Mental Health Program Specialist - Prenatal to Three - Spanish Required (Open & Promotional)

Job Description:

Mental Health Program Specialist - Prenatal to Three - Spanish Required (Open & Promotional)

Description

Description

The Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) Division is seeking an experienced individual to serve as a Mental Health Program Specialist for the Prenatal to Three Unit.

This position coordinates and supervises a specialized behavioral health program serving pregnant and postpartum caregivers and children ages 0-5, provides clinical leadership, supervises a small team of professionals and interns, collaborates with community partners and helps design and maintain responsive service delivery systems.

Key Responsibilities

Clinical Supervision & Leadership

• Supervise Clinicians and interns, including case consultation, reflective supervision, and performance evaluations
• Triage referrals and assign cases
• Refer clients to the Prenatal to Three Team Psychiatrist
• Lead team clinical meetings and facilitate clinical discussions at staff meetings
• Carry a small caseload

Direct Clinical Oversight

• The team provides assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for children ages 0-5 and pregnant or postpartum caregivers, including:
• Infant mental health assessments
• Youth and adult assessments
• Dyadic parent-child treatment
• Clinic-based and home-based services throughout San Mateo County

Program Coordination & Systems Collaboration

• Coordinate program activities with BHRS clinics, Family Health systems, private providers, schools, state institutions, and community agencies
• Establish and maintain program procedures consistent with federal, state, and local regulations
• Participate in program planning, policy implementation, and evaluation
• Represent the Prenatal to Three Team in collaborative meetings with Public Health Nurses, Community Workers, Psychiatrists, and other providers
• Provide consultation to community agencies regarding infant and early childhood mental health services

The current vacancy is in the Prenatal to Three Unit, located in San Mateo. This position may travel throughout the county to attend meetings or perform other duties of the position.

What You'll Bring:

• At least two years of post-licensure experience providing direct clinical care to youth and families.
• Experience working with children ages 0-5 and pregnant or postpartum women, providing parent-child psychotherapy.
• Experience conducting mental health assessments of infants, children under the age of five and adults.
• Knowledge of infant and child development, attachment, and trauma-informed care.
• At least one year of home-visiting experience.
• Training or certification in one or more of the following:
  • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
  • Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)
  • Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT)
  • Child Trauma Institute (CTI)
  • Circle of Security
  • Harris Early Childhood Mental Health Program
  • Touchpoints
• At least one year of supervisory or clinical coordination experience
• Bilingual proficiency in Spanish and English.

The Impact You'll Make:

• Advancing equity and healing for families during the earliest years: Provide trauma-informed, culturally responsive mental health services families during a critical development window, promoting safety, attachment, and long-term well-being.
• Strengthening the clinical workforce: Mentor clinicians, promote reflective practice, and cultivate a supportive team culture focused on staff wellness, professional growth.
• Shaping coordinated systems of care: Collaborate across medical, public health, child welfare, and community systems to build more integrated and equitable, systems of care for families across San Mateo County.

How You Will Grow:

• Providing trauma-informed leadership in complex clinical work: Serving families impacted by complex trauma, perinatal mental health concerns, and system involvement offers the opportunity to strengthen reflective capacity and trauma-informed supervision practices. This role calls for modeling sustainable self-care, cultivating team resilience and creating space for clinicians to process meaning and emotionally impactful work.
• Expanding integrated leadership skills: Balancing staff supervision, direct clinical work, program development, and regulatory provides a dynamic opportunity to grow as a systems-level leader. Success in this role builds advanced skills in organization, adaptability, strategic thinking and maintaining clarity of purpose across competing priorities.
• Advancing equity through systems collaboration: Working across medical, public health, and child welfare systems offer the changes to strengthen equity-centered advocacy and collaborative problem-solving skills. This role helps you to address systemic barriers, align diverse partners, and contribute to more coordinated and responsive care for families.

