Mental Health Clinical Specialist Trainee @ Special Education Department 2025-26 SY#2099

DEFINITION: Large suburban public district with approximately 29,000 students ranging from 3 to 21 years of age and a wide range of races/ethnicities, languages and socio-economic statuses. As its own SELPA, our district completes its own Educationally Related Mental Health Services (ERMHS) evaluations and offers a range of counseling and social emotional/behavioral supports (e.g., school-based Outpatient Medi-Cal therapy services, DIS counseling, ERMHS counseling, Social Emotional Educational Collaborative/Counseling Enriched Program classrooms, and separate schools with in-classroom supports provided).

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES:
E = Essential Functions (Incumbents may perform any combination of the essential
functions shown below. This position description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of
duties, knowledge or abilities associated with this classification, but is intended to accurately
reflect the principal job elements.) Internship experiences will be based on university program
requirements.

First year trainee students:

• Typically work 2 to 3 days a week with 1 to 2 hours of weekly direct supervision
• Complete supervised tasks related to individual counseling, case management, group counseling. -E

Second year trainee students:

• Typically work 3-4 days a week with 1 to 3 hours of weekly direct supervision (Per Board of Behavioral Sciences - 2 units of supervision to collect pre-masters MFT hours).
• Complete tasks related to individual/group counseling with increasing independence in managing caseload over the school year including increasing capacity for billing on eligible students with open Medi-Cal cases. -E
• Build and strengthen professional skills (e.g., caseload management, crisis support, meeting facilitation, teamwork, consultation, assessment and treatment planning, documentation). -E

Placement is available in elementary, middle and high schools and is based on supervisor assignment. Traineeship experiences will be based on university program requirements, but students will generally have the opportunity to observe and practice the daily tasks credentialed Mental Health Clinical Specialist perform. Experiences include, but are not limited to, shadowing/observing daily Mental Health Clinical Specialist activities; IEP meetings; consulting with teachers/staff/parents; individual/group counseling; Medi-cal billing/clinical documentation; observing/completing assessments; and attending school and department staff meetings/trainings. It is likely that students would be able to shadow other school personnel but
this would be set up on an individual basis. Staff and classroom presentations, SEL curriculum development, and other programmatic activity design is also available based on site needs and intern interest.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

Physical Abilities:
Hear and speak to train and exchange information in person and on the telephone; communicate
so others will be able to clearly understand normal conversation; dexterity of hands and fingers to
operate a computer keyboard and manipulate paper; see to read, prepare documents and
reports and to observe other personnel; site or stand for extended periods of time; work at a
desk, conference table, small student classroom table, or in meetings in various configurations;
hear and understand speech at normal levels; kneel, bend at the waist, reach overhead, above
the shoulders, and horizontally; lift objects weighing up to 25 pounds.

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATES:

• Possession of a valid California driver’s license is required.

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS:

• TB test clearance, fingerprinting clearance, and any other state/federal licensing or certification requirements