providers

COMPETENCIES: Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Motivation (KSAM) required for an employee to be successful

• Serving Our Consumers: Effectively meeting consumer needs, building productive consumer relationships, and  taking responsibility for consumer satisfaction and loyalty.      
  • Consumer Focus: Dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect
  • Valuing Diversity: Works with and values all kinds and classes of people equitably; deals effectively with all races, nationalities, cultures, disabilities, ages and both sexes; supports equal and fair treatment and opportunity for all.
• Effective Communication: Clearly conveying information and ideas to individuals and groups in a manner that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message.  
  • Listening: Practices attentive and active listening; has the patience to hear people out; can accurately restate the opinions of others even when he/she disagrees.
  • Conflict Management: Steps up to conflicts, seeing them as opportunities; reads situations quickly; good at focused listening; can hammer out tough agreements and settle disputes equitably; can find common ground and get cooperation with minimum noise.
• Continuous Improvement: The ongoing process of achieving positive changes in service and processes in order to improve efficiency and quality. 
  • Organizing: Can marshal resources (people, funding, material, support) to get things done; can orchestrate multiple activities at once to accomplish a goal; uses resources effectively and efficiently; arranges information and files in a useful manner.
  • Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Expertise: Demonstrating proficiency of an employee's skill or knowledge within their field of practice. 
  • Functional/Technical Skills: Has the functional and technical knowledge and skills to do the job at a high level of accomplishment.

JUDGMENT/DECISION MAKING: Must be able to assure confidentiality while
maintaining open lines of communication. Must have the ability to identify potential and actual issues relating to the individual served or refer to the appropriate individual. Care coordinators/teams will also assess (on an ongoing basis) level of suicidal risk, stressors/needs, and adequacy of safety measures/supports.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:

• Required: Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited university or college with a major in counseling, social work, psychology, or a related human services field and one year full time or equivalent experience working with children at risk. Valid and current Florida Driver's License required.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT: Completes all requirements according to the FL LINC Grant and the Individual Training Plan within the first six months of hire and annually.

POSITION CONTENT: This job description is not intended to be and should not be construed as an all inclusive list of all the responsibilities, skills or working conditions associated with the position. While it is intended to accurately reflect the position activities and requirements, Management reserves the right to modify, and/or remove duties and assign other duties as necessary.