RN Crisis Clinician-CCBHC IL

The Crisis Services Crisis Clinician (RN) is supervised by the Manager of Crisis Services and provides care to patients in crisis utilizing the Robert Young Center principles of Trauma Informed Care. The RN provides acute care to individuals who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis and uses expertise to serve patients with complex behavioral health presentations that cannot be served in a behavioral health outpatient care setting. They perform crisis assessment, formulate a diagnosis, and implement acute care counseling interventions with patients.

Assessment

The RN conducts face-to-face and telemedicine crisis assessments with patients to determine their specific needs. Patients in crisis may require immediate referral to medical services, assistance with concrete needs, such as food and clothing, or they may be in a state of psychological shock and require psychiatric intervention through inpatient admission.

Advocacy

Patients in crisis often enter a state of psychological shock and withdrawal as a way of handling the aftermath of the disaster or crisis situation. They may be momentarily unable to arrange for their immediate needs. The RN provides temporary forms of advocacy to help clients meet these needs and may include explaining the patient's needs to multiple service providers. The goal of the RN is to help patients regain sufficient levels of functioning so that they are able to resume advocating for themselves.

Referral

Providing accurate and timely referrals is another important responsibility of the RN. They must know the state of Illinois and Iowa's admission criteria for inpatient psychiatric services, and often mentor clinicians within the agency about the patient's mental health rights according to the state's mental health codes. They must be well-informed about community resources and different types of governmental assistance available to survivors of certain crisis situations. After assessing a client's needs and providing brief counseling, a crisis counselor refers the patient to the appropriate resource for continued assistance and treatment.

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