Erika Underwood
Chesapeake,VA
Summary
Experienced mental health professional with a strong foundation in therapeutic techniques and client-centered care. Adept at fostering a collaborative environment to achieve optimal outcomes and seamlessly adapting to changing needs. Skilled in individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, and treatment planning, while maintaining high ethical standards and integrity. Reliable team player with a focus on delivering impactful, results-driven support.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Outpatient Therapist
Quality Of Life Counseling Center, LLC
10.2024 - Current
- Conducted thorough assessments for new patients, identifying appropriate diagnoses and developing targeted treatment goals.
- Conducted discharge planning in collaboration with clients and their support network to ensure smooth transitions back into the community post-treatment.
- Implemented a diverse range of therapeutic modalities to address clients'' varied needs and preferences, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and solution-focused brief therapy.
- Observed and monitored client behavior and responses to treatment.
- Stayed current on mental health research to follow new developments and research in mental health field.
- Documented clients' progress to keep detailed notes on each client's treatment progress and changes in mental health status.
- Created treatment plans, and connected clients and families to appropriate resources.
- Worked collaboratively with other mental health professionals to provide consistent care and minimize diversion.
- Maintained confidential records.
- Improved client coping mechanisms with cognitive behavioral techniques.
- Guided patients through exploration of personal trauma, resulting in significant emotional healing.
- Utilized teletherapy platforms to extend services to remote or immobile clients, broadening facilities reach.
Therapist/Counselor
Thriveworks
05.2023 - 09.2024
- Complete intakes and formulate a diagnosis
- Provide outpatient psychotherapy for adults and children to assist them with managing behavioral and mental health
Behavioral Therapist
Hope Psychotherapy Services, LLC
03.2021 - 09.2024
- Established a safe and supportive environment for clients, fostering open communication and trust during therapy sessions.
- Built strong rapport with clients through active listening skills and empathic understanding of their experiences, fostering lasting therapeutic relationships.
- Developed personalized treatment plans to address each client''s specific needs, leading to improved mental health outcomes.
- Evaluated client progress regularly, adjusting treatment plans as necessary based on changing needs or circumstances.
- Documented client progress in confidential files.
- Maintained detailed clinical records and documentation, ensuring accurate tracking of client progress and adherence to legal requirements.
- Guided clients in development of skills and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques.
- Introduced meditation, guided imagery, breathing techniques, and reiki to patients and families.
- Reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression for clients by implementing cognitive behavioral therapy techniques.
- Improved client coping mechanisms with cognitive behavioral techniques.
- Engaged in continuous professional development to stay abreast of latest psychotherapy techniques and theories.
- Utilized teletherapy platforms to extend services to remote or immobile patients, broadening clinic's reach.
- Referred clients to other specialists, institutions or support services as necessary.
- Performed client assessments and developed treatment plans.
- Utilized mindfulness techniques during sessions to help clients develop greater self-awareness and coping skills for managing stressors.
Psychotherapist
Dreher and Associates
08.2022 - 04.2023
- Complete initial assessments
- Formulate diagnosis
- Create treatment plans
- Conduct outpatient therapy services for adults and adolescents
Clinical Assessor/Crisis Stabilization Worker
Hope Seekers Community Support Services
10.2021 - 04.2023
- Complete mental health assessments
- Formulate diagnosis
- Submit service authorization requests to insurance companies
- Assist clients transitioning from inpatient mental health facilities, released from jail or homelessness to a new home and stability
- Help clients identify triggers to behaviors and mental health
- Assist clients with identifying coping techniques to manage behaviors and mental health
- Help clients create and review safety plan
- Educate clients about medication compliance
- Assist client with scheduling and attending needed appointments to improve overall mental health
Qualified Mental Health Professional
Seven Summits Family Services, LLC
03.2021 - 03.2022
- Enhanced therapeutic relationships through active listening, empathy, and effective communication skills.
- Conducted psychosocial assessments to identify strengths/weaknesses and formulate appropriate treatment recommendations/plans.
