Social Worker, Mental Health & Consulting, Acuity Team ~ Yale Health

Overview

Yale Health, the multidisciplinary healthcare organization of Yale University serves more than 50,000 members-including students, faculty, staff, and their families. Yale Health has been a trusted provider to the Yale community for over 50 years. Comprehensive care is delivered at its state-of-the-art facility located at 55 Lock Street, where more than 150 providers offer comprehensive services. The 144,000-square-foot medical center has over 90 exam rooms, an Acute Care Department, and a 15-bed inpatient unit full diagnostic imaging suite-offering MRI, CT scans, X-ray, and ultrasound services-as well as a full-service retail pharmacy.

Bridge Care is a high acuity, short term mental health service within the Acuity Team of the Yale University Mental Health & Counseling Center designed to support students experiencing significant emotional distress, safety concerns, and acute functional impairment. The program provides rapid assessment, intensive stabilization, and skills-based interventions while assisting students in transitioning to or from longer term community-based care.

Schedule: Full-Time; 37.5 HRS; Weekdays 8:30-5:00 Flexible Schedule. Early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays/recess periods may also be required. May include occasional urgent coverage or extended hours based on student needs.

The Social Worker / Therapist in Bridge Care provides clinical assessment, crisis intervention, and DBT informed therapeutic services to high-risk university students. This clinician plays a critical role in suicide risk assessment, safety planning, and short-term stabilization, while collaborating closely with the Bridge Care team, University Mental Health & Counseling staff, campus partners, and external providers to ensure continuity of care.

This position is ideal for a clinician experienced in high acuity mental health work who is skilled at brief treatment models and passionate about supporting students in a university setting.

Clinical Assessment & Crisis Response

• Conduct comprehensive intake, psychosocial, and risk assessments within a high acuity student population
• Perform suicide and self-harm risk assessments and determine appropriate levels of care
• Develop, implement, and revise individualized safety plans in collaboration with students
• Provide crisis intervention and stabilization services consistent with counseling center protocols
• Participate in urgent response and consultation with on-call or multidisciplinary teams as needed

Therapeutic Services

• Provide short term, DBT informed individual therapy focused on stabilization and skill development
• Facilitate DBT informed, skills-based group therapy (e.g., distress tolerance, emotion regulation, mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness)
• Utilize brief, goal focused interventions aligned with Bridge Care’s bridge to care model
• Maintain timely, accurate, and ethically sound clinical documentation within the counseling center’s electronic health record

Program & Professional Responsibilities

• Participate in clinical consultation, team meetings, supervision, and training activities
• Collaborate with Acuity Team members (Care Managers, psychiatry, Chief of MHC)
• Communicate effectively while maintaining student privacy and adhering to FERPA, HIPAA, and ethical standards
• Contribute to program development, quality improvement, and outcome evaluation for Bridge Care
• Engage in ongoing professional development related to DBT, suicide prevention, and college student mental health
• Provide culturally responsive, trauma informed, and developmentally appropriate care to a diverse student population

Required Skills and Abilities

1. Experience conducting suicide risk assessments and safety planning.
2. Demonstrated ability to work effectively with high-acuity or crisis-presenting clients.
3. Demonstrated sound clinical judgment in high-risk and time-sensitive situations.
4. Strong group facilitation and skills-based therapy competence.
5. Cultural humility and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
6. Excellent communication, organizational, and documentation skills.

Preferred Skills and Abilities

Training or experience in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) or DBT-informed interventions. Experience in a university counseling center or college student mental health setting. Familiarity with brief therapy models, stepped care, or bridge-to-care frameworks. Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary or campus-based systems of care.

Principal Responsibilities

1. Plans, coordinates and implements individual, group, and couples’ therapy for students in University outpatient clinic.
2. Conducts patient evaluations and assesses patients’ acceptability for psychotherapy programs and develops initial disposition planning.
3. Establishes positive relationships with patients in order to administer the appropriate treatment.
4. Manages and provides therapy for complex cases involving patients with significant mental health concerns.
5. Provides mental health outreach to Yale community.
6. Develops materials for educational programs and seminars for professional staff.
7. Provides family meetings as appropriate.
8. Maintains patients’ charts and reports.
9. Participates in mental health 24-hour emergency coverage.
10. Provides educational and consultation services to undergraduate residential colleges and professional schools.
11. Interacts with internal contacts such as patients, patients’ families, clinicians, medical staff, and administrators regarding treatment of individual patients and implementation of clinical programs.
12. Interacts with external contacts such as clinicians in private practice, mental health institutions, university deans, hospital psychiatrists and clinicians and hospital administrators.
13. Provides clinical supervision to trainees as well as staff members.
14. Performs administrative duties as directed by the Chief of Mental health and Counseling.
15. May perform other duties as assigned.