Regional Clinical Coordinator; Psychologist IV Southeast Region

Job Title

Psychologist IV (Regional Clinical Coordinator, Southeast Region)

Department of Youth Services (DYS)

The Department of Youth Services (DYS) is the juvenile justice agency for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We work with young people who are detained or committed and provide detention, custody, diagnosis, education and support to young people ages 12-21. Most of the youth served are between the ages 14 and 18. The Department promotes positive change for the youth committed to our care, and has been on the forefront of de‑institutionalization, in part, by providing adolescent‑focused rehabilitation to youth in residential treatment.

• Direct the psychological services provided to youth in the care of DYS in their region, including diagnostic evaluations, counseling services, treatment planning and crisis intervention and planning.
• Responsible for ensuring the access and coordination of behavioral health services for youth residing in the community and assigned to the Department’s District Offices.
• Review the psychological needs of youth detained or committed to the Southeast Region through the process of supervision of the Clinical Directors, reviewing critical incident data, developing treatment plans for high profile youth with serious emotional disorders; and overseeing referrals of youth for specialized services, such as forensic evaluations, sex offender specific treatment etc.
• Evaluate the assessment needs of detained youth by consistently examining the intake and screening process for all Southeast Region committed youth to ensure consistency and adherence to DYS policies.
• Analyze the counseling services provided to DYS youth in detention, locked secure treatment sites and residential group care programs, to determine their efficacy and consistency of service delivery.
• Provide training to DYS clinical and administrative staff on clinical related topics, such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), suicide prevention, sex offender and violent offender treatment, and family counseling services.
• Develop and maintain interagency collaborations with other state agencies within the Southeast Region to develop resources for treatment of DYS youth.
• Assist Community Reentry Staff in the linkage with Mass Health Payers and Network Providers ensuring access to behavioral health services within the Southeast Region.
• Provide annual reports to the Regional Director and Director of Clinical Services of their assessment of the clinical quality and service delivery within the Region and make recommendations for program and policy improvement.

• Proficient in the theory, principles, and practices of psychotherapy and developmental psychology including therapeutic techniques used in psychotherapy such as analytic, existential, nondirective, behavior modification.
• Demonstrated proficiency of the principles, practices, and techniques of counseling, motivation and reinforcement techniques, interviewing techniques.
• Ability to identify types and symptoms of mental and/or emotional disorders.
• Understanding of psychological research principles, methods, techniques as well as statistical methods, techniques and statistical sampling.
• Experience with principles and practices of tests and measurements used in ascertaining intelligence, aptitudes, personality, and related mental and physical traits including WAIS, WISC, Rorschach, and Thematic Apperception Test.
• Ability to administer, score, and interpret the results of intelligence, aptitude, and personality tests.
• Ability to communicate effectively, interact with people who are under emotional and/or physical stress, make decisions, act quickly, and maintain a calm manner in stressful and/or emergency situations.
• Capacity to supervise, including planning and assigning work according to the nature of the job to be accomplished, the capabilities of subordinates and available resources; controlling work through periodic reviews and/or evaluations; determining subordinates' training needs and either providing or arranging for such training; motivating subordinates to work effectively; determining the need for disciplinary action; and either recommending or initiating disciplinary action.

• Experience in the treatment, counseling and/or rehabilitation of juvenile/adult offenders in a residential setting.
• Proven practice working with adolescents and their families, expertise in crisis stabilization and management.
• Familiarity of principles and practices of the juvenile justice system, including considerable knowledge of state laws pertaining to juvenile justice and juvenile rights as well as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
• Experience working with female adolescents.
• Clinical Psychology Licensure.
• Thoroughness, independence, excellent organizational and written/oral communication skills.
• Strong clinical and organizational skills directly related to the functions of the…