Psychiatric Technician - Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center​/HCPC at UTHealth Houston

Psychiatric Technician Opportunity

UTHealth Houston's Behavioral Sciences Campus, the largest academic psychiatric hospital in the nation, is hiring psychiatric technicians. Ideal candidates will have at least one year of experience in a patient care environment, must be comfortable working with patient populations, and have a passion for supporting behavioral health patients. We have multiple full-time opportunities available across various shifts.

The John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center, inclusive of the Harris County Psychiatric Center (HCPC), provides individualized inpatient care across 23 specialized units. Our treatment areas include child and adolescent services, adult and geriatric psychiatry, psychosis care, co-occurring disorders, and competency restoration.

Available schedules (rotating weekends and holidays):

• 12-hour shifts: 7:00 PM – 7:00 AM
• Mandatory orientation:
  Two-week onboarding process for all new hires
• Hospital-wide education orientation:
  Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM (first two weeks)

Join a team committed to compassionate care, professional growth, and making a meaningful impact in behavioral health.

What we do here changes the world. UTHealth Houston is Texas' resource for healthcare education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care. That's where you come in.

Once you join us you won't want to leave. It's because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you'd expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:

• 100% paid medical premiums for our full-time employees
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equates to around 37-38 days per year)
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you'll accrue!
• Longevity pay (monthly payments after two years of service)
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan!

We take care of our employees! As a world-renowned institution, our employees' wellbeing is important to us. We offer work/life services such as...

• Free financial and legal counseling
• Free mental health counseling services
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs
• Other employee discounts including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc.
• Resources for child and elder care
• Plus many more!

Position summary:

Focuses on safety, performing patient care activities or tasks for psychiatric patients as well as maintaining a therapeutic and safe environment under the direction of the licensed staff. Must be comfortable working with mental health patients, many of whom have experienced trauma, in a compassionate and professional manner while promoting a safe environment.

Position key accountabilities:

• Provides inpatient and outpatient non-skilled nursing for psychiatric patients.
• Provides supervision of patients on suicide or other critical precautions, 1:1 or 2:1, which requires a staff member to be within continuous arm's length of a patient.
• Responsible for operating equipment such as IVAC, Sphygmomanometer and Scale.
• Assists patients with activities of daily living i.e. bathing, shaving, hygiene, toileting, and grooming, while respecting the patient's privacy, to the extent possible.
• Interacts and engages with patients in a therapeutic manner using trauma informed care and therapeutic communication strategies.
• Participates in implementing and formulating patients' treatment plan based on experience and close observation of patients.
• Helps maintain a therapeutic milieu. Assists with milieu management and uses crisis de-escalation and trauma informed care strategies to reduce destructive and disruptive patient behavior and ensures the safety of patient, self, and others. Recognizes early warning signs of worsening patient behaviors and intervenes appropriately.
• Facilitates patients' groups and participation in therapeutic activities (i.e. community meeting, transition, and wrap-up groups etc.).
• Implements crisis management skills (de-escalation skills) as directed by licensed staff, including situations where the patient could be in danger, suffer self-inflicted harm, or harm others.
• Must be able to…