Job Description
Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.
As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.
Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change
Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.
PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:
The Bureau of Mental Health’s mission is to improve mental health and wellness for people in New York City, and to eliminate racial and other long-standing societal disparities by providing services, resources, and opportunities to providers that are grounded in accurate, data driven information that fosters community participation, thus reducing the stigma around mental health.
This includes procuring and monitoring more than 500 contracted programs that provide mental health treatment, psychiatric rehabilitation, supportive housing, care coordination and advocacy services and operating court-mandated Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), Single Point of Access (SPOA) for mobile treatment and care coordination and NYC Supportive Treatment and Recovery Team (NYCSTART) for people with first episode psychosis.
The Office of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) is responsible for the management and oversight of the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program in New York City. The New York State Legislature passed Kendra’s law as an amendment to the Mental Hygiene Law to allow for outpatient civil commitment of individuals with histories of serious mental illness, difficulty engaging in rehabilitation, and who present high risk to themselves or the community. The program enables these individuals to live safely in the community, avoid repeated inpatient hospitalizations, and ensure they have access to comprehensive outpatient services.
Working closely with mental health providers and staff from the Office of Assisted Outpatient Treatment, the Community Mental Health Monitor will:
- Monitor and evaluate the community service providers’ engagement with consumers assigned to their services through a court ordered treatment plan.
- Monitor weekly contact with community service providers responsible for Care Coordinator (CC), Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), or Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) services, to ensure they are fulfilling their required responsibilities.
- Verify consumer community services monthly by completing the monthly service verification.
- Ensure that treatment plans are complete timely.
- Make recommendations on policies and procedures for the AOT Teams and community providers to improve consumer’s adherence to treatment plans while in the community.
- Monitor, follow-up, and document significant events as reported by the community providers, timely and according to the policy and procedure guidelines.
- Participate in case conferences with community partners to discuss consumer eligibility for AOT as well as progress under the court order.
- Maintain consumers’ electronic and hard cover records.
- Collaborate with other community treatment/service providers and/or hospitals regarding current consumers.
**IMPORTANT NOTES TO ALL CANDIDATES:
Please note: If you are called for an interview you will be required to bring to your interview copies of original documentation, such as:
- A document that establishes identity for employment eligibility, such as: A Valid U.S. Passport, Permanent Resident Card/Green Card, or Driver’s license.
- Proof of Education according to the education requirements of the civil service title.
- Current Resume
- Proof of Address/NYC Residency dated within the last 60 days, such as: Recent Utility Bill (i.e. Telephone, Cable, Mobile Phone)
Additional documentation may be required to evaluate your qualification as outlined in this posting’s “Minimum Qualification Requirements” section. Examples of additional documentation may be, but not limited to: college transcript, experience verification or professional trade licenses.
If after your interview you are the selected candidate you will be contacted to schedule an on-boarding appointment. By the time of this appointment you will be asked to produce the originals of the above documents along with your original Social Security card.
**LOAN FORGIVENESS
As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at StudentAid.gov/PSLF.
"FINAL APPOINTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET APPROVAL”
Qualifications
1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties described above; or
2. High school graduation or equivalent and six years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties as described above; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least one year of experience as described in "1" above.
