State of Maryland

18

The Mental Health Professional Counselor is the full performance level of professional counseling work, at the Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor level, providing counseling services to clients with mental disorders by using assessment, evaluation, intervention, rehabilitation and treatment regimens. Employees in this classification do not supervise.

Employees in this class receive general supervision from a Mental Health Professional Counselor Supervisor or a program administrator. Employees in this classification may be required to work evenings and on weekends. The work is performed in State mental health programs located in State institutions, facilities and offices including inpatient and outpatient facilities, jails, detention centers, prisons, halfway house facilities and community-based programs.

The Mental Health Professional Counselor is differentiated from the Mental Health Graduate Professional Counselor on the basis of licensure and supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees. The Mental Health Professional Counselor is the Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor level of work and the employee performs the full range of duties under general supervision and the Mental Health Graduate Professional Counselor is the Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor level of work and the employee learns to perform duties under close supervision. The Mental Health Professional Counselor is differentiated from the Mental Health Professional Counselor Advanced in that the Mental Health Professional Counselor Advanced is the advanced level of professional mental health counseling work with expertise in a specialty area or in a defined treatment or population area.

Provides mental health diagnosis, clinical counseling and case management services to clients with mental and emotional disorders with the most complex problems as defined by standard treatment criteria;

Advocates for client services, collaborates with other disciplines involved in providing treatment and coordinates all treatment activities with services provided to the client by other resources;

Provides group counseling to clients with mental and emotional disorders;

Evaluates client progress in implementing the treatment plan and makes appropriate changes to ensure progress;

Screens clients with mental and emotional disorders to determine the most appropriate initial course of action with regard to treatment;

Assesses client with mental and emotional disorders to gather and interpret information necessary for planning treatment and evaluating progress;

Develops client treatment plans including problem areas, desired treatment outcomes and the strategies for achieving them;

Makes referrals to facilitate the client’s use of available support systems and resources in response to needs identified in clinical evaluation;

Identifies and responds to client in crisis;

Provides mental health-related education and teaches life skills relevant to the recovery process to clients with mental and emotional disorders;

Documents client-related information in accordance with accepted principles of medical records management;

Adheres to accepted ethical and behavioral standards of conduct and participates in continuing professional development;

Performs other related duties.

Specific educational and experience requirements are set by the agency based on the essential job functions assigned to the position.

A Class Description provides information about the Nature of Work, Examples of Work and General Requirements for a classification in the Management Service or a classification in the Skilled or Professional Service in which all positions have been designated Special Appointments. Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities; Minimum Education and Experience Requirements; Special Requirements; and recruitment and testing procedures are set by the using agency. Class descriptions broadly define groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

Jan 1 2008 12:00AM

Director, Division of Classification and Salary