GULF COAST CENTER - JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Forensic Services Team Lead II

Location: Galveston County

FLSA Status: Exempt

Working Status: Full-time w/benefits

Summary:
Under the direction of the Director of Forensic Services or designee, the Forensic Services Team Lead II works as part of Gulf Coast Center Forensic Services to provide structured competency restoration services to adults who have been found incompetent to stand trial (IST). The position provides restoration-focused clinical interventions, psychoeducation, legal education, skills training, and behavioral health treatment designed to address barriers that interfere with the individual's ability to understand court proceedings and assist counsel in their defense.
The Forensic Services Team Lead II works collaboratively with Forensic Services staff, jail administration, medical and psychiatric providers, courts, attorneys, competency evaluators, and other authorized partners. The therapist monitors and documents restoration progress, participates in interdisciplinary case review, provides clinically appropriate recommendations within scope, and may appear in court or provide testimony regarding services delivered, observed functioning, treatment participation, and restoration progress when required.
This position provides competency restoration treatment and progress monitoring. A formal competency examination or expert opinion that a defendant is competent or incompetent to stand trial may only be completed when the clinician separately meets the qualifications required for a court-appointed competency evaluator and is appointed or authorized to perform that function.

Gulf Coast Center is committed to fostering an open, inclusive, and supportive environment that welcomes and embraces diversity in all forms. Gulf Coast Center embraces trauma-sensitive and informed practices, provides suicide-safer care, and fosters a safe and compassionate environment that promotes racial and health equity.

Job Duties: (To be performed with or without accommodation as based on ADA requirements)

The Forensic Services Team Lead II will be responsible for the following:

Essential Job Duties:

• Provide individual and/or group competency restoration services to individuals ordered to competency restoration.
• Develop individualized restoration interventions based on identified functional deficits, psychiatric symptoms, learning needs, cognitive limitations, and barriers affecting competency-related abilities.
• Provide structured legal education regarding the criminal justice process, courtroom roles, charges, pleas, possible consequences, adversarial proceedings, courtroom behavior, and the role of defense counsel.
• Use therapeutic interventions, psychoeducation, skills training, repetition, remediation, and other clinically appropriate strategies to improve the individual's ability to understand, retain, and apply competency-related information.
• Address symptoms of mental illness and behavioral health barriers that interfere with participation in competency restoration in coordination with psychiatric and medical providers.
• Assess and monitor the individual's participation, response to treatment, ability to learn and retain legal information, rational understanding, factual understanding, and ability to communicate with and assist legal counsel.
• Develop, review, and update restoration goals and treatment strategies based on the individual's progress and clinical presentation.
• Complete timely, accurate, objective, and clinically defensible documentation of all restoration services, progress, barriers, interventions, and significant changes in functioning.
• Complete or contribute to required competency restoration progress reports and communicate relevant findings to Forensic Services leadership and authorized court or legal partners.
• Participate in interdisciplinary staffing and case consultation with Forensic Services staff, psychiatric
  providers, jail medical staff, competency evaluators, attorneys, courts, and other authorized partners.
• Appear in court, hearings, staffing, or other legal proceedings when required and provide factual testimony
  regarding services delivered, treatment participation, observed functioning, clinical progress, and restoration
  efforts within professional scope.
• Immediately communicate significant psychiatric deterioration, safety concerns, inability to participate in
  restoration, or other clinically significant changes through established program and jail procedures.
• Provide crisis assessment, intervention, safety planning, and referral within professional scope when clinically
  indicated and follow Center procedures for emergency or urgent behavioral health needs.
• Maintain confidentiality and communicate Protected Health Information (PHI) in accordance with federal,
  state, professional, court, and agency requirements.
• Comply with jail security procedures, safety requirements, background clearance requirements, professional
  boundaries, and correctional facility policies. Maintain required productivity, service tracking, attendance, program data, and documentation standards.
• Participate in required competency restoration, forensic mental health, trauma-informed care, suicide
  prevention, safety, and Center-mandated trainings.
• Will be responsible and accountable for adherence to and promotion of agency compliance policy and Gulf
  Coast Center's Business Code of Conduct and Corporate Compliance Plan.
• Treat all individuals with courtesy, decency, dignity, and respect and provide responsive and efficient
  services.
• Interact professionally with staff, consumers, courts, attorneys, jail personnel, local entities, and community
  partners.
• Consistent adherence to Center dress code and safety guidelines and expectations.
• May be required to travel within Galveston County and to other locations for court, training, or program needs.
• Requires a current Texas Driver's License, reliable transportation, a driving record that meets Center policy,
  and current auto liability insurance.

