Mobile Crisis Responder, UW Husky Assist

The University of Washington Division of Campus Community Safety (DCCS) unifies front-line public safety units across the University for a holistic approach to campus community safety, innovation in approaches, and clarity in leadership responsibility and accountability. Key units include UW Emergency Management, SafeCampus, the Seattle Campus UW Police Department (UWPD), and a new behavioral health mobile response team: Husky Assist. Division staff work daily in partnership with units across and outside the UW system to create safer campus environments, prepare for potential natural or human-made disasters, and respond appropriately to incidents.

The University of Washington's Seattle Campus is proud to be forming Husky Assist Mobile Response Team, which is an initiative developed by the Division and campus partners. This specialized team is comprised of mental health professionals who will serve as first responders or co-responders to UW students, faculty and staff experiencing an acute behavioral health crisis. Husky Assist will provide timely response and in-person intervention, crisis management, de-escalation and referral using culturally informed practices at all levels. Key campus partners include the UW Housing & Food Services, SafeCampus, the UW Counseling Center, Husky Health, UWPD, and UW Medicine. We have an outstanding opportunity for a Mobile Crisis Responder.

Reporting to the Husky Assist Mobile Response Team Program Manager, this position will respond to urgent behavioral health needs across the UW Seattle campus for any students, faculty, staff and visitors, including response to youth & children under the age of 18 who are on campus for a UW-sanctioned purpose. Across the country, campus response programs typically serve students at much higher rates than the other populations on campus, and we anticipate that will be true for this program as well. While encounters could be with unhoused people, UW employs other resources for crisis calls involving unhoused individuals on the Seattle campus.

Husky Assist may be mobilized alone or as a co-response with UW Police, depending on the nature of the request. The formation of Husky Assist is an acknowledgment that there are many crisis-related situations that may not require the presence of armed law enforcement, but because of the ambiguous nature of crisis situations it is essential that this position coordinate closely with UW Police. Individuals hired for this role must be comfortable working with police on response activities.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Direct Response and Intervention

Provide direct crisis intervention, stabilization and resource referral to campus members of all ages who present with a behavioral health concern or are in an active state of crisis while adhering to the parameters of UW policies and procedures. Staff hired for this role will have ongoing supervisory support, including in the moment, as well as routine supervision. Husky Assist team members will  independently intake, assess, coordinate care and plan for client disposition, apply sound judgement on  when to seek supervisory support for ambiguous situations, higher risk clients, or high-profile events.

• Coordinate directly with law enforcement, fire/EMS and dispatch to determine who will take the lead on an incident response and adjust role and/or interventions throughout as needed

• Maintain strong working knowledge of culturally- and age- appropriate community resources, processes, interventions and requirements, including, but not limited to:

o  Mental health crisis intervention

o  Suicide risk assessment

o  Interpersonal violence

o  Abuse/neglect of children and vulnerable adults

o  Crisis intervention

o  Substance use

o  Grief counseling

o  Harm reduction

o  Trauma-informed care

o  De-escalation

• Assist in the arrangement of transportation to emergency and crisis facilities, when needed, based upon the safety needs of the individual. This could include transporting the person in a university-owned vehicle.

Partnership and Outreach

• One goal of Husky Assist is to be a trusted care partner throughout the UW Seattle campus. As some groups may have more distrust of UW systems and programs, Husky Assist team members will continuously work to proactively engage and support those groups.

• Serve as an ambassador for Husky Assist including taking initiative in engaging campus members to market and promote the service, staffing tabling events, and developing and launching presentations for departments about Husky Assist.

• Promote effective working relationships across campus partners including staying informed about cross-campus issues and offering Husky Assist support if indicated, and establishing regular communication with higher volume referral sources and potential referral sources who may be more reluctant to engage

• Develop and maintain positive relationships with agencies providing care or assistance to clients served by Husky Assist. This includes initiating care coordination and engagement across various care partners both on- and off-campus, understanding (and identifying new programs) on- and off-campus roles/referral processes/wait times, and making appropriate referrals.

Program Administration

• Identify and participate in quality improvement efforts. As a new program, we will have a very strong focus on data gathering and creating quality measures to ensure maximum program impact. Team members will be expected to maintain high attention to detail with data collection, and create/identify areas of improvement and work collaboratively on methods that progress towards program goals.

• Complete clinical documentation in accordance with Husky Assist/UW policies.

• Comply with all aspects of RCW 70.02 and FERPA in handling sensitive medical information, and comply with all university policies.

• Mentor new staff, as assigned.

• Actively participate in the development of yearly performance goals and implementation plan.

• Attend and participate in supervision and departmental meetings, including committees as assigned.

• Participate in data collection and quality improvement activities as assigned.

Special Projects and Process Improvement

• Husky Assist call volumes are expected to fluctuate, and team members will be assigned special projects that will contribute to either internal program development or general campus operations. Team members may be expected to take the lead on special projects as assigned by the Program Manager.

Lead Responsibilities:

• Husky Assist team members will be expected to take the lead on determining response activities while on shift, including coordinating with UWPD, EMS, and UWPD dispatch as indicated for each call.

• Special projects lead as indicated by the project.

• Lead quality improvement efforts, while also collaborating with other team members and program manager.

• Identify new resources that come online that could benefit clients and educate team members about the essential details of those resources.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in behavioral sciences (counseling, social work, or related).

• Agency affiliated counselor registration, licensed (or higher-level credential, e.g. LMCA, LMFT, LICSW, and etc.).

• Two years of paid professional experience in the direct delivery of professional mental health care. NOTE: Unpaid internship or practicum experience will not qualify as paid professional experience.

Conditions of Employment:

• May occasionally lift /move up to 25 lbs.

• Must be able to quickly respond to emergency situations – including some running, biking, and climbing of several flights of stairs. The Seattle campus is large and while the team will have use of a UW vehicle, team members may walk significant distances and navigate stairs, slopes in all weather. 

• This position is designated as one that performs an essential function. This means that the position’s incumbent must continue to report to work as directed in the event that the University suspends operations because of severe weather, natural disaster, or other emergency condition; must be able to work outdoors in all weather conditions.

• Possession of a valid motor vehicle driver's license; able to meet criteria to drive State-owned vehicles.

• Ability to obtain First Aid and CPR certifications (including use of AED) within 6 months of hire.

• Ability to obtain counselor registration or licensure within 90 days of hire.

Schedule:

• The Husky Assist team’s hours are 5 days a week, 11:00 am to 8:30 pm.  Shifts will be in a 5/4/9 format (5 shifts of 9 hours one week, 4 shifts of 9 hours the second week). Notably, as a new program with evolving needs schedule changes are possible and will be driven by the campus need. Working hours may also include upstaffing during anticipated service peaks outside of regularly assigned shifts, as well as the potential to respond to events outside of normal business hours.