HealthySteps Specialist

The HealthySteps Specialist is an early child development expert who will join the pediatric primary care team to provide interventions, referrals, and follow-up for families with patient’s ages 0-3. The HealthySteps Specialist builds strong relationships with families and providers to increase the efficiency of the medical system and support team-based comprehensive care.

Job Responsibilities

• Promotes HealthySteps within the practice to families and providers
• Conducts team-based well-child visits before, during, or following the primary care provider. Visits focus on monitoring development, social-emotional functioning, and relational health, and providing anticipatory guidance
• Conducts consultations on a short-term basis for needs regarding development and/or behavioral concerns such as sleep, positive parenting, picky eating, etc.
• Maintains a child development support line and responds to and tracks call requests within the designated response time
• Participates in reflective supervision meetings
• May facilitate parent/caregiver groups
• Will participate in other activities related to the HealthySteps Program as necessary
• Any other reasonable requests from management.

Requirements

Skills/Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and communicate effectively in a team setting.
• Ability to maintain effective and professional relationships with patient and other members of the care team.
• Working knowledge of differential diagnosis of common mental health and/or substance abuse disorders, when appropriate.
• Ability to effectively engage patients in a therapeutic relationship, when appropriate.
• Ability to work with patients by telephone as well as in person.
• Working knowledge of evidence-based psychosocial treatments and brief behavioral interventions for common mental health disorders, when appropriate e.g., motivational interviewing, problem-solving treatment, behavioral activation).
• Basic knowledge of psychopharmacology for common mental health disorders that is within appropriate scope of practice for type of provider filling role.

Education/Experience

• Experience in social work, mental health counseling or other similar work.
• Experience with screening for common mental health and/or substance abuse disorders.
• Experience with assessment and treatment planning for common mental health and/or substance use disorders.
• Experience with evidence-based counseling techniques.
• Specialized training and licensure to be able to provide brief psychosocial interventions such as problem-solving treatment.
• Bachelors or Master’s degree in psychology or human services field preferred, associated degree with at least two years of direct experience in the human services field will also be considered.