Behavioral Health Care Mgmt Clinician, Senior (Triage Line)

Your Role 

Reporting to the Manager, Care Management – Behavioral Health, the Behavioral Health Care Management Clinician, Senior primarily supports the Behavioral Health Triage Line (a behavioral health crisis and support line) serving as a clinical point of contact for members seeking behavioral health support, substance abuse support, crisis assistance, care navigation, and access to behavioral health services.

Approximately 90% of the role will be dedicated to Behavioral Health Triage Line responsibilities, including conducting initial clinical screenings, assessing member needs and level of urgency, providing crisis intervention and support, facilitating appropriate referrals, and connecting members with behavioral health providers, treatment programs, care management services, and community resources. Ability to assess safety and deescalate behavioral health members within all age groups and support families as appropriate.

The Behavioral Health Care Management Clinician, Senior will use clinical judgment to identify the appropriate level of care and service pathway for members, including escalation of urgent or complex situations when appropriate. The role may also maintain a small behavioral health care management caseload based on departmental needs.

In addition, the clinician will support clinical intake and care-routing activities, including reviewing and prioritizing behavioral health referrals, evaluating referral information for clinical appropriateness and urgency, provider searches and other activities facilitating assignment to the appropriate care management program or clinician.

Responsibilities

Your Work 

In this role, you will: 

• Serve as a primary clinician for the Behavioral Health Triage Line (a behavioral health crisis and support line) by assessing needs, evaluating urgency and safety, providing crisis support, and coordinating appropriate follow up care.
• Review, prioritize, and route behavioral health referrals based on member needs, acuity, eligibility, and clinical criteria.
• Support intake workflows, case creation, timely case assignment, and continuity of care.
• Maintain a small caseload of members requiring ongoing behavioral health care coordination or case management, including individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, as assigned.
• Assess behavioral health and psychosocial needs, identify barriers to care, and support member self-determination.
• Connect members with behavioral health and medical providers, treatment programs, substance use services, care management, and community resources.
• Collaborate with care managers, providers, Utilization Management, Physician Advisors, and interdisciplinary teams to coordinate services and address clinical needs.
• Serve as a clinical resource and participate in case consultations, team meetings, clinical huddles, and other collaborative discussions.
• Complete mandated reporting, including reports to Adult Protective Services, Child Protective Services, and other appropriate agencies.
• Other duties as assigned to support the Behavioral Health Care Management team.

Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience 

• Current unrestricted CA License (LCSW, LMFT, LPCC, Registered Nurse (RN), or PsyD by the Board of Behavioral Health Sciences required)
• RN Requires an associate’s degree or BSN preferred
• Master’s degree required for non RN-licensure
• Requires at least five (5) years of prior relevant experience, including three (3) years of experience in behavioral health or triage/crisis line experience
• Experience with behavioral health crisis intervention, including experience working on a crisis line or emergency room, behavioral health triage line, warm or triage line, emergency response team, or other setting involving assessment and management of urgent behavioral health needs preferred.
• Certified Case Manager preferred.
• Experience conducting thorough psychosocial assessments, critical thinking and deescalation, developing care plans and providing necessary interventions identified during assessment with complex client populations that may have, among other things, inadequate coping skills, severe emotional disorders, developmental disabilities, mental illnesses, and/or unstable housing
• Considerable knowledge of a wide range of psychosocial challenges and familiarity with behavioral health diagnoses and treatment
• Proficient with computer programs such as Microsoft Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint

Hybrid Virtual Work

This role allows employees to work virtually full-time, however employees will be expected to come to the office based on business need.

About Blue Shield of California

As of January 2025, Blue Shield of California became a subsidiary of Ascendiun. Ascendiun is a nonprofit corporate entity that is the parent to a family of organizations including Blue Shield of California and its subsidiary, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan; Altais, a clinical services company; and Stellarus, a company designed to scale healthcare solutions. Together, these organizations are referred to as the Ascendiun Family of Companies. 

At Blue Shield of California, our mission is to create a healthcare system worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable. We are transforming health care in a way that genuinely serves our nonprofit mission by lowering costs, improving quality, and enhancing the member and physician experience. 

To achieve our mission, we foster an environment where all employees can thrive and contribute fully to address the needs of the various communities we serve. We are committed to creating and maintaining a supportive workplace that upholds our values and advances our goals.

Blue Shield is a U.S. News Best Company to work for, a Deloitte U.S. Best Managed Company and a Top 100 Inspiring Workplace. We were recognized by Fair360 as a Top Regional Company, and one of the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States by Points of Light. Here at Blue Shield, we strive to make a positive change across our industry and communities – join us!  

Our Values: 

• Honest. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical and integrity standards. We build trust by doing what we say we're going to do and by acknowledging and correcting where we fall short. 
• Human. We strive to listen and communicate effectively, showing empathy by understanding others' perspectives.
• Courageous. We stand up for what we believe in and are committed to the hard work necessary to achieve our ambitious goals. 

Physical Requirements:

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail. 

Equal Employment Opportunity:

External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest records and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, State and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.