General Description: With limited supervision, provide therapeutic services to adult or pediatric inpatients at OU Health who are admitted to an inpatient medical unit and are in need of outpatient or inpatient mental health services.

Essential Functions/Duties:

Responsibilities listed in this section are core to the position.  Inability to perform these responsibilities with or without an accommodation may result in disqualification from the position.

• Provides social services to patients and their families for an assigned medical service. 
• Conducts therapeutic interviews of patients and/or family members to gather needed information. 
• Makes psychosocial and diagnostic assessments and relates findings to necessary hospital staff. 
• Counsels patients and other persons regarding mental health diseases, treatments, social or financial situations, emotional stress and/or other mental health/social problems. 
• Conducts suicide and violence safety assessments and provides crisis counseling to patients and families regarding suicide/violence risk, abuse or neglect, physical abuse, etc. and documents these sessions.
• Provides services of crisis intervention for patients and families.  
• Acts as a liaison between patients/families and the hospital staff and other agencies.
• Utilizes available information to evaluate the effectiveness of services provided in producing the desired outcomes and makes adjustments in patient care if indicated. 
• Assists in discharge planning and referrals to the community for ongoing services.
• Assists the patient and family with post hospital placement or transfer to an inpatient or outpatient mental health facility when indicated.
• Assists patients and families with adverse reactions or difficult adjustments to illness, treatment or changes in functional status. 
• Utilizes specialized interviewing and communication skills with mentally ill clients.
• Acts as a patient advocate for issues related to informed decision making, end-of-life care, realistic goal setting and appropriate resolution of ethical dilemmas. 
• Prepares statistics concerning referrals, extended stay, the mental health population, safety attendant cases length of stay, and other elements as assigned. 
• Supervises students or newly hired employees as assigned.
• Works with consultative services, including but not limited to psychiatry, adolescent medicine, or others, to assist with brief psychotherapeutic interventions for medically ill inpatients, evaluation and assistance with placement of patients requiring inpatient psychiatric care and may include completion of required LMHP paperwork for emergency detention.
• Assists patients with Psychotherapy or Cognitive Behavior Therapy as needed.

General Responsibilities:

• Performs other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications:

Education: Master’s Degree in Social Work required.

Experience: Two (2) years of post-graduate Social Work experience in a healthcare setting required. Experience with adult or children’s behavioral healthcare preferred.

License(s)/Certification(s)/Registration(s) Required: Current Clinical Social Worker license (LCSW) from the Oklahoma State Board of Licensed Social Workers.  Basic Life Support (BLS) - American Heart Association (AHA).

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:  

• Knowledge of the principles and practices of  individual and group psychotherapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, social and psychological casework, of social and welfare resources available in the community and hospital, of current social and economic conditions, trends and problems. 
• Analytical skills sufficiently strong to interpret situations and determine the appropriate course of action.  
• Ability to explain technical data in a form understandable by patients, families and hospital staff. 
• Good interpersonal and communication skills.