Social Work Specialist I - Psychiatry - IMPACT

University of Iowa Health Care Department of Psychiatry is seeking a Social Work Specialist I to serve on the Integrated Multidisciplinary Program of Assertive Community Treatment (IMPACT) team.  This position will collaborate with MD’s, RN’s, the multidisciplinary IMPACT team, community agencies and other members of the UI Health Care in providing community-based care for patients in the IMPACT program.  The Social Work Specialist I will provide leadership and advanced social work practice skills to coordinate social work activities related to the treatment of patients with substance use and/or mental health disorders and will contribute to the social work profession, building on social work education and experience to enhance department initiatives and patient experience.  

IMPACT is an evidence-based practice model designed to provide treatment, rehabilitation and support services to individuals who are diagnosed with a severe and persistent mental illness and whose needs have not been well met by more traditional mental health services. The ACT team provides services directly to an individual in their home and community that are tailored to meet his or her specific needs and does so through collaborative work within University of Iowa Health Care and community agencies to assure appropriate psychiatric support and ensure courteous, helpful, and respectful services to program clients.

Characteristic Duties and Responsibilities
•    Demonstrates initiative in problem solving and program development and/or identifies, conducts, and documents research and special projects.
o    Originates new ideas and initiates problem solving and program development.
o    Develops services that improve patient care and benefit the clinical service, the department, and/or the hospital.
o    Serves as an agent of planned change.
o    Consciously uses self and professional skills to achieve goals.
•    Demonstrates knowledge of practice areas.
o    Demonstrates conceptual and technical knowledge.
o    Demonstrates ability to apply theoretical knowledge.
o    Completes further education related to job/assignment.
o    Continues to build relationships with patients and families to develop and implement plan of care, using clinical impressions to address treatment adherence and access to care concerns.
•    Contributes to social work practice.
o    Serves as a practicum instructor for social work students or acts as a job shadow guide for short term placements.
o    Serves as a mentor for new staff, teaching core and advanced competencies and/or evaluating new staff.
o    Provides education on social work skills, including diagnostic and treatment, and provides information on specialized areas of practice.
o    Evaluates own professional practice and improves care based on results.
o    Seeks opportunities to enhance own professional knowledge, skills, and abilities as they relate to current position and/or to prepare for potential future roles and overall career development.
•    Understands and applies recovery principles to all aspects of care
o    Includes identification of unique needs, strengths, and assets in patient assessments.
o    Includes individualized treatment plans: goals that reflect patient/family participation, strategies to support/build patient strengths, assets and goals, strategies that will help patients and all staff minimize the use of coercive interventions.
o    Involves family/support system in care to the extent possible by: encouraging visitation, allowing participation in assessment, treatment planning, education and discharge planning, communicating an understanding of the impact of mental illness on families, therapeutic approaches to explore and possibly reduce patient reluctance to involve family/support system.
o    Characterizes interactions with others in all work settings by: respectful, person-centered language, recovery-enhancing relationships with patients, conversations that communicate an understanding of the impact of stigma, discrimination and social isolation, and attempts to reduce it.

Staff Type: SEIU, Allied Health Professional

Type of Position: 75% - 100%