Field Based Psychiatric Technician - Behavioral Health (Regular & Per Diem)

Job Description:

Field Based Psychiatric Technician - Behavioral Health (Regular & Per Diem)

Description

Description

THE DEPARTMENT: As a vital department of Ventura County Health Care Agency (HCA), Ventura County Behavioral Health (VCBH) provides comprehensive mental health and substance use treatment services tailored to meet the needs of our community. From mobile crisis response to outpatient treatment, our array of programs ensures individuals receive the support they need at every stage of their journey.
THE POSITION: Under direction of a physician or registered nurse, the Field Based Psychiatric Technician performs a variety of paraprofessional nursing services to psychiatric patients. Responsibilities include delivering both psychiatric and medical care within the scope of practice as a licensed Psychiatric Technician or Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) in the state of California. This is an outpatient-focused position, and the incumbent will travel to various locations throughout Ventura County to provide in-field patient care.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:
The Per Diem Psychiatric Technician and Per Diem Senior Psychiatric Technician are distinguished from the Regular classifications in that Per Diem are scheduled to work "as needed to supplement staffing needs.

Per Diem Senior Psychiatric Technician differs from Psychiatric Technician in that the class requires more independent action in the promotion and utilization of effective mental health techniques.

PAYROLL TITLES & SALARIES:
Psychiatric Technician - IPU (Entry Level): $35.85
Psychiatric Technician - IPU: $35.58 - $38.59
Per Diem Psychiatric Technician : $21.95 - $25.32
Per Diem Senior Psychiatric Technician: $25.32 - $32.76

WHAT WE OFFER: The County of Ventura offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, subject to eligibility requirements, that includes:

• Educational Incentive: An educational incentive of 2.5% for completion of an associate's degree, 3.5% for completion of a bachelor's degree, or 5% for completion of a graduate's degree.
• Bilingual Incentive: Incumbents may be eligible for bilingual incentive depending upon operational need and certification of skill. Proficiency levels by exam are $0.69/hour (Level I), $1.00/hour (Level II), or $1.32/hour (Level III).
• Certification Pay: $0.813 per hour based on scheduled work week hours for each qualified certification up to a maximum of five (5) certifications. One of the five certifications may be paid at $2.00 per hour for a National Certification. List provided in the MOA, Exhibit 9.
• Evening Shift Differential: 7.5%
• Night Shift Differential: 15%
• Weekend Shift Differential: $2.00 per hour
• Standby Premium Pay: ¼ of regular hourly wage or Federal minimum wage (whichever is greater)
• Holidays: 12 paid days per year which includes a scheduled floating holiday.
• Health Benefits: You are afforded a flexible credit allowance for purchasing medical, dental, and/or vision care expenses from authorized plans.
• Deferred Compensation: Eligible to participate in the County's 401(k) Shared Savings Plan and/or the Section 457 Plan. If you participate in the County sponsored 401(K) plan, the County will match a part of your contribution up to 2% of your salary, on a per pay period basis.
• Pension Plan: Participation in the County's defined benefit pension plan that provides lifetime payments to retirees. Members are "vested" after attaining five years of retirement service credit. If eligible, you may establish reciprocity with other public retirement systems such as CalPERS.
• Additional Benefits: Tuition Reimbursement, Disability Plans, Employee Assistance Program, Life Insurance, Wellness Program.
• To learn more about the benefits, please follow the link below: https://vcportal.ventura.org/CEO/HR/MOA/docs/CNA_MOA_2023-2028.pdf

AGENCY/DEPARTMENT: Health Care Agency - Behavioral Health

Psychiatric Technician - IPU, Per Diem Psychiatric Technician, and Per Diem Senior Psychiatric Technician are represented by the California Nurse's Association (CNA) and are eligible for overtime compensation.

NOTE: Salary placement will be determined according to the current CNA memorandum of agreement.

The eligible list established from this recruitment may be used to fill current and future Regular (including Temporary, Fixed-Term), Intermittent and Extra Help vacancies for these positions only. There are currently three regular full-time vacancies within Behavioral Health.

