ETSU Health Family Medicine Behavioral Health Consultant – Post-Doctoral Fellow

BHC Services at CON Clinics (80% time)

The Fellow provides Behavioral Health Consultant (BHC) services at the Johnson City Community Health Clinic consistent with a Primary Care Behavioral Health model of care. The Fellow’s role is to detect and address a broad spectrum of behavioral health needs in primary care patient populations with the aim of early identification, quick resolution, long-term prevention and wellness. This position involves a high degree of clinical complexity and advanced level skill in establishing BHC services and delivering evidence-based interventions targeted to improve wellbeing for a wide variety of patient presentations. The Fellow functions as a core member of the care team and works within established workflow practices and procedures with minimal supervision. Work is reviewed for adherence to procedures, regulations, standards and for overall effectiveness.  Importantly, this role will require a responsiveness to a strong nursing training focus and must balance clinical service demands with ensuring that nursing students are engaged in 1) learning appropriate patient communication targeted interventions/recommendations and 2) learning the skills involved in engaging the BHC most effectively.

Leadership and Program Development (20% time)

The Fellow has dedicated time to engage in leadership and program development opportunities, supervision, lectures, and individual study. The Fellow receives administrative support from the ETSU Institute for Integrated Behavioral Health and the College of Nursing.

 The Fellow provides creative problem solving, planning, design, and implementation of new workflows and team processes to create efficiencies, improve care, or respond to changes in the system. The Fellow executes and leads quality improvement processes and can assist with data collection and management in that context.  

The Fellow trains nursing students, faculty, and other learners (medical, pharmacy, psychology and others) in the context of clinical work.  

The Fellow is involved with the ongoing development of the Institute for Integrated Behavioral Health. The Fellow provides training, mentoring, consultation, creative input, or written products to aid in the creation of this entity.  

The Fellow has strong leadership skills and participates in faculty meetings as administrative professionals.  The Fellow performs duties with minimal supervision. 

The Fellow performs the following:

• Maintains a visible presence in the clinic and attends clinic/department meetings.
• Provides consultation and same day feedback to the care team.
• Is available for same day and scheduled consultations with patients.
• Performs follow-up visits and conducts brief therapy.
• Provides a range of services including screening for common conditions, assessments and therapeutic interventions.
• Conducts risk assessments and crisis intervention.
• Provides psycho-education for patients during individual or group visits.
• Provides brief behavioral and cognitive behavioral interventions for patients.
• Triages patients with severe or high-risk behavioral health problems and refers patients to community resources or specialty behavioral health services.
• Documents progress notes in the health record outlining assessment findings, interventions delivered and recommendations made to the primary care team.
• Assists in the development of clinical pathways and groups as needed.
• Maintains clinical records and other necessary paperwork in a timely manner to comply with all administrative regulations.
• Provides assistance in capturing program evaluation and fidelity measures as needed.
• Participates in education and training of care team members, medical residents, and other learners in behavioral medicine competencies.
• May provide site-based supervision to clinical psychology extern(s).
• Receives supervision from a licensed psychologist for 1 hour per week.

Required Qualifications

• Has obtained, or is in the final states of pursing a Ph.D. in Clinical/Counseling Psychology or similar doctoral degree.
• Experience in behavioral health counseling and brief short-term therapy strategies and case management is required.
• Thorough knowledge and understanding of patient-centered medical home principles, motivational interviewing skills and evidence-based short-term therapy strategies.
• Ability to utilize assessment information and collateral information to conceptualize patient psychopathology.
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of behavioral health consultation, including assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, cognitive-behavioral counseling strategies and their application to population-based care for preventive and chronic care issues.
• Comprehensive understanding of the interrelationship between medical and psychological systems and their impact on health.
• Experience in documenting clinical activities in a comprehensive, clear, concise fashion on a same day basis.
• Skill in efficiently organizing time so that unscheduled, same day services are routinely available to care team members.
• The ability to exercise sound judgment in appraising situations and making decisions regarding complex physical and behavioral health treatment issues in consultation with medical teams.
• Skill in developing effective working relationships with peers, supervisors and professionals in related disciplines.
• Ability to manage complex personal interactions.
• Demonstrated ability to act with minimal supervision on personal initiative using sound clinical judgment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality in regard to patient care information and chart contents, as use of patient record and privacy of individuals must be protected to the fullest.
• Ability to maintain documentation in compliance with State, Federal, Professional and Ethical guidelines.
• Must be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without accommodation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Formal training in Primary Care Behavioral Health.
• Experience as a Behavioral Health Consultant in a Primary Care or Specialty Care setting
• Experience working with chronic medical conditions and addictions/substance abuse
• Experience with high needs, high complexity populations or working in Federally Qualified Health Clinics

Direct questions to Dr. Jodi Polaha; polaha@etsu.edu

To apply, please send cover letter, CV, and 3 letters of recommendation to the ETSU jobs portal.