Valor Program Licensed Therapist in Montclair, California at Benchmark Young Adult School PMB K-286

Department: Clinical Services

Reports To: Britney Gay / Executive Director – Southern California East Region

FLSA Status: Exempt, Salaried

Salary: $75,000-$80,000/Annual

Location: Southern California East Region – Montclair

Benchmark Transitions is an integral member of Emend Healthcare, a rapidly growing organization dedicated to providing individuals with the highest quality of care and support necessary to lead healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives. Our priority is to deliver individualized, evidence-based care within a safe, structured, and supportive treatment environment.

The Benchmark Valor Program is a specialized Veteran residential treatment program located within the Benchmark Montclair campus. Valor provides trauma-informed, evidence-based behavioral health and substance use treatment within a dedicated Veteran-only living and clinical environment. The program is designed to address the unique clinical needs of Veterans, including trauma and PTSD, substance use disorders, reintegration challenges, military identity transition, moral injury, emotional regulation, relapse prevention, and restoration of purpose.

POSITION PURPOSE.

The Valor Program Licensed Therapist serves as the primary clinical therapist for Veterans participating in the Benchmark Valor residential program and is responsible for delivering and coordinating Veteran-specific clinical services within the Valor treatment model. The therapist provides individual, group, and family therapy; develops and monitors individualized treatment plans; completes clinical assessments; provides crisis intervention and risk assessment; supports discharge and reintegration planning; and collaborates with the multidisciplinary treatment team to ensure continuity of care.A central responsibility of this position is the delivery and oversight of trauma-informed, Veteran-specific, evidence-based treatment, including Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and other interventions addressing PTSD, substance use, trauma-related symptoms, moral injury, military-to-civilian transition, and recovery. The therapist is expected to demonstrate strong military cultural competency and an understanding of how military service, deployment, combat exposure, service-related trauma, loss, identity, family relationships, and transition from military to civilian life may impact behavioral health and recovery. The therapist works closely with the Clinical Director, Program Director, medical providers, case management, Behavioral Health Technicians, group facilitators, utilization review staff, referral partners, families, and other members of the interdisciplinary treatment team. The therapist is also responsible for ensuring that all clinical documentation is completed accurately and within required timeframes in the organization's electronic medical record.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

Benchmark Transitions operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This position requires flexibility based upon clinical and operational needs and may require participation in emergency or on-call coverage.

• Develop individualized, Veteran-centered treatment plans and routinely evaluate client participation, clinical progress, treatment goals, barriers, and ongoing level-of-care needs.
• Provide individual psychotherapy to assigned Valor clients using trauma-informed and evidence-based clinical interventions.
• Facilitate Veteran-specific clinical groups and therapeutic programming consistent with the Valor treatment model.
• Deliver or support Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and CPT skills reinforcement addressing trauma-related beliefs, cognitive distortions, and PTSD symptoms.
• Facilitate trauma and substance-use interventions utilizing evidence-based approaches such as Seeking Safety and other clinically appropriate trauma-informed modalities.
• Provide clinical interventions addressing PTSD, substance use disorders, relapse risk, emotional dysregulation, anger, hyperarousal, grief and loss, shame, guilt, moral injury, and other behavioral health concerns frequently experienced by Veterans.
• Facilitate Veteran process groups addressing shared military experiences, identity changes, reintegration stressors, interpersonal relationships, recovery, accountability, and peer support.
• Support clinical programming focused on moral injury and meaning, including issues related to guilt, shame, betrayal, ethical conflict, personal values, meaning reconstruction, and restoration of personal integrity.
• Support the Valor Mission Transition process by assisting Veterans with identity reconstruction, civilian reintegration, restoration of purpose, vocational or educational planning, relationship development, and transition into sustainable community-based recovery.
• Incorporate appropriate emotional-regulation, grounding, mindfulness, somatic-regulation, and distress-tolerance strategies into treatment.
• Provide family therapy, family education, and family support as clinically indicated, including assistance with communication repair, healthy boundaries, reintegration, and discharge planning.
• Complete appropriate clinical assessments, including assessment and ongoing monitoring of suicidality, self-harm, homicidality, psychiatric instability, relapse risk, behavioral concerns, and other safety risks.
• Provide immediate crisis intervention when necessary and collaborate with clinical and medical leadership regarding higher-level evaluation, emergency services, or transfer when clinically indicated.
• Complete admission-related clinical responsibilities, orientation, treatment planning, transition planning, and discharge planning within established organizational and regulatory timeframes.
• Maintain timely, accurate, complete, and clinically appropriate documentation within the electronic medical record. Documentation is expected to be completed within required organizational timeframes, generally within 24 hours of service delivery.
• Provide routine clinical communication regarding client progress to the interdisciplinary treatment team and, when authorized and appropriate, family members, referral sources, Veterans Affairs/Community Care partners, utilization review personnel, outpatient providers, and other involved professionals.
• Collaborate with case management to develop comprehensive discharge and reintegration plans addressing behavioral health treatment, substance use recovery, housing, family support, community resources, medical and psychiatric follow-up, vocational or educational needs, peer support, and other clinically identified needs.
• Participate in interdisciplinary treatment-team meetings, case consultations, utilization-review processes, discharge planning meetings, and other clinical coordination activities.
• Maintain the therapeutic integrity of the Veteran-only Valor cohort while appropriately supporting participation in supplemental Benchmark campus programming when clinically appropriate.
• Collaborate with Behavioral Health Technicians, group facilitators, case managers, nursing, medical providers, and program leadership to promote a safe, structured, clinically supportive therapeutic milieu.
• Provide clinical guidance to direct-care staff regarding behavioral interventions, trauma-informed communication, client safety, treatment-plan implementation, and therapeutic boundaries.
• Participate in program development and continued refinement of the Valor clinical curriculum, including Veteran-specific group programming, clinical resources, treatment materials, and evidence-based interventions.
• Assist in development and maintenance of clinical group materials, facilitator guides, client workbooks, assignments, and other Valor treatment resources.
• Demonstrate sensitivity to military culture, terminology, rank and leadership experiences, deployment experiences, combat exposure, military sexual trauma, service-related loss, transition experiences, and the diversity of Veteran experiences.
• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries and recognize that military experiences and Veteran identities vary significantly; treatment should remain individualized and should not assume a shared experience based solely upon Veteran status.
• Promote positive Veteran peer leadership, accountability, treatment engagement, and development of a healthy therapeutic community.
• Support experiential, community-integration, recovery, life-skills, and therapeutic activities when clinically appropriate.
• Attend or support family visitation, community outings, outside appointments, court-related matters, or other therapeutic activities when clinically indicated.
• Provide training, coaching, and clinical support to new staff regarding Valor programming, Veteran-specific treatment expectations, trauma-informed care, and Benchmark clinical processes.
• Participate in emergency and administrator-on-call rotations as assigned.
• Maintain familiarity with applicable California licensing requirements, organizational policies, accreditation standards, and Joint Commission requirements and participate in regulatory or accreditation reviews as requested.
• Maintain all required professional licenses, certifications, continuing education, and training in active and good standing.
• Participate in ongoing professional development related to Veteran behavioral health, PTSD and trauma treatment, co-occurring substance use disorders, military cultural competency, and evidence-based trauma treatment.
• Immediately report safety concerns, incidents, injuries, suspected abuse, boundary concerns, or other reportable events in accordance with Benchmark policies and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Clearly represent and demonstrate the mission, philosophy, values, and clinical standards of Benchmark Transitions and the Benchmark Valor Program in all client, family, staff, referral-source, and community interactions.
• Assist with program evaluation, outcome measurement, quality improvement, and identification of opportunities to continually improve Valor clinical services.
• Perform other clinically appropriate duties as assigned.

