Heluna Health·Torrance, California
This role involves providing specialized, trauma-centered social work services, including clinical assessments and evidence-based treatment, to patients and families in hospital and ambulatory settings. Responsibilities also include complex case management, coordination of community linkages, and potentially leading small social work units.
$33.87-$48.87 per hour
This position is for a Senior Clinical Social Worker at the Safe Harbor Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. This employee will provide trauma-centered social work services to patients and family members in both inpatient and outpatient settings and may also provide field services as needed. The role will include providing quality clinical bio-psychosocial assessments and evidence-based treatment services and may also include evidence-based therapeutic practices, complex case management and care coordination, advocacy, and coordination of linkages to other appropriate community service providers/agencies as needed by the client
Positions allocable to this class are assigned to hospitals and ambulatory care setting and are characterized primarily by the highly specialized and difficult case assignments where the nature and extent of the patient's medical condition is life-threatening or has a dramatic impact upon the functioning and lifestyle of the patient and family.
Incumbents in these positions are expected to function with minimal technical supervision as they provide professional individualized treatment to accomplish changes in insight, attitudes, and motivation of patients and family members to attain optimal health functioning.
At this level, providing professional social work services to patients with such complex medical and related psycho-social problems is not an incidental part of the workload but is regularly performed with infrequent recourse to supervisory guidance.
Social work practice at this level demands highly professional skills and may include additional expertise in specific therapeutic methods such as reality therapy, behavior modification, and group therapy.
All positions in this class provide consultation services to other health disciplines and community agencies about problems related to patient care and assessing unmet needs of the patient.
Employees in these positions may act as team leaders and may coordinate social work functions within a particular service by providing professional diagnostic and goal setting functions for the team members and by managing the system of case assignment. The evaluation, intervention planning, and resolution of problems is not directly patient-related. Other positions in this class located in the community ambulatory medical settings spend a majority of the time providing direct social work services to patients and family members while concurrently directing the work of a small social work unit consisting of no more than one professional social worker and a limited number of support staff. Assignment in an ambulatory facility includes developing and coordinating social work services with other programs within the respective area of assignment, formulating goals and objectives for the unit, and adapting policies and procedures to provide more effective social work services to patients.
All positions in this class must possess a comprehensive knowledge of established professional social work standards and principles, pertinent policies and procedures of the department and the assigned facility, community resources available for referral, and State and Federal social welfare laws and regulations. Incumbents must also possess oral and written communication skills to facilitate individual and group therapy, to conduct interviews with patients and their families, to develop and to implement intervention plans, to coordinate social work services within the assigned facility, and to provide direction to team members.
Interviews and evaluates patients and family members to identify social, emotional, and economic factors which may interfere with obtaining maximum benefits from medical care.
Develops social/emotional assessments and formulates diagnoses and treatment plans based upon evaluation of the patient's past, present and future medical and socioeconomic functioning.
Develops and implements psychosocial therapy programs for patients utilizing a variety of therapeutic methods and techniques.
Provides consultation services to multi-disciplinary team members by evaluating the environmental and psychosocial implications of the patient's illness when the team is assessing and planning medical treatment.
Develops and utilizes resources of public and private agencies and community organizations to meet the needs of the patients.
Confers with representatives of other departments and private agencies to resolve problems and to develop and maintain public understanding and sound working relationships.
Will be equipped to utilize various clinical treatment modalities including Evidence-Based Psychotherapy (EBP) approaches specific to PTSD and trauma recovery such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), etc. as directed by the TRC mental health team leader.
Caseload will consist of complex clients, all of whom have histories of trauma, including acute and chronic physical and sexual abuse, and are victims of interpersonal violence such as sexual assault, physical assault, domestic violence, gunshot wounds, political torture, and immigration trauma. Many clients also have concurrent medical conditions, psychosocial problems, and may have substance use disorders as well.
May visit patients at home for purpose of outreach and follow-up if patient is unable to keep regularly scheduled appointments.
Participates as a member of administrative, educational, professional, and community committees for program planning.
Plans, assigns, directs, and evaluates the work of a small social work unit comprised of one professional social worker and a limited number of support staff in a community ambulatory medical setting.
Stand: Frequently
Walk: Frequently
Sit: Frequently
Handling / Fingering: Occasionally
Reach Outward: Occasionally
Reach Above Shoulder: Occasionally
Climb, Crawl, Kneel, Bend: Occasionally
Occasionally - Up to 25 lbs
Occasionally - Up to 25 lbs
See: Constantly
Taste/ Smell: Not Applicable
Not Applicable = Not required for essential functions
Occasionally = (0 - 2 hrs/day)
Frequently = (2 - 5 hrs/day)
Constantly = (5+ hrs/day)
It is the policy of Heluna Health to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants, without regard to age (40 and over), national origin or ancestry, race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy or perceived pregnancy, reproductive health decision making, physical or mental disability, medical condition (including cancer or a record or history of cancer), AIDS or HIV, genetic information or characteristics, veteran status or military service.
Candidates must possess a Master's Degree in Social Work from an accredited school, along with two years of clinical social work experience, and hold an active Licensed Clinical Social Worker license in California. The role demands expertise in trauma recovery modalities and the ability to function independently with complex, high-acuity patient cases.
Provides orientation to multi-disciplinary health staff to further their understanding of the social worker's role in the treatment process.
May conduct research studies and special projects to develop more effective methods of identifying and evaluating the needs of patients.
Writes case summaries and reports which document the social/emotional assessments and diagnoses made and treatment rendered in accordance with applicable regulatory standards for medical treatment.
May submit recommendations for charge to current social work services programs and procedures.
May develop and conduct in-service training and staff development programs for social work staff.
Participates in social work student affiliate programs for training professional social work students through case assignments and technical instructions.
Attends in-service training programs, continuing professional education, seminars and workshops to keep abreast of new trends and techniques used in social work practice.
Market context
Senior Clinical Social Worker roles in California are often competitive because employers typically look for a master’s degree, two years of clinical experience, and an active California LCSW, along with trauma recovery expertise. For candidates, the strongest applications usually show direct experience with the populations and settings named in the posting. This platform’s job requirements and benefits are AI-summarized from the original job description, helping you review the essentials faster before applying.