NOTE: If appointed as a Per Diem Psych Tech, incumbent may be promoted to Per Diem Sr Psych Tech without further examination upon meeting the minimum requirements, demonstrating satisfactory performance, and in accordance with the business needs of the department.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE: OPENING DATE: May 2, 2025
CLOSING DATE: Continuous and may close at any time; therefore, the schedule for the remainder of the process will depend upon when we receive a sufficient number of qualified applications to meet business needs. It is to your advantage to apply as soon as possible.

Examples Of Duties

Duties may include, but are not limited to the following:

Direct Services

• Mental Health Services:
  • works as a member of a team to provide psychiatric and medical nursing care to patients in mental health inpatient and outpatient, field based and crisis services/programs;
  • prepares and administers medications;
  • observes patients and identifies individual personal needs;
  • observes patients for medical problems and refers them to appropriate medical facilities;
  • provides evaluation, rehabilitation, collateral, crisis intervention; and
  • performs clinical charting for clients and their families in collaboration with other members of the mental health team.
• Case Management:
  • provides case management/brokerage including linkage and consultation, placement and plan development services for clients and their families in collaboration with other members of the mental health and discharge planning teams.
  • professional support services
• Travels to meet and engage with patients at home and in the community to build trust and assess clients' needs, and provide psychiatric and medical care; and
• Performs other related duties as required

Professional Support Services

• Case finding, assessment, planning, and coordination activities:
  • Uses professional skills to identify at-risk, mentally ill persons who may benefit from program participation; and
  • Plans and coordinates activities that result in a plan of care.
• Early Intervention and prevention:
  • Uses professional skills to prepare persons for, coordinate with other care givers, or disseminate information about growth and development and early intervention/prevention of mental disability.
• Consultation and training:
  • Uses professional skills to provide mental health consultation to persons, providers, staff of other agencies, and the community; and
  • Conducts or participates in health-related training.
• Provider relations and resources development:
  • Uses professional skills in performing activities that establish, expand, and maintain the pool of eligible service providers.
• Utilization review:
  • Uses professional skills in quality management activities such as utilization review, monitoring and evaluation procedures, and the development of standards and protocols.
• Performs other duties as required

Administrative Support Services

• Outreach, Informing, prescreening, and enrollment:
  • Provides outreach and intensive communication to persons about Medi-Cal and other state and federal programs and their benefits, and how to access and apply for these programs/benefits;
  • Performs prescreening and completion of paperwork to determining eligibility; and
  • Assists persons in obtaining needed services.
• Interagency coordination:
  • Collaborates with other agencies to define program scope, improve the cost effectiveness and availability of service delivery systems, and/or focus services on specific population groups or geographic areas.
• Training activities:
  • Participates in training on patient advocacy programs for persons at risk, service delivery skills, or cultural competence.
• Program planning, development and monitoring:
  • Assists in developing goals and objectives, policies and procedures, forms, and management information systems; and
  • Monitors and audits for proper and efficient County, state, and federal program administration.
• General Administration:
  • Performs general administration duties and tasks necessary for the daily operation of the program, including staff meetings, health promotion, training, budgets, etc.; and
• Performs other duties as required.

Typical Qualifications

These are entrance requirements to the examination process and ensure neither continuance in the process nor placement on an eligible list.

EDUCATION, TRAINING, and EXPERIENCE:

Psychiatric Technician-IPU (Entry-Level) & Per Diem Psychiatric Technician
No experience required.

Psychiatric Technician-IPU & Per Diem Senior Psychiatric Technicia n
Requires two (2) years of full-time experience as a psychiatric technician, mental health technician, or nurse in a mental health/psychiatric setting. One (1) year of the required full-time experience must have been in a community mental health program.

Education/Experience Substitution (Per Diem Senior Psychiatric Technician only): Completion of course work at an accredited college or university in the behavioral sciences and/or arts may be substituted for the non-community mental health experience as a psychiatric technician.

NOTE: If you are substituting education for experience, verification of the college-level coursework is required.