VALOR CLINICAL PROGRAMMING.

The Valor therapist will provide, oversee, or clinically support programming that may include:

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) – Core Sessions
• CPT Skills Lab and CPT Reinforcement
• Veteran Process Group
• Seeking Safety – PTSD and Substance Use
• Veteran-Focused Relapse Prevention
• Anger and Hyperarousal Skills
• Moral Injury and Meaning
• Mission Transition Group
• Leadership and Accountability
• Somatic Regulation
• Mindfulness, journaling, and grounding interventions
• Family therapy and family-support services
• Therapeutic community and experiential programming
• Reintegration and discharge-planning activities

Valor participants may also participate in selected Benchmark campus activities; however, these activities are supplemental to the Veteran-specific clinical programming delivered within the Valor cohort.

WORK ENVIRONMENT.

The Benchmark Valor Program is a dedicated Veteran-only residential and clinical program located within the Benchmark Montclair campus. Veterans reside within a separate Valor living environment and participate in a structured Veteran-specific treatment schedule while maintaining access to selected supplemental campus activities and recovery supports.The position requires regular interaction with clients experiencing behavioral-health, trauma-related, and substance-use symptoms and requires the ability to remain calm, clinically responsive, and professionally engaged within a dynamic residential treatment environment.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS.

• Master's degree or doctoral degree in Psychology, Counseling, Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, or a closely related behavioral-health discipline from an accredited institution.
• Active California clinical license in good standing appropriate to the individual's discipline, such as LMFT, LCSW, LPCC, or Licensed Psychologist.
• Demonstrated education, training, or professional experience in the assessment and treatment of trauma and trauma-related disorders.
• Knowledge of PTSD, co-occurring mental-health and substance-use disorders, relapse prevention, crisis intervention, suicide-risk assessment, and behavioral-health treatment planning.
• Ability to provide individual, group, and family psychotherapy within a residential behavioral-health setting.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct clinical assessments, develop treatment plans, document medical necessity and progress, and complete timely clinical documentation.
• Ability to respond effectively to behavioral-health emergencies and make appropriate clinical recommendations regarding safety and level of care.
• Strong interpersonal, clinical judgment, communication, documentation, and multidisciplinary collaboration skills.
• Ability to work effectively within a structured residential environment serving clients with complex behavioral-health and substance-use needs.
• Ability and willingness to complete required Valor-specific clinical training, including training in military cultural competency and evidence-based trauma treatment.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS.

• Previous professional experience providing behavioral-health treatment to Veterans, active-duty military personnel, first responders, or other trauma-exposed populations.
• Formal education or certification in military and Veteran behavioral health or military cultural competency.
• Training, certification, or demonstrated competency in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).
• Training or experience utilizing Seeking Safety for co-occurring trauma and substance use.
• Experience treating PTSD, complex trauma, moral injury, substance use disorders, and co-occurring behavioral-health conditions.
• Experience working within residential treatment, substance-use treatment, dual-diagnosis treatment, or other intensive behavioral-health settings.
• Experience working with Veterans Affairs, Community Care Network partners, Veteran-serving organizations, or Veteran community resources.
• Experience providing family therapy and supporting military-to-civilian reintegration.
• Familiarity with measurement-based care, clinical outcome tracking, and value-based behavioral-health treatment.

SPECIALIZED TRAINING EXPECTATIONS. The selected clinician should be prepared to complete or maintain specialized training relevant to the Valor model, including:

• Military Cultural Competency / Clinical Military Counseling
• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
• Trauma-informed care
• PTSD and co-occurring substance-use treatment
• Seeking Safety
• Suicide-risk assessment and crisis intervention
• Moral injury and Veteran reintegration
• Ongoing continuing education related to Veteran behavioral health