Behavioral Health Assistant

Job description

Position Summary: The Behavioral Health Assistant (BHA) plays an essential role in our Integrated Primary Care Health Home Program. Working under the direct clinical supervision and guidance of a licensed Behavioral Health Consultant (BHC), the BHA provides vital care management, health promotion, and family support services. The BHA acts as a force multiplier for the BHC, helping to screen patients, deliver structured brief interventions, track care plan goals, and support stable patients who do not require the immediate resources of a licensed clinician. This role collaborates closely with the care team, including Care Coordinators (CCs), to ensure seamless, high-quality, whole-person care within an outpatient primary care setting.
Key Responsibilities:
• Conduct brief, age-appropriate preventative health screenings for patients to identify behavioral health needs, substance use, health risk behaviors, and social determinants of health (SDOH).
• For patients with positive initial findings, administer comprehensive, secondary screeners to determine if the patient requires basic education, health coaching, healthy behavior reinforcement, or formal referral for further assessment.
• Promptly route high-risk screening results to the supervising Behavioral Health Consultant (BHC) for formal assessment, diagnosis, or crisis management.
• Provide patient education, evidence-based health/wellness coaching, and healthy behavioral reinforcement under standing orders and established clinical protocols.
• Assist patients with self-management goal prioritization, action planning, and routine follow-up care to reinforce care plan objectives.
• Provide targeted outreach and proactive engagement for complex, high-utilizing patients to improve their healthcare navigation and stability.
• Monitor and assist patients receiving brief clinical interventions and short-term therapy services by providing structured follow-up and goal reminders.
• Accept referrals from licensed behavioral health staff to support and monitor patients who are clinically stable but still require accountability, coaching, and care continuity.
• Guide and support patients being referred to higher levels of care or external community resources, ensuring they successfully connect with services.
• Partner with Care Coordinators (CCs) to ensure scheduling, medical record transfers, referral feedback tracking, and program enrollment documentation are seamlessly executed.
• Attend huddles or case reviews with the BHC to discuss patient status updates, review clinical paths, and adjust coaching strategies.

Qualifications & Requirements:
• Education (Preferred): Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Social Work, Psychology, Human Services, or a closely related behavioral health field.
• Experience (Required): Minimum of 1 year of hands-on experience working directly within a behavioral health, mental health, or substance use care setting. Primary care or health home experience is highly valued.
• Specialized Training: Must successfully complete additional program-specific training provided upon hire regarding standing orders, care paths, integrated screening protocols, and brief intervention modalities.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
• Basic knowledge of behavioral health conditions, substance use disorders, and chronic medical illnesses.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills to effectively build rapport with patients and consult with a multidisciplinary clinical team.
• Strong organizational skills to manage documentation, track screening data, and follow up with patient caseloads efficiently.
• Ability to strictly adhere to clinical boundaries, standing protocols, HIPAA guidelines, and privacy regulations.