• Submit your transcripts or grade reports from an accredited college or university which shows your name and reflect passing grades in the required subject; attach education verification documents to your online application or submit to Vivian.Merida@ventura.org within three days of job posting closing.
• If you need additional time to submit transcripts, contact the analyst conducting the recruitment for an extension at Vivian.Merida@ventura.org
• Unofficial transcripts are acceptable.
• Degree(s) from a foreign institution require an academic credential evaluation to determine the U.S. equivalency.
• If the name is different on the transcripts from your application, documentation needs to be submitted showing the name change.

NOTE: Accredited institutions are those listed through the U.S. Department of Education--Office of Postsecondary Education. Also acceptable, if appropriate, are degrees that have been evaluated and deemed to be equivalent to degrees from United States accredited institutions by an academic credential evaluation agency recognized by The National Association of Credential Evaluation Services and Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc.

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Possession of a current valid California license as a Psychiatric Technician or Vocational Nurse
• Must be willing to work various schedules, including on-call.
• Must possess or obtain a valid California driver license by date of hire and maintain thereafter.
• Must possess a current, valid Basic Life Support (BLS/CPR) certification issued by the American Heart Association within 6 months of hire date.

DESIRED:

• Crisis Prevention & Intervention (CPI) certified.
• AVADE Workplace Violence Prevention Training
• Experience using Electronic Health Record (EHR) software

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and ABILITIES:
Thorough knowledge of:

• normal human growth and development;
• therapeutic group functioning;
• effective team functioning;
• charting, administration of medications;
• community resource agencies;
• basic knowledge of crisis intervention; and
• safe driving practices

Thorough ability to:

• identify individual personal needs and to plan and implement nursing care for individual patients;
• establish and maintain the confidence of patients and professional staff;
• maintain confidentiality of patient/client information;
• establish and maintain effective interpersonal relations with other staff members, patients, and their families;
• communicate effectively both orally and in writing; and
• operate a County vehicle

Recruitment Process

FINAL FILING DATE: This is a continuous recruitment and may close at any time; therefore, apply as soon as possible if you are interested. Your application must be received by County of Ventura Human Resources no later than 5:00 p.m. on the closing date.

To apply on-line, please refer to our web site at www.ventura.org/hr. If you prefer to fill out a paper application form, please call (805) 654-5129 for application materials and submit them to County of Ventura Human Resources, 800 South Victoria Avenue, L-1970, Ventura, CA 93009.

Note to Applicants: It is essential that you complete all sections of your application and supplemental questionnaire thoroughly and accurately to demonstrate your qualifications. A resume and/or other related documents may be attached to supplement the information in your application and supplemental questionnaire; however, it/they may not be submitted in lieu of the application.

LATERAL TRANSFER: If presently permanently employed in another "merit" or "civil service" public agency/entity in the same or substantively similar position as is advertised, and if appointed to that position by successful performance in a "merit" or "civil service" style examination, then appointment by "Lateral Transfer" may be possible. If interested, please click here for additional information.

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE - qualifying: All applicants are required to complete and submit the questionnaire for this examination at the time of filing. The supplemental questionnaire may be used throughout the examination process to assist in determining each applicant's qualifications and acceptability for the position. Failure to complete and submit the questionnaire will result in the application being removed from consideration.

APPLICATION EVALUATION - 100% : An application evaluation will be conducted to determine whether each applicant possesses the required licensure and experience for this recruitment. A score of 70 will be assigned to each applicant meeting the stated requirements. Such score will be considered as the final score for placement on the eligible list.

Applicants successfully completing the examination process may be placed on an eligible list for a period of one (1) year.

BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: A thorough pre-employment, post offer background investigation which may include inquiry into past employment, education, criminal background information, and driving record may be required for this position.

For further information about this recruitment, please contact Vivian Merida by telephone at (805) 677-5231 or by e-mail at Vivian.Merida@ventura.org .

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
The County of Ventura is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.

YOUR BENEFITS AS A COUNTY OF VENTURA EMPLOYEE

California Nurses Association

(CNA)

To learn more about Benefits, Retirement, and the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), see links below.

• Benefits website or you may call (805) 654-2570.
• Retirement FAQ's
• Memorandum of Agreement

Union Code: NCN

Closing Date/Time: Continuous

Salary:

$45,654.34 - $80,272.47 Annually