- Increased client engagement by utilizing evidence-based practices like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy.
- Facilitated coordination of care with other providers such as psychiatrists, primary care physicians, and social workers.
- Ensured compliance with documentation standards, completing accurate and timely progress notes for each client interaction.
- Assisted clients in navigating complex systems by providing information about available services/resources within the community.
- Served diverse populations including children, adolescents, adults, families, couples from various cultural backgrounds addressing an array of mental health issues.
- Aided clients in achieving personal goals by providing support, guidance, and practical assistance.
- Reduced crisis situations through timely interventions and appropriate referrals to community resources.
- Continuously sought professional development opportunities to remain current on industry best practices and enhance clinical skills.
- Advocated for clients'' rights in interactions with external organizations such as insurance providers, schools, or legal authorities.
- Educated clients and families about mental health issues, treatments and resources.
- Monitored client progress and provided feedback to families and treatment team members.
- Supported continuity of care after discharge with individualized discharge plans.
- Attended trainings to participate in regular supervision and continued education to maintain professional competence and ethical standards.
- Adhered to ethical and legal standards for confidentiality, protecting clients' privacy.
Human Resources Assistant
Aerotek/Amazon
07.2020 - 03.2021
- Approve or deny COVID-19 claims for Amazon employees
- Assist Amazon employees in obtaining the proper paperwork to ensure payment and leave approval
- Create tasks for positive claims to ensure CDC guidelines are followed at employees worksite, contact tracing is started, workplace cleaning is completed
- Screen employees to ensure they are able to end quarantine and return to work
- Provide employee extension if they are not able to return to work at the scheduled time
- Advocate for employees that express financial hardship
- De-escalate situations and provide one-call resolution
- Manage approximately 30 cases
Crisis Stabilization Counselor
National Counseling Group
10.2019 - 01.2020
- Provided Screening and triage to clients in crisis
- Conducted clinical assessments including lethality
- Provided therapeutic sessions multiple times a week
- Service, discharge, and transition planning
- Safety planning
- Coordination with aftercare treatment and support services
Intensive In-Home Counselor
National Counseling Group
09.2019 - 01.2020
- Provided therapeutic interventions to children and families focusing on:
- Family Communication
- Problem Solving Skills
- Behavior Management
- Interpersonal Skills
- Coping Skills
- Anger Management
- Care Coordination
- Transition Planning
Therapeutic Day Treatment Counselor
National Counseling Group
06.2019 - 01.2020
- Provided clients with individual and personal therapy sessions
- Assisted clients in developing Social and interpersonal skills
- Worked on appropriate peer relations
- Provided Anger management
- Assisted clients in managing impulse control and self-regulation
- Encouraged and developed appropriate self-expression
- Used Cognitive behavioral therapy to assist the client in learning problem-solving skills
- Taught techniques to assist clients in Focusing and provided redirection as needed
- Encouraged group therapy sessions weekly
Office Assistant-Floater
Riverside Health System
08.2015 - 01.2017
- Gathered, collected, recorded, tracked and verified data and information from multiple sources
- Compiled reviewed and analyzed data
- Used software for functional area, to compile and generate reports, statistics, timelines, tables, graphs, correspondence and presentations
- Scheduled meetings and maintained multiple calendars
- Answered and routed calls using a multi-lined phone
- Coordinated business needs
- Prepared quarterly reports
- Took meeting and conference call notes
- Managed special projects independently
- Greeted all patients entering clinic
- Checked in patients while answering the phone lines
- Assisted patients with their needs and provided guidance and information
- Took all appropriate phone messages daily
- Maintained a professional appearance of the reception area
- Assisted employees as needed and instructed
Scheduler/Phones
Hampton Roads Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
02.2014 - 07.2014
- Answered multi-lined telephones
- Screened phone calls and ensured that they were routed to right department and people
