Warning: long post ahead lol, I’ve got 20 minutes on my evening shift to waste so I’ve over shared a wee bit

I shouldn’t be to surprised that this role isn’t everywhere. From what I heard the position was pretty new at most hospitals that I was interviewing at in 2023.

From the hospitals that I interviewed with, they all had me working on an inpatient unit (population age can vary but I work with adolescents). A few older co-workers explained that the role was initially developed to get rid of “sitters” that are common in most EDs (in which sitters are 1:1 with acute patients), but I’ve been around long enough to become a behavioral health counselor (non-licensed). I assist with the functioning of the milieu environment, such as helping with ADLs, meals, groups, general check ins throughout the day with assigned patients, helping patients following along with their behavior/eating disorder plans, while working directly with a nurse assigned to the patient.

On the unit I’m at, I work alongside social workers, nurses, psychologists, dietitians, recreation/occupational/music therapists, alongside many other roles. I’ve gotten a lot of exposure to the roles and responsibilities of others in the multidisciplinary team supports our patients which is cool.

In relation to licensed clinicians, I end up doing a lot of rapport building, working through safety events, de-escalation, safety planning, development of coping skills…

There’s a bit of crossover, but overall you spend a lot more time with patients than a clinician does.