If you are mission driven and want to help the lives of people in your community, we have a place for you on our Team!

The Crisis Line Counselor will screen incoming calls for risk, notify appropriate staff in the event of an emergency situation, and arrange appointments between clients and staff when indicated. They will act as a liaison between clients and local/state law enforcement and hospitals in emergency situations for Northern Kentucky and the New Vista region. They will also act as a liaison between jail staff and Jail Triage clinicians, and function as the afterhours contact for service providers of wards under state guardianship. Crisis Line services are provided 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. The Crisis Line Counselor is a positive team player who promotes a culture of inclusion and participation.

Required Education and Experience

• High School graduate or equivalent
• Ability to work a flexible schedule
• Valid driver’s license, reliable operating transportation, and proof of current auto insurance

Preferred Education and Experience

• Experience/education related to mental health, suicide, and/or substance abuse
• Bachelor’s degree in a behavioral health field (psychology, social work, counseling, etc.) or in a customer-service related field (communications, marketing, customer service management, public/customer relations, etc.)
• Experience with customer service, particularly interactions with customers by phone

Essential Functions

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Function as the initial point-of-contact for the agency’s customers
• Be up-to-date on the agency’s services and procedures, so the initial contact can be as helpful and as informative as possible
• Collaborate with the agency’s local offices and community partners to assist customers
• Provide direct links when appropriate to existing clients’ treatment teams or to on-call supports afterhours
• Provide intermediate support to clients in crisis
• Provide clinical screening to determine appropriate services
• Coordinate emergency services for suicidal callers and/or clients in crisis, including collaboration with first responders if needed
• Provide crisis counseling
• Schedule first time appointments and emergency appointments for existing clients
• Schedule follow-up appointments for hospital discharge clients when necessary
• Collect and record client demographic and financial information
• Complete all Avatar forms related to intake scheduling
• Complete staff notes in Avatar documenting customer contacts that do not result in a scheduled appointment
• Report any suspected abuse or neglect of children or of vulnerable adults to DCBS
• Connect callers to various agency programs’ afterhours on-call staff
• Take information from jails statewide in need of risk assessment services and pass this along to Jail Triage staff
• Maintain Jail Triage rotation spreadsheet
• Fax Jail Triage reports
• Serve as afterhours contact to service providers of wards under state guardianship
• Provider afterhours authorization for medical procedure for wards of the state
• Complete Guardianship Call Log documentation and/or spreadsheet for these guardianship calls
• Serve as afterhours contact for NorthKey community mental health region
• Connect NorthKey callers with appropriate clinicians and on-call staff
• Complete NorthKey documentation regarding these calls
• Monitor incoming Helpline faxes, screening for 202a or 645 petitions. Alert appropriate agency staff
• Provide community resource information as needed
• Coordinate afterhours maintenance issues for agency housing
• Monitor incoming phone lines hourly to assure that they are functioning and alert technicians to any interruption in services

While we welcome all to apply, there are some position specific background stipulations that must be met to comply with various regulatory and contractual requirements.

New Vista prohibits discrimination and harassment against any applicant, employee or contractor based on sex, race, color, age, national or ethnic origin, religion, physical disability, mental disability, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, citizenship, pregnancy or maternity, protected veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state or local law. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, working conditions, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, wage and salary administration, employee benefits and training. It is also the company’s policy to prohibit all forms of retaliation against any individual who has complained of harassing or discriminatory conduct, encouraged another to complain, participated in an investigation into such complaints, or opposed unlawful discrimination.