Social Worker MSW Child and Youth Mental Health Standard

Job Summary

In accordance with the Mission, Vision and Values and strategic directions of Provincial Health Services Authority, patient safety is a priority and a responsibility shared by everyone at PHSA, and as such, the requirement to continuously improve quality and safety is inherent in all aspects of this position. Consistent with the interprofessional setting the Social Worker provides mental health and/or addictions assessments and intervention to assist children, youth, women and their families presenting with serious mental health and/or addiction issues. Intervention services provided by the Social Worker include; family assessments, crisis intervention, short-term counseling, individual, family and group therapy, advocacy, liaison with community services; coordination of resources, consultation with teams, collaboration with community agencies, education, program planning and research. Social work services are provided to patients and their families to address social and emotional stressors resulting from the interaction of physical, social, cultural, and psychological outcomes associated with assessment, diagnosis and treatment. The Social Worker provides consultation to team members and relevant community agencies regarding child welfare concerns. The Social Worker promotes family-centered care on a case by case basis within BC Children’s Hospital, BC Mental Health and Addiction Services and the community.

Duties/Accountabilities:

1. Conducts comprehensive mental health and/or addiction, and family assessments by methods such as interviewing the patient and family, obtaining relevant information, gathering social data regarding the patient and family and formulation of assessment and plan of intervention, in accordance with professional practice standards and clinical policies.

2. Provides mental health clinical intervention in the context of evidence based care to children, youth, women and their families through individual, family and group therapy.

3. Supports patients and their families by providing education, short-term counselling and crisis intervention during the adjustment to hospitalization, new diagnosis of mental health and/or addiction issues, and change or loss in mental health functioning.

4. Facilitates comprehensive mental health and/or addiction discharge planning with the team, patient, family and community agencies to ensure psycho-social follow-up.

5. Establishes and maintains effective collaborative and constructive liaison relationships with a variety of individuals and groups, including patients and families, community providers, MCFD social workers, schools, hospitals and other agencies, in order to coordinate services across the continuum of health care.

6. Participates in program planning and development as part of an inter-professional team within BC Children’s Hospital and BC Mental Health and Addiction Services and the continuum of health care. Identifies, promotes and participates in program planning strategies to enhance system processes and resources for patients and their families.

7. Promotes patient and family care by participating in relevant committee work within the Social Work discipline, specialized program, hospital-setting, and/or continuum of health care. Collaborates with team members in many forums, both informal and formal, in case consultations by attending team meetings, rounds, and psycho-social forums relevant to family centered care.

8. Provides consultation to team members and relevant community services regarding child protection concerns by being knowledgeable of risk indicators and helping in the identification of risk situations in keeping with the Child, Family, and Community Services Act and provides consultation from a psycho-social perspective.

9. Advocates for the patient and family or caregiver for resources within the hospital and the community by determining the financial and other material needs through assessment and working in coordination with community resources to meet these needs.

10. Supervises Master level social work students on field education practicum within the program by performing duties such as demonstrating and explaining procedures and processes and providing input regarding progress. Provides students with the opportunity to observe and take an active role in the treatment of patients and their families.

11. Provides orientation to new employees and social work staff by explaining the scope of practice within the program.

12. Provides information and/or in-services regarding the social work role, scope of practice, psycho-social comprehensive assessment and interventions, needs of families and family dynamics, and relevant legislation concerning children and child welfare issues. Provides information on formalized agreements between C&W and MCFD relevant to child protection protocols and other formal agreements with community agencies.

13. Provides information to interprofessional team members of the C&W guidelines, such as Children and Youth at Risk for Abuse and Neglect.

14. Provides clinical consultation on psycho-social issues indicators of referrals and priority setting with interprofessional team members by presenting at team days and case rounds. Presents at in-services within the hospital and community.

15. Participates in psycho-social research activities and program planning and development relevant to the needs of the patient and family by methods such as collaborating with members of the interprofessional team, conducting literature searches and planning forums for presentation of findings.

16. Maintains current knowledge on social work evidence based practice in mental health and/or addiction by such methods as reviewing literature, consulting with clinical and community experts in the field, evaluating clinical practice and participating in professional development activities in order to improve care through new practices.

17. Participates in strategic discipline planning and professional practice by attending regular meetings

18. Implements appropriate evidence based research outcomes into strategic planning and professional practice.

19. Performs administrative tasks by maintaining clinical documentation, progress notes, workload statistics and updating health records in accordance with established standards.

20. Performs other related duties as required.

Qualifications

Education, Training and Experience

• Master’s Degree in Social Work from an accredited School of Social Work, including relevant graduate level mental health courses and mental health practicum.
• Minimum 1 year recent related clinical experience working within a child, youth and women’s mental health and addictions setting relevant to the service area within BC Mental Health & Addictions Services; must include experience in child protection, child development and grief and loss, women’s issues, women abuse and harm reduction model; or an equivalent combination of education, training or experience.
• Current full registration with the British Columbia College of Social Workers.

Skills and Abilities

• Comprehensive knowledge of Social Work theory and practice.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct and document a comprehensive psychosocial and family assessment in mental health.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and ability to provide crisis intervention, short term counselling and individual, family and group therapy.
• Knowledge of the psychosocial needs of children/families with mental health conditions.
• Knowledge of the normal development of children.
• Demonstrated knowledge of mental health diagnoses as they relate to children and youth
• Demonstrated knowledge and ability to work with mental health and addiction issues including DSM and mental health assessment of depression, suicide and anxiety.
• Knowledge of Mental Health Act, Infants Act and Child and Family Community Services Act.
• Demonstrated knowledge of community resources in mental health for children and youth.
• Knowledge of child protection issues and relevant legislation concerning children, consents and FOIPPA.
• Knowledge of formalized agreements between C&W and MCFD relevant to child protection protocols and other formal agreements with community agencies.
• Knowledge of C&W guidelines such as, Children and Youth at Risk for Abuse and Neglect.
• Demonstrated knowledge and ability to work with grief and loss issues.
• Working knowledge of other health care disciplines and their role in client care.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and effectively in an inter-professional environment.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate both verbally and in writing, and to deal effectively with co-workers, physicians, other health care professionals, clients and their families, and external agencies.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, organize and prioritize work.
• Demonstrated ability to deal with and/or guide others in resolution of conflict issues.
• Demonstrated ability to teach Social Work students and other team members both formally and informally.
• Ability to present at in-services within the hospital and community.
• Demonstrated problem solving abilities.
• Knowledge of community resources.
• Demonstrated ability to advocate for families as they navigate the health care system.
• Working knowledge of research processes and methodology.
• Demonstrated physical ability to perform the duties of the position.
• Basic computer literacy to operate a computerized patient care information system.