NOTE: The eligible list generated from this recruitment may be used to fill future extra-help, term, unclassified, and regular classified vacancies.

Examples Of Duties

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

• Coordinate assigned program activities with BHRS Regional clinics, private service providers, schools, state institutions and community agencies
• Develop and maintain program procedures consistent with Federal, State and local laws governing mental health services.
• Monitor and consult with contract providers to ensure compliance and resolve service delivery issues
• Prepare grant proposals and written reports
• Provide clinical consultation to partner agencies
• Supervise and evaluate assigned staff
• Compile data and prepare program evaluations
• Perform related duties as assigned

Qualifications

Licensure/Certification :
California license as one of the following: 1) Clinical Social Worker; 2) Marriage and Family Therapist; or 3) Clinical Psychologist

Education and Experience :
Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to qualify is:

• 
  Three years of experience as a Mental Health professional.
  

Knowledge of:

• Principles, techniques and practices of program management and delivery.
• Principles and practices of employee supervision and training.
• Applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations and County policies and guidelines.
• Individual, group and family psychodynamics.
• Psychological diagnostic methods and terminology.
• Current principles and practices of psychiatric casework.
• Human and health services systems in the County, including private agencies and other community resources.
• Various methods used in individual and group therapies such as role playing, play, art, milieu and group.
• Methods and techniques used in mental health education.

Skill/Ability to :

• Plan, assign, supervise, review and evaluate the work of interdisciplinary subordinates.
• Train staff in work procedures and provide technical and programmatic assistance to staff and subcontractors.
• Analyze, interpret and apply various regulations, requirements and/or clinical approaches.
• Prepare grant proposals and written reports.
• Set realistic treatment goals and facilitate their attainment.
• Evaluate patients/clients' degree of mental disability or emotional distress.
• Communicate effectively in writing and orally and make public presentations as needed.
• Establish and maintain effective and cooperative relationships with those contacted in the course of the work.
• Exercise sound independent judgment within general policy and regulatory guidelines.

Application/Examination

Open & Promotional. Anyone may apply. Current County of San Mateo and County of San Mateo Superior Court of California employees with at least six months (1040 hours) of continuous service in a classified regular, probationary, extra-help/limited term positions prior to the final filing date will receive five points added to their final passing score on this examination.
The examination process will consist of an application screening (weight: pass/fail) based on the candidates' application and responses to the supplemental questions. Candidates who pass the application screening will be invited to a panel interview (weight: 100%). Depending on the number of applicants, an application appraisal of education and experience may be used in place of other examinations or further evaluation of work experience may be conducted to group applicants by level of qualification. All applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement through any subsequent phase of the examination. All examinations will be given in the County of San Mateo, California and applicants must participate at their own expense.

IMPORTANT: Applications for this position will only be accepted online. If you are currently on the County's website, you may click the "Apply" button. If you are not on the County's website, please go to https://jobs.smcgov.org/ to apply. Responses to the Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted in addition to the standard County employment application form. A resume will not be accepted as a substitute for the required application materials. Online applications must be received by the Human Resources Department before midnight on the final filing date.

TENTATIVE RECRUITMENT TIMELINE
Final Filing Date: Wednesday, February 25. 2026 by 11:59 PM PST
Application Screening: Week of March 2, 2026
Panel Interviews: Week of March 9, 2026

About the County

San Mateo County is centrally located between San Francisco, San Jose, and the East Bay. With over 750,000 residents, San Mateo is one of the largest and most diverse counties in California and serves a multitude of culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse communities.

The County of San Mateo, as an employer, is committed to advancing equity to ensure that all employees are welcomed in a safe and inclusive environment. The County seeks to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community. We encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply. Eighty percent of employees surveyed stated that they would recommend the County as a great place to work.

The County of San Mateo is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community.

We encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply.

HR Contact: Priscilla Bermudez (021126) (Mental Health Program Specialist - G081)

Salary:

$121,451.20 - $151,798.40 Annually