MENTAL HEALTH WORKER
 
 DEFINITION

 Under   direction,  conducts  or  assists  in  conducting   group
 discussions;   plans  and/or  conducts  activity   sessions   and
 community  trips  for  patients who are emotionally  or  mentally
 disabled  in  an adult or child patient care unit;  observes  and
 reports  on  patient  program;  does  other  related  duties   as
 required.

 NOTE: The  examples of work for this title are for illustrative
 purposes  only.  A particular position using this title  may  not
 perform all duties listed in this job specification.  Conversely,
 all duties performed on the job may not be listed.

 NOTE:  Appointments may be made to positions requiring bilingual skills.

 07879- Bilingual in Spanish and English.
 SPECIAL SKILL		
 Applicants must be able to read, write, speak, understand, or communicate in 
 Spanish and English sufficiently to perform the duties of this position.

 EXAMPLES OF WORK:

 Plans  the  therapeutic regimen for patients who  are  unable  to
 leave  the  hospital  due to debilitating effects  of  long  term
 institutionalization   and  to  prevent  such   situations   from
 occurring in newly admitted patients.

 Plans   program  activities  and  coordinates  them  with   other
 institutional programs and services.

 Conducts  community  living discussion groups  that  will  be  of
 practical value to the patient and tries to ensure that  patients
 are prepared for successful adjustment to the community following
 discharge.

 Conducts  grooming, personal sewing, cooking, and other household
 activity  sessions concerned with daily living to facilitate  the
 reentry of the patient into the community.

 Carries  out therapeutic activity plans including but not limited
 to   hygiene,   music  therapy,  cooking,    art   therapy,   and
 recreational therapy.

 Removes disruptive children and/or adults from activities  and/or
 classroom.

 Takes injured patients or children to the emergency room.

 Writes weekly progress notes on patients observed and submits  
 to supervisor.

 Plans and conducts community trips as another step in helping the
 patient adapt more easily to return to the community.

 Observes  the  behavior  of  patients  in  their  activities  and
 assesses  their  work  performance,  reliability,  attentiveness,
 level of comprehension, and ability to function competitively  as
 part  of planning for the patients vocational entrance into  the
 community.

 Participates  in  conducting in-service  training  for  aides  and
 volunteers working with the program.

 Participates in professional meetings and conferences.

 Maintains records and files.

 Will  be required to learn to utilize various types of electronic
 and/or  manual  recording and information  systems  used  by  
 the agency, office, or related units.

 REQUIREMENTS:

      EDUCATION:
      Graduation from an accredited college or university  with  a
 Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Sociology, or Psychology.

      LICENSE:

      Appointees  will  be required to possess a  driver's  license
 valid  in  New Jersey only if the operation of a vehicle,  rather
 than  employee mobility, is necessary to perform essential duties
 of the position.

 KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITIES:

 Knowledge  of  sociological  and  psychological  principles   and
 practices.

 Knowledge  of  problems encountered in collecting  and  analyzing
 factual  information  needed in passing  upon  individual  cases,
 drawing   sound   social   conclusions  therefrom,   and   basing
 appropriate action thereon.

 Knowledge of individual and group behavior.

 Ability  to  analyze,  comprehend,  and  interpret  data  in  the
 conducting of support groups, individual sessions, and adjunctive
 activity sessions.

 Ability  to  establish  and maintain a professional  relationship
 with patients and staff.

 Ability to be sympathetic but firm with patients.

 Ability to learn quickly significant facts of a situation and  to
 weigh and evaluate such facts.

 Ability  to plan and execute programs for social readjustment  on
 the basis of findings.

 Ability to prepare reports on patients.

 Ability to maintain records and files.

 Ability  to  utilize  various types of electronic  and/or  manual
 recording and information systems used by the agency, office,  or
 related units.

 Ability  to  read, write, speak, understand, and  communicate  in
 English   sufficiently  to  perform  duties  of  this   position.
 American  Sign  Language or Braille may  also  be  considered  as
 acceptable forms of  communication.

 Persons with mental or physical disabilities are eligible as long
 as  they  can  perform  essential  functions  of  the  job  after
 reasonable accommodation is made to their known limitations.   If
 the  accommodation  cannot be made because  it  would  cause  the
 employer undue hardship, such persons may not be eligible.

This job specification is applicable to the following title code(s) which
are different work week or work month and/or variants of the job class title:
Job
Spec
Code
Variant
State,
Local or
Common
Class of
Service
Work
Week
State
Class
Code
Local
Class
Code
Salary
Range
Note
02498@
L
N
  
N/A
21
-
07879
Bilingual In Spanish And English
L
N
  
N/A
21
-

This job specification is for local government use only.
Salary range is only applicable to state government.
Local salaries are established by individual local jurisdictions.

 12/22/1999