Behavioral Health Technician

BHT services will be provided at a ratio of one BHT worker to one youth.  BHT will provide only those services delineated on the treatment plan and under the supervision of a master’s level staff member, that is, the Mobile Therapist or Behavioral Consultant.

Specific BHT interventions include, but are not limited to behavioral modification strategies of reinforcement, prompting, cuing, redirection, reward systems, logical consequence plans, time out procedures, role-play, practice, social skill development, crisis intervention and management techniques, emotional support, clarifying and problem-solving interventions, and other therapeutic activities outlined in the treatment plan.

BHT service delivery involves one-to-one, direct therapeutic intervention that focus on specific behavioral and emotional problems through services that respects a child’s need for security, permanency, and the right to grow up in a nurturing family. Global service goals are to reduce the need for out-of-home placements, such as inpatient mental health, residential facilities, and foster care.

The service attempts to stabilize the individual in the least restrictive environment with the ultimate goal of facilitating the independent functioning of the child and family through skills transfer to both child and family. The service further seeks to promote self-determination of the child within the context of the family and larger community via the integration of CASSP principles including cultural competence.  BHT services will be used prudently, focus on concrete behavioral goals and objectives, and, given the intrusive nature of service provision, time-limited.  IBHS staff will utilize community resources in the treatment process.  The objective of the service plan will be to further the client’s positive relationship with the community in which he/she resides.

Qualifications for Behavioral Health Technician

BHT qualifications must include at least one of the following:

                  
a. Persons with a Bachelor's Degree in psychology, social work, counseling, sociology, education, criminal justice, or similar human service field, with no previous work experience;

b. Persons with a Bachelor's Degree in any other field, with the equivalent of at least one year of full-time paid work experience in a job that involved direct contact with children or adolescents;

c. Licensed registered nurses, with the equivalent of at least one year of full-time paid work experience in a job that involved direct contact with children or adolescents;

d. Persons with an Associate's Degree, or sixty credits toward a Bachelor's Degree, with the equivalent of at least three years of full-time paid work experience in a job that involved direct contact with children or adolescents;

e. Persons with a high school diploma or GED that have completed a 40 hour training course covering the RBT Task List.   

For the purpose of evaluating paid work experience, a "job that involved direct contact with children" is a job such as a position working directly with children or adolescents in the mental health, mental retardation, early intervention, children and youth, juvenile justice, education, drug and alcohol, day care or health systems. Time for which an individual received a stipend or payment for work experience obtained for educational credit or required for a college degree or professional license may be included in the calculation of either educational credit or paid work experience, but not both.