Encompass Community Services

Encompass Community Services

Job Category

Clinical Research

About Us: At Encompass Community Services we provide our community with a wide range of services related to family & social well‑being, early childhood education, behavioral health, housing and more. Every day – through these services – we work to make health, education, and housing more equitable for all people in Santa Cruz County. For more than 40 years our work has touched generations by helping people have access to education, rebuild relationships, restore their health, and regain dignity.

Summary: This position joins a team of clinicians in our Alto Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Outpatient program as part of the Drug Medi‑Cal Organized Delivery System. We recognize that clients do not experience substance use issues in a silo – often there are mild to moderate underlying mental health symptoms that clients are trying to manage on their own. We take a trauma‑informed, integrative approach to supporting clients in addressing their substance use and mental health symptoms so that they can find stability and thrive.

This team is passionate about providing high‑quality, integrated care to our most underserved and marginalized community members, including serving clients who are criminal justice involved and/or homeless. The clinicians at Alto have been serving this population for over 20 years, and are committed to healthcare equity for all.

The Alto Counselor will have a shared responsibility (32.5% approximately 13 hours per week) for maintaining a caseload of individual clients and facilitating evidence‑based curriculum in a group setting. Caseload responsibilities include: individual ASAM assessments, problem list development and reassessments, care coordination, and discharge/aftercare planning. The position is primarily a Drug Medi‑Cal position and regularly uses AVATAR to complete Medi‑Cal and other funder billing.

Although Medi‑Cal billing can include intensive paperwork and treatment charting, this position will support a developing counselor in gaining a skill set that can be valuable in any treatment setting, medical setting, or private practice.

The Counselor will also have a shared responsibility (67.5% approximately 27 hours per week) with the local corrections department serving our in‑custody population. The Counselor will be responsible for facilitating evidence‑based curriculum in a group setting in person at various jail sites, maintaining group charts, and – when necessary – administering curriculum packets according to COVID‑19 protocols and restrictions. This is a unique position that is not often vacant and provides an opportunity to work with an experienced team of clinicians who specialize in Substance Use Disorder and Co‑occurring Disorder Treatment.

This clinical track position supports an active pathway towards CADTP certification and BBS licensure (LCSW, LMFT or LPCC). Clinical supervision is provided by the agency to gain hours toward licensure. We are actively searching for a bilingual Spanish‑speaking therapist to join our team. This position will work at both Santa Cruz and Watsonville offices depending on client need for services. Therapists on this team are providing in‑person and telehealth sessions to clients in efforts to support client accessibility to treatment.

Encompass is committed to hiring a workforce that reflects the diversity and native languages of our community. Women, candidates of color, LGBTQIA identifying, and/or individuals with lived experience of behavioral health systems are highly encouraged to apply.

• Manage and maintain individual caseload of clients; provide 9 hours of direct service weekly
• Provide individual sessions and group counseling for substance use disorder clients
• Meet weekly billable units of service (hourly) requirements for Medi‑Cal billing
• Coordinate funding source authorizations and seek extensions when appropriate with support from Program Manager
• Conduct assessments using the American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM)
• Develop and maintain individualized…