- Scheduled over appointments a day
- Canceled, re-scheduled, and set up patient referrals
Healthcare Management/Medical Records Technician/ Release of Information/ Quality Assurance Tech
United States Air Force
03.2009 - 01.2013
- Maintained over 30,000 medical records and ensured sequestered records were delivered immediately
- Arranged over 500 paper records in date order and filed into patients medical records within one week
- Applied knowledge of medical terminology, human anatomy, and disease processes to fully understand the content of a patient's medical record
- Retired over 2,000 active duty military medical records and transferred them to the Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC)
- Proficient with the Composite Health Care System (CHCS), Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA), and Microsoft Office
- Reviewed over 70 medical records each month for monthly peer review process for quality assurance
- Applied laws and regulations on the confidentiality of health information
- Exercised professional judgment on medical records containing sufficient information for regulatory requirements; are acceptable as legal documents; are adequate for continuity of patient care; and support education and research needs
- Continually used skills for interpreting and adapting health information guidelines that were not completely applicable to the work or had gaps in specificity and ability to use judgment in completing assignments with incomplete or inadequate guidelines
- Compiled medical records weekly for client's cases pending review for discharge or return to full duty status
- Abstracted requested information from approximately 50 records a day for referral to proper clinician for disclosure when necessary
- Conducted extensive investigations to track down missing documents in order to complete patient's medical record
- Reviewed over 30,000 medical records identifying material that needed to photocopied, scanned, faxed, printed, and released
- Accomplished over 100 ROI request a week within established time standards
- Reviewed all information being released for completeness, and signatures of over 30 request daily by reviewing material and checking request for release of information, ensuring that information being released is limited to material requested, conforms to proper policies, and protecting all patients' rights
- Accurately entered all request into ROI software with necessary information for each request for medical information
- Transferred approximately 2,000 confirmation codes monthly to the ROI package and closed all request
- Interviewed thousands of patients and insurance agencies requesting for Third Party Liability, Workman's Compensation, and Privacy Act cases for referral to Resource Management Office to bill and collect payment for facility
- Composed and typed over 3,000 forms of correspondence to insurance companies, patients, health care facilities, and all other requesters
- Reviewed and analyzed over 100 written and 50 telephone request daily to ascertain what information was needed to be collected for the case
- Screened and followed through on over 5,000 incoming calls from attorneys, insurance representatives, regarding legal cases and requests under the Privacy Act, referring only problem cases to the Supervisor
- Requested for over 3,000 patients' within year information to be released from medical records for release to appropriate facility, agency or physician
- Abstracted and processed medical releases of information request that pertain to the Privacy Act, the Freedom of Information Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
- Processed approximately 15 Medical Legal releases of information weekly to attorneys and courts pertaining to Third Party Liability and Workman's Compensation
- Completed and processed over thousands of releases of information to other agencies, patients and their families, insurance representatives, physicians, hospitals, and city and state officials upon request
- Able to take appropriate actions to ensure medical record contents are released in an adequate; accurate, and timely manner
- Capable of working independently
- Refers only unusual and unprecedented cases to supervisor
- Greeted over 150 patients daily as they entered the clinic
- Verified all patients demographic information prior to their appointment to ensure great quality and to protect their privacy
- Scheduled over 50 patients a day in person and via a multi-line telephone
- Utilized clinic software to schedule, re-schedule, no-show, and cancel appointments and to input telephone consults for patients
- Maintained seven providers' patient schedules
- Printed over 300 encounter forms daily to provide better quality and accuracy of appointments
