Position Summary:

The Behavioral Health and Justice Division (BHJD) is committed to working towards reducing criminal justice involvement for Philadelphians with behavioral health challenges, including Serious Mental Illness (SMI). BHJD organizes its work according to the Sequential Intercept Model, identifying opportunities to intervene at various points of criminal justice system involvement to deflect and divert individuals away from further penetration of the system and into the behavioral health system. By helping connect individuals to needed treatment and support services that promote stability in the community, BHJD believes that Philadelphians are less likely to be arrested and can achieve health, well-being, and self-determination. BHJD also aligns with Stepping Up and focuses its efforts on lowering the number of Philadelphians with SMI admitted to the Philadelphia Department of Prisons (PDP), reducing their length of stay, connecting them to treatment/supports upon release, and reducing recidivism.

The Forensic Support Team (FST) of BHJD was established to meet the unique needs of Philadelphians who are adjudicated not competent to stand trial. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator is a part of this team, which was created to work within the Philadelphia Department of Prisons (PDP) and Norristown State Hospital (NSH) in order to assist individuals while in jail, when transitioning from jail to NSH, and when re-entering the community typically under the court’s jurisdiction. To support this forensic population, the FST and the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator help individuals navigate the Philadelphia judicial and behavioral health systems while also seeking to address each individual’s unique legal, behavioral, medical, physical, cultural, and/or financial needs. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator becomes an important part of a team comprised of: one (1) FST Supervisor (a licensed psychologist); three (3) Clinical Assessors, and one (1) Post-Doctoral Resident.

The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator functions to coordinate activities of the FST in addition to completing clinical assessments and system navigation for justice-involved individuals with behavioral health challenges. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator is responsible for orienting new team members, supervising Master’s or Bachelor’s level interns, taking the lead on team initiatives, facilitating internal or external meetings, and assisting with community-referred evaluations. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator also assists the FST Supervisor with review of the team’s evaluations. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator can also provide ad-hoc/booster training to enhance the forensic report writing of Masters-level clinicians. This provides an extra layer of quality control and improvement in report writing, allowing a senior FST member to support skill development in other FST members. In addition, since FST is part of BHJD, the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator would be expected to assist with division-wide projects that could encompass behavioral health, justice-related programs or initiatives overseen by BHJD.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator will utilize their experience and knowledge in the field to assist individuals who have been adjudicated not competent to stand trial (IST) and/or non-restorable due to severe mental illness and criminal justice involvement. More specifically, the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator will help these individuals and the individual’s support system to navigate PDP, NSH, the court system, residential programs (if needed), and support services upon reentry into the community. He or she will also reduce barriers that keep these individuals with mental illness and criminal justice involvement from accessing timely treatment by identifying behavioral health needs and directing individuals to appropriate resources.

To be successful in this role, the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator must be:

Relationship builder:

Building and maintaining effective working relationships is the foundation of effective forensic navigation. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator will continue to build upon existing relationships and utilize those relationships to improve coordination of care and reduce barriers for re-entry for people with mental illness who are involved with the legal system. The Clinical Assessors, and especially the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator, have collaborative working relationships with several different groups of people: individuals who are incarcerated, the individual’s family members, healthcare teams within PDP, assistant district attorneys, defense attorneys, criminal court officials, Norristown State Hospital staff, and resource providers within the community. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator will also be asked to orient and introduce new staff members to these systems. When orienting staff or building work relationships, the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator is expected to practice cultural humility.

Clinical care coordinator

The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator conducts forensic evaluations and coordinates care for individuals who are adjudicated not competent and/or non-restorable in Philadelphia. They coordinate with the court system, NSH, and treatment providers to determine the most clinically as well as culturally appropriate and effective interventions and levels of care, and they provide the needed linkages. They plan re-entry for individuals who will be returning to the community. Moreover, the FST Coordinator enhances the continuity of care as individuals transition between PDP, NSH and the community. They may be tasked with assisting other members of the team with cases as appropriate.

Creative problem solver

The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator finds creative solutions to barriers. Some individuals with mental illness utilize commonly used services, but others have unique needs that require initiative and creative thinking to locate the appropriate resources. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator will utilize their years of experience and educational resources gained through licensure to locate and access such resources.

