Part-time Fee For Service Clinician Portland Office

Alternative Wellness Services (AWS) is seeking a dedicated and client-focused Fee For Service Clinician to join our Clinical team. This position offers the flexibility of remote work or the option to be based out of our Portland office. We're seeking an individual with a strong commitment to integrity and a passion for delivering high-quality care. At AWS, our clinicians provide essential services to clients grappling with a variety of behavioral health or substance use challenges.

At AWS, we prioritize the well-being and satisfaction of our staff, recognizing that a supportive work culture is essential for excellence in our field. This commitment was a driving factor in AWS being honored as one of Maine’s Best Places to Work. We foster a healthy work environment through agency-wide activities such as holiday parties, multiple all-staff days, team contests, and weekly recognition of outstanding staff contributions.

As part of our team, Clinicians collaborate to deliver high-quality behavioral health services. We provide ample support for your professional growth through quality professional development opportunities, and individual and group supervision. Our Clinicians play an important role in helping clients improve their lives by gaining a deeper understanding of managing their behavioral health needs and developing the skills to achieve a balanced and fulfilling life.

The Outpatient Clinician is a key member of our team, embodying the mission and values of our agency as a mental health practitioner in our community mental health program. This role is vital in conducting intake assessments and providing direct individual and group counseling, all while deeply ingrained in our commitment to compassionate, client-centered care. In every interaction, the OPT Clinician is dedicated to considering clients' attitudes and feelings, actively engaging in our strengths-based approach to support informed decision-making, and empowering our clients on their unique paths to recovery.

Aligned with our ethos of meeting clients where they are in their recovery journey, the OPT Clinician, under appropriate supervision, is responsible for comprehensive screening, assessment, treatment planning, education, referral, and meticulous documentation. This role is crucial in fostering good communication and cultivating optimal relationships with vital partners. These include entities governing and auditing the program, ensuring its integrity, and the quality of its outcomes, and reflecting our unwavering commitment to excellence in service delivery.

In every aspect of their work, the OPT Clinician is a champion of our agency’s values, promoting a healing and supportive environment that resonates with our dedication to recovery, safety, and the betterment of our community. This position is more than a role; it is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve, guided by our core principles of integrity, accountability, and the relentless pursuit of quality care.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

1. Through individual and group counseling sessions, the clinician diagnoses and treats identified needs, ensuring an appropriate level of care based on their clinical assessment.
2. Conducting comprehensive assessments of clients' functioning, which include identifying strengths and weaknesses, evaluating emotional and physical functioning, and determining substance use/mental health diagnoses and treatment needs.
3. Providing strengths-based, recovery-oriented, client-centered, and trauma-informed counseling with a focus on harm reduction and understanding the stages of change.
4. Developing Individual Treatment Plans (ITPs) that address key areas targeted for improvement or change. These plans should include observable and measurable goals, objectives, and interventions, and are revised every 90 days.
5. Progress notes must be completed by the end of each business day.
6. Assessments are to be completed within 14 days of admission, or within two sessions, whichever comes first.
7. DEEP evaluations should be completed within 5 days following the evaluation.
8. Treatment plans need to be finalized within 21 days of admission, or within three sessions, whichever comes first.
9. WITS forms are required to be completed within 7 days of admission and again within 7 days of discharge.
10. Discharge plans must be prepared before the client's discharge. In cases where the client is not engaged, the discharge notification process should be followed, with the discharge plan completed within 7 days of the discharge date.
11. Monitoring insurance authorizations is a key responsibility of the clinician. Services should not be provided without active authorization. Clinicians are also responsible for completing KEPRO submissions before the expiration of the current authorization.
12. Supports the continuation and enhancement of the program's service quality through active participation with groups and individuals (both internal and external) associated with the program's work.
13. Participates in meetings related to program implementation and sustainability, including conferences, phone conferences, and webinars with entities governing and auditing the program's work.
14. Attends meetings and case presentations with medical/psychiatric care partners and other collaborators.
15. Consult with the supervisor to explore options for delivering a quality wellness/health management curriculum.
16. Actively participating in supervision sessions with the direct supervisor.
17. Achieving personal and professional goals as set and negotiated annually.
18. Aligning work to support the adopted standards and ensuring that your actions positively impact your identified clients.
19. Collecting data to support performance measures.
20. Making data-informed recommendations to enhance client satisfaction.
21. Developing and effectively maintaining relationships with both internal staff and external community members.
22. Ensures personal safety by identifying hazards in the working environment, utilizing and advocating for the use of proper ergonomic methods, complying with and enforcing adherence to agency safety policies and procedures, reporting potential hazards, and promptly reporting work-related injuries.
23. Enhances the Agency's culture by actively supporting its mission and embodying its core values in daily activities and interactions.
24. Fosters a collaborative work environment with co-workers within the department and throughout the agency by:
25. Upholding a positive, solution-focused attitude, actively listening, acknowledging the diverse demands faced by others, and striving for the most beneficial solutions for the agency.

• Masters in social work or counseling is required.
• Clinical Conditional (LMSW-CC or LCPC-C) required. Licensed Clinical Social Worker or Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor preferred.
• Ability to pass a comprehensive background check, and a current, valid Maine Driver's License (within 30 days of hire if the applicant is from out-of-state) and record acceptable to AWS and the Agency’s auto insurance carrier. Current proof of personal auto insurance.
• Proficient in Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, Zoom, EHR software, and other agency-utilized computer programs.
• Ability to maintain a flexible work schedule in accordance with employee, client, and programmatic needs.

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Possesses strong and diverse clinical knowledge, including fluency in recovery-oriented services, trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, and the treatment of co-occurring disorders, along with a solid understanding of the principles of harm reduction.
• Demonstrated experience in developing successful relationships with key work partners.
• Experience with integrated healthcare and substance use treatment preferred.