- Explained all forms to patients in detail and answered all questions
- Assisted patients with completion of encounter and authorization forms
- Reviewed all encounter and authorization forms for completion by patient
- Verified over 150 patients medical insurance daily prior to their appointments
- Identified all third party insurances and completed proper procedures for contribution to the revenue collection process
- Registered approximately 5,000 new patients into clinic
- Managed the Medical Right Start Program to properly brief all new active duty patients about the facilities clinics and processes
- Assisted Quality Assurance personnel with the peer review process by reviewing selected records for completion of all administrative duties
Financial Service Representative
1st Advantage FCU
09.2006 - 02.2009
- Greeted all customers and determined the exact nature of the request
- Completed over 300 transactions daily for deposits of money
- Accurately posted approximately 300 transactions to members accounts daily and maintained their records
- Audited over $100,000 cash in a credit union vault
- Maintained 100% dependable record of attendance and timeliness
- Balanced cash drawer every day, being no more than $10.00 off in a 30 day period and performed transactions accurately with no more than 3 errors per quarter
Education
Masters - Clinical Social Work
Simmons College
Boston, MA05.2019
Bachelors of Arts - Healthcare Administration
Ashford University
Clinton, IA07.2012
Skills
- Microsoft Office
- HIPAA
- Medical Records Management
- Electronic Medical Records
- Fax Machine
- Telephone Skills
- Typing
- Medical Office Experience
- Medical Terminology
- Anatomy Knowledge
- Insurance Verification
- Physiology Knowledge
- Medical Scheduling
- Social Work
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Group Therapy
- Behavioral Therapy
- Individual / Group Counseling
- Case Management
- Behavior Management
- Crisis Intervention
- Behavioral Health
- Mental Health Counseling
- Motivational Interviewing
- Hospital experience
- Experience with children
- ICD-9
- Clinical counseling
- Administrative skills
- Office administration
- Maintaining files
- Scheduling
- Conflict management
- Team player
- Onboarding coordination
- Computer literacy
- Effective planning
- Record preparation
- Mail handling
- High social awareness
- Teaching
- Personnel records management
- Problem-solving
- Microsoft office
- Data entry
- Critical thinking
- Resume screening
- Personnel documentation verification
- Records maintenance
- Employee orientation
- Termination procedures
- Transcribing meetings and messages
- Processing grievance documentation
- Daily operations management
- Building client relationships
- Suicide risk assessment
- Stress reduction techniques
- Treatment Planning
- Individual counseling
- Individual therapy
- Grief and loss counseling
- Anger management techniques
- Anxiety management strategies
- Crisis intervention
- Clinical assessment
- Interpersonal communication
- Psychosocial assessment
- Creating treatment plans
- Group therapy facilitation
- Behavior modification
- Goal setting
- Case management
- Case documentation
Certification
- Supervisee in Clinical Social Work, 10/01/23
- QMHP-Trainee, 05/01/24
Personal Information
Work Permit: Authorized to work in the US for any employer
Military Service
Air Force, United States, E4, 03/01/09, 01/31/13, Honorable Discharge/Disabled Veteran
Timeline
Outpatient Therapist
Quality Of Life Counseling Center, LLC
10.2024 - Current
Therapist/Counselor
Thriveworks
05.2023 - 09.2024
Psychotherapist
Dreher and Associates
08.2022 - 04.2023
Clinical Assessor/Crisis Stabilization Worker
Hope Seekers Community Support Services
10.2021 - 04.2023
Behavioral Therapist
Hope Psychotherapy Services, LLC
03.2021 - 09.2024
Qualified Mental Health Professional
Seven Summits Family Services, LLC
03.2021 - 03.2022
Human Resources Assistant
Aerotek/Amazon
07.2020 - 03.2021
Crisis Stabilization Counselor
National Counseling Group
10.2019 - 01.2020
Intensive In-Home Counselor
National Counseling Group
09.2019 - 01.2020
Therapeutic Day Treatment Counselor
National Counseling Group
06.2019 - 01.2020
Office Assistant-Floater
Riverside Health System
08.2015 - 01.2017
Scheduler/Phones
Hampton Roads Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
02.2014 - 07.2014
Healthcare Management/Medical Records Technician/ Release of Information/ Quality Assurance Tech
United States Air Force
03.2009 - 01.2013
Financial Service Representative
1st Advantage FCU
09.2006 - 02.2009
Bachelors of Arts - Healthcare Administration
Ashford University
Masters - Clinical Social Work
Simmons College
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