Organized information manager

The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator manages and tracks a large amount of information about each individual that he or she evaluates and the multiple systems that each individual must navigate. He/she will monitor referrals, evaluations, legal statuses, and treatment histories of Philadelphians who are adjudicated not competent and/or non-restorable. In addition, the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator will be tasked with assisting the FST Supervisor with tracking challenging cases, initiating clinical follow-up and taking the lead on organizational charts. By law, this information must be kept confidential and secure. It is important that the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator understands how to ethically manage this information with a professional and systematic approach.

Peer Supervision and Training

The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator assists the FST Supervisor with review of the team’s evaluations. This allows team members to receive support from a senior team member in developing their writing style and learning best principles of forensic report writing. The Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator will also work with the FST Supervisor to address areas of improvement for reports and provide individualized training to help build staff report writing skills.

Specific duties:

• Perform Level of Care and other-discharge related assessments for individuals adjudicated not competent and/or non-restorable that are detained at the PDP or NSH
• Conduct psychologist testing for complex clinical referrals, including assessment of individuals with potential neurocognitive or neurodevelopmental conditions, assessment of individuals with personality disorders, and assessment of individuals with severe and unremitting serious mental illness
• Attend treatment team meetings for individuals detained at NSH to monitor progress and/or changes in clinical presentation
• Facilitate access to re-entry services and programs
• Identify individuals for diversion and share with appropriate justice partners
• Review legal status, commitment type, charges, competency opinions and findings, and clinical needs for all individuals on the waitlist to NSH on an ongoing basis
• Maintain accurate, confidential records documenting services provided and unmet needs using appropriate databases
• Remain current with resource and referral information
• Maintain list of community resources
• Alert key individuals (e.g., PDP staff, Public Defender) upon marked changes in clinical or legal status to trigger appropriate interventions
• Coordinate with courts to ensure timely court hearings and legal proceedings, particularly when an individual’s clinical or legal status changes
• Assist the FST Supervisor in managing and supervising the FST, including providing direct supervision to select Master’s-level Clinical Assessors
• Assist the FST Supervisor in serving as BHJD liaison to internal and external partners (e.g., IdS, CBH, TIP) Provide early-stage review of FST reports and identifying areas of report writing development for junior team members
• Provide individualized training to team members to assist in report writing skill development
• Build and maintain relationships with key staff
• Attendance at conferences to represent and support DBHIDS
• Identify gaps in re-entry resources offered and work to bridge those gaps
• Provide behavioral health literacy and continuity of care training to both behavioral health providers and criminal justice personnel
• Other duties as assigned

Other Job Requirements:

Provide updated progress reports for criminal court hearings and attend those hearings when necessary. Assist with a division-wide projects, orientation of new Clinical Assessors, and supervision of a Master’s or Bachelor’s level intern (if applicable). In addition to the above responsibilities, the Staff Psychologist & FST Coordinator would also take the lead with team initiatives, facilitate internal or external meetings, and assist with community-referred evaluations.

Education, Experience, and Skills Required:

This position requires a doctoral degree in Psychology (Clinical, Counseling, or Educational; PsyD, PhD, or EdD), from an accredited program. Must be a Licensed Psychologist in Pennsylvania or license-eligible; employment is contingent upon licensure being granted. Strong preference for an individual with at least two years of experience in clinical-forensic assessment and/or violence risk assessment. Practicum, predoctoral internship, and postdoctoral residence/fellowship experience count towards this preference.

Demonstrated skills in communication, problem solving, and decision making. Ability to skillfully communicate verbally and in writing with a variety of multidisciplinary partners, including judges, attorneys, jail staff, provider agencies, psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers. Supervision and leadership skills are preferred.

Physical Demands:

Ability to physically perform the duties and to work in the environmental conditions required such as maneuvering in office space – reaching file cabinets, fax and copier machines when necessary. Must be able to sit for up to 2 hours looking at a computer monitor and using a keyboard and mouse to perform data entry functions. Able to travel locally via public transportation and on foot from 1601 Market Street to 1101 Market Street, CBH, and various other destinations as needed.

Essential Functions:

Valid driver’s license and use of personal licensed and insured vehicle during work hours or ability to navigate public transportation to attend sites in person throughout the city. Ability to effectively utilize computers, databases, and related common office software packages such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Ability to pass all background checks required.

Equal Opportunity Employment:

PMHCC is committed to equal opportunity. It is our policy to support equal employment for all employees and applicants without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual preferences, age, national origin, disability, behavioral health status, military status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Americans with Disabilities Act:

Employees as well as applicants who are currently or become disabled must be able to perform the functions of the job with either reasonable accommodation or unaided. PMHCC will examine reasonable accommodations on a case-by-case basis with accordance to the law.