Mental Health Counselor

Gay Men's Health Crisis [GMHC] is the world's first and leading provider of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy. Building on decades of dedication and expertise, we understand the reality of HIV/AIDS and empower a healthy life for all. GMHC fights to end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives of all affected.

The Mental Health Counselor will work full-time at two locations of Mt. Sinai Hospital (Harlem and East Chelsea) providing some or all the following: crisis intervention, brief psychotherapy associated with PEP, individual and group counseling with a specific focus on motivational interviewing and harm reduction interventions to reduce risk associated with substance use and other behaviors. The mental health counselor will also assist with linkages to other GMHC services, as well as other social services within the larger community. The Mental Health counselor will work towards improving overall functioning of clients by collaboratively developing individualized treatment plans that address the continuum of bio-psychosocial needs of each client. This position will be a part of a multidisciplinary team which provides HIV testing and non-occupational post exposure prophylaxis HIV to those who are HIV positive. The Mental Health Counselor maintains strong working relationships with a variety of internal and external professional colleagues, at all locations, in particular the Assistant Directors of Mental Health Services at GMHC.

Duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Provide crisis counseling as needed and regularly scheduled individual and group counseling/psychotherapy services using motivational interviewing and harm reduction interventions.
• Conduct intakes and bio psychosocial assessments; complete comprehensive treatment plans with clients that include regularly scheduled updates and monitoring for treatment completion and/or need for referrals to other services and providers.
• Identify appropriate resources to address client needs and provide liaison services to other programs at GMHC and referral services to programs in the larger community.
• Identify, build and maintain collocated and external support systems.
• Create all service-level and programmatic-level documentation/statistics with accuracy and submit in a timely manner.
• Coordinate, in conjunction with physicians, nurses, and other mental health and healthcare providers, the provision of client's mental health services.
• Prepare for, and maintain regular attendance at, supervision, team meetings, and required trainings.
• Regularly engage and support problem-solving and programmatic improvements so that programmatic and fiscal audits are successful.
• Develop excellent working relationships with team members at both Mt. Sinai and GMHC.
• Adhere to all rules, requirements, and relevant policies of Mt. Sinai and GMHC, and well as those of the funder of this program.

Education: Master's degree in social work, mental health counseling, psychology with NYS license enabling the practitioner to provide psychotherapy in the State of NY

Experience: Established clinical expertise working with persons living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, substance use/abuse issues, and with mental health issues. Proven skills in motivational interviewing, harm reduction counseling, engaging and working with sexual minority and young adults

Experience/interest in program evaluation and program development. Experience working with medical and PHS reporting systems such as AIRS, eShare, and EMR preferred. Working in a HIPAA regulated and/or JHACO governed environments is also preferred

Related Skills/Knowledge: The Mental Health Counselor should have thorough knowledge of HIV/AIDS, substance use populations, mental health and substance use counseling interventions. Excellent written, verbal, and organizational skills are required. Proficiency in computer systems is necessary. Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of two interdisciplinary treatment teams. Must be a professional, self-motivated, responsible individual who possess good communication skills and is able to develop and maintain interagency liaisons as a means of meeting client's needs. Solid understanding or ability to support the overall well-being of clients including: need for psychiatric care, vocational training, and more intensive treatment. Bilingual English/Spanish preferred