Christy Downing
Mounds View,USA
Summary
Experienced Behavioral Health Case Manager with 20+ years in healthcare. Specialized in county and community resources, provider types, and care settings, with a focus on health insurance integration. Proven track record of effective collaboration and communication in team settings. Known for providing high-quality mental and physical health services to clients.
Overview
29
29
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Behavioral Health Case Manager
HealthPartners Health Plan
01.2008 - Current
- Engaged and developed therapeutic alliance with members struggling with mental illness, substance use/co-occurring disorders, and members with chronic pain who are identified as high risk for psychiatric hospitalization.
- Assessed needs to determine nature and extent of clients' emotional, behavioral and mental and or chemical health issues.
- Facilitated the exploration, identification, and development of resources, strengths, supports and skills.
- Provided psycho-education related to symptom and condition management and coping skills in order to facilitate exploration of appropriate treatment options.
- Facilitated access to care and referrals to specialty providers and community resources.
- Displayed sensitivity to cultural and linguistic needs of clients and families served.
- Utilized evidenced based practices such as shared decision making, motivational interviewing, and behavioral activation to promote optimal levels of functioning, health and well being.
- Conducted crisis intervention as needed. Completed ongoing crisis and suicide prevention and safety planning.
- Coordinated and facilitated hospital discharge planning and adherence to nationalized quality standards.
- Coordinated care amongst treatment providers, encouraging a highly collaborative approach for both adult clients and to parents of children and adolescents at who were at risk for out of home placement.
- Recorded patient progress and treatment recommendations to be shared with medical providers, psychiatric consultants and other treating providers.
- Utilized Cognitive Behavioral, Dialectical Behavioral, Solution Focused and Person Centered Therapy approaches.
- Adhered to ethical and legal standards for confidentiality, protecting clients' privacy and departmental privacy guidelines.
- Practiced high level of professionalism with high profile cases and with cases requiring certain specialties or considerations.
- Exceeded goals and expectations related to engagement rates, timeliness of outreach and follow up, member and provider satisfaction, completion and maintenance of data collection, performance guarantees and reporting requirements to leaders and high profile employer groups.
- Responsible for training and mentoring new staff.
- Consulted to team of nurse health advocates and medical director during weekly grand rounds.
- Effectively managed case load of up to 85 clients and high levels of stress.
- Effectively utilized and navigated multiple data bases, computer applications and systems.
- Thrived, demonstrating flexibility by adapting to the ambiguity of an ever changing work environment.
- Attended trainings and continued education to maintain professional competence and ethical standards and licensure requirements.
Mental Health Case Manager
Touchstone Mental Health
01.1997 - 06.2008
- Intensively managed caseload of 20-25 adults living in the community with chronic mental illness and co-occurring disorders.
- Collaborated closely with clients, family members and providers for the purpose of psychiatric stabilization.
- Acted as primary community support person providing weekly assessment of symptoms, counseling and ongoing monitoring.
- Facilitated access to economic resources and behavioral/chemical health services as appropriate.
- Assessed ongoing levels and areas of vulnerabilities.
- Facilitated the development and implementation of effective ways of coping.
- Crisis prevention and intervention when needed. Developed and implemented treatment and crisis plans.
- Coordinated and facilitated treatment planning meetings and ongoing communications with treatment providers and family members.
- Assisted clients in obtaining and maintain stable housing and financial assistance.
- Coordinated and tracked mental and chemical civil court commitments, completed court reports. Attended hearings, completed revocations and recommendations to the court.
Education
Certificate - chemical dependency and addictive behaviors
Capella
Minneapolis, MN01.2014
Master of Arts - Counseling Psychology
Bethel University
Arden Hills, MN01.2001
Bachelor of Arts - Psychology
University of Northwestern
Arden Hills, MN01.1994
Skills
- Excellent telephone and in-person counseling, interviewing and assessment
- Excellent verbal and written communication
- Crisis management, safety planning and de-escalation
- Thorough knowledge and understanding of health insurance and county systems
- Collaborative partnerships
- Case management oversight
- Effective decision-making in challenging scenarios
- High-level detail coordination
- Skilled in collaborating with diverse cultural and religious groups
Hobbies and Interests
- I am a mother of a 15 year old daughter, and in recent years have directed most of my free time and attention to family life.
- I love to walk for exercise and stress relief and also find listening to music to be a source of strength for my health and well being.
- I have a love for houseplants, flower gardening and creating art with a specific interest in watercolor painting.
- Professionally I am interested in learning more about evidenced based interventions and treatment for trauma.
Certification
Certificate in chemical dependency and addictive behaviors.
Capella University.
Timeline
Behavioral Health Case Manager
HealthPartners Health Plan
01.2008 - Current
Mental Health Case Manager
Touchstone Mental Health
01.1997 - 06.2008
Certificate - chemical dependency and addictive behaviors
Capella
Master of Arts - Counseling Psychology
Bethel University
Bachelor of Arts - Psychology
University of Northwestern