Non-Essential Job Duties:

• Assist Forensic Services leadership with program development, quality assurance activities, audits, special
  projects, and review of competency restoration workflows.
• Provide consultation or education to internal staff regarding competency restoration, forensic mental health,
  and restoration-focused clinical interventions within scope of practice.
• Assist with development or revision of competency restoration curricula, educational materials, documentation
  tools, and desk procedures.
• Provide backup clinical support to other Forensic Services programs when requested and when consistent
  with licensure, competency, and program needs.
• Complete other duties as assigned by the Director of Forensic Services or designee as they relate to the
  program and position.
  Supervision:
• Receives direct supervision from the Director of Forensic Services or designee.

Required Education:

• Master's degree or doctoral degree from an accredited college or university in counseling, social work,
  psychology, marriage and family therapy, or another behavioral health discipline that supports the required
  clinical licensure.

Required Licensure/Certifications:

• Requires a current, active, and unrestricted Texas clinical license. Acceptable licensure includes LPC, LCSW,
  LMFT, Licensed Psychologist, or an equivalent independently licensed behavioral health professional
  approved by Gulf Coast Center Human Resources.
• License must remain active and in good standing with the applicable Texas licensing board throughout
  employment.
• Required to obtain and maintain all Center-mandated certifications and trainings.
  Required Experience:
• Clinical experience providing behavioral health services to adults with serious mental illness or other complex
  behavioral health needs.
• Experience completing clinical assessments, treatment planning, therapeutic interventions, and professional
  clinical documentation.
• Ability to work with justice-involved individuals in a correctional, forensic, court-connected, or other secure
  environment.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience in forensic mental health, competency restoration, jail-based behavioral health, state hospital
  services, court programs, or correctional settings.
• Experience providing structured psychoeducation, skills training, individual therapy, and/or group
  interventions.
• Knowledge of competency to stand trial concepts and Texas criminal court processes.
• Experience collaborating with courts, attorneys, jail personnel, competency evaluators, psychiatric providers,
  and multidisciplinary treatment teams.
• Experience providing testimony or presenting clinical information in court or other legal proceedings.

Abilities/Traits:

• General knowledge of serious mental illness, psychotic disorders, mood disorders, trauma-related conditions,
  cognitive limitations, and other conditions that may affect competency-related functioning.
• Demonstrated ability to use sound clinical judgment and maintain clear professional and forensic boundaries.
• Ability to distinguish treatment observations and clinical findings from formal forensic opinions that are outside
  the clinician's assigned role or statutory qualifications.
• Ability to communicate clearly, objectively, and professionally, orally and in writing.
• Ability to explain complex legal and clinical concepts in a manner appropriate to the individual's cognitive,
  psychiatric, educational, and functional needs.
• Ability to remain calm and effective in stressful, high-acuity, or correctional environments.
• Self-motivated with strong time management, organization, follow-through, and ability to manage competing
  priorities.
• Ability to work effectively within a multidisciplinary team approach.
• Ability to provide culturally responsive, trauma-informed services.
• Requires proficiency with computers, electronic health records, Microsoft Office applications, email, and
  program tracking systems.

Working Conditions:

• Work will be performed primarily in a jail/correctional and forensic services setting and may also include
  office, court, community, and remote settings as program needs allow.
• May require varied work hours depending on court schedules, jail operations, program needs, and client
  needs.
• May require travel to court, Gulf Coast Center locations, trainings, or other approved program sites.
• Requires current Texas Driver's License, reliable transportation safe and current with all state requirements,
  and liability insurance.

Special Projects:

• Assist supervisor when requested to complete special projects and complete assignments within a time frame
  negotiated with the supervisor. Complete other duties as assigned as they relate to the program and position.

Job Related Physical/Mental Requirements & Environmental Conditions:

Physical:

• Ability to transport, adjust and/or move items up to 55 lbs.
• Ability to ascend/descend stairs.
• Ability to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time.
• Ability to handle objects and operate office equipment.
• Ability to move around within an office, jail, court, and/or other work locations as needed; may include
  bending/twisting, kneeling/stooping and/or reaching for items.
• Ability to hear (with or without aid).
• Ability to have visual acuity to operate a motor vehicle and observe individuals and objects within the work
  setting.

Mental:

• Ability to accept constructive criticism and professional feedback.
• Ability to maintain regular attendance.
• Ability to understand, communicate, and comprehend accurate information with others in English.
• Ability to reason, analyze, and exercise clinical judgment effectively.
• Ability to solve practical problems as they relate to the position.
• Required to pass and maintain all Center-mandated trainings.

Work Site/Environmental Conditions:

• Ability to work alone and closely with others.
• Ability to work closely with individuals who may be acutely symptomatic, behaviorally dysregulated, justice involved, or have poor hygiene.
• May be subjected to a hostile or high-crime environment.
• Potential exposure to tobacco products and other conditions associated with correctional environments.
• May be subjected to both inside and outside environmental conditions.
• Subject to standard and correctional-facility noise levels within the working environment.
• Travel by motor vehicle, van, bus, or plane may be required.

Qualified individuals must be able to perform these functions with or without reasonable
accommodations as based on ADA requirements.