The Team Leader will serve as the senior clinician on the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team; and have overall responsibility for the direct supervision of employees on their team and will oversee the coordination and quality of services for clients on their team. They will develop a cohesive team by hiring and training dynamic clinicians, providing coaching and mentoring to team members. The Team Leader will routinely interface with other Team Leaders, Managers, Executive Team and external partners to enhance communication, cooperation/collaboration across programs/departments, as well as community partner in order to improve the quality and comprehensiveness of services provided. The Team Leader will provide and ensure the team provides client-centered, strengths-based, and trauma-informed services to clients with severe mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse/addiction utilizing a harm reduction approach.

Essential Responsibilities

• Complete weekly supervision with employees to provide feedback and follow-up on employee duties and responsibilities
• Assess team’s morale and continue to work towards keeping employee and team culture positive.
• Model a client-centered, recovery-oriented approach to services that includes the use of evidenced based practices, i.e. trauma informed care, motivational interviewing, and harm reduction techniques.
• Coordinate care with interdisciplinary staff and family members to ensure continuity of care for clients.
• Recognize and act on opportunities to move clients to appropriate levels of care; provide referrals to additional services as indicated.
• Track capacity for the team to ensure that staff to client ratios are at appropriate numbers.
• Assess client’s personal, medical, emotional, social, and environmental situation through home, community, and office visits.
• Assist clients in identifying signs and symptoms of de-compensation and need for hospitalization. Work collaboratively with clients to identify coping skills to assist in managing symptoms and stressors experienced.
• Support team members with crisis such as petitioning, and wellness checks.
• Support team members in working to assist clients in learning and improving independent living skills, applying for entitlements, accompanying clients to important appointments in the community and providing support with issues related to housing, substance use, budgeting, medical issues, social support, and medication.
• Model effective communication within the team model for a multi-disciplinary approach to client care.
• Assist the team with scheduling daily to ensure that all clients that need to be seen are on the schedule and assist with seeing clients as needed.
• Run regularly scheduled team meetings and convey information/changes that are coming from management to the team.
• Assist with hiring and onboarding new employees and ongoing training of staff to provide quality services to clients.
• Provide clients with services in the community when needed.
• Provide support to staff that work on the weekends.
• Monitor employees’ direct service hours and ensures that direct reports and the team are meeting direct service targets.
• Monitor client charts and staff’s time management to ensure all documentation is complete and on time (IM-CANs, notes, etc …)
• Monitor Relias Trainings to ensure staff are current with all annual trainings.
• Track client psych appointments to ensure clients are being seen by a psychiatrist on a regular basis.
• Be familiar with authorization processes for level of care and ensure timely responses to insurance issues that arise.
• Work with the Financial Services Department to finalize client’s rental payments, submit client budgets and BMFs which includes making adjustments as needed
• Monitor team expenditures of client assistance and client loan funds
• Perform other related duties and/or projects as assigned

Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Social Work, Psychology, Counseling, or other closely related field
• Licensed Social Worker (LSW) or Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) required
• Minimum two years experience working with people with mental health and/or substance abuse diagnoses
• Valid Illinois driver’s license with daily access to a well-maintained vehicle with $100, 000/$300, 000 liability insurance
• Supervisory or leadership experience highly preferred