Senior Mental Health Nurse chez Ventura County, CA

About the Department

THE POSITION 

Under general direction, provides clinical supervision and coordination of mental health nursing services for the Ventura County Inpatient Psychiatric unit. This role focuses on ensuring patients receive appropriate, high-quality, and cost-effective mental health nursing care. It requires collaboration across multidisciplinary teams, adherence to regulatory standards, and active participation in quality and compliance efforts.

The Senior Registered Nurse-Mental Health is distinguished from Senior Registered Nurse-Mental Health Acute Care in that the latter is responsible for the clinical supervision of mental health nursing services on a 24-hour basis and for coordinating nursing services with interdisciplinary functions during assigned shifts.

IDEAL CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate is an experienced Mental Health Nurse with a background in utilization review and discharge planning. They also have extensive years of experience in an Inpatient Mental Health Hospital setting delivering comprehensive care to patients with complex medical and mental health needs. Additionally, they will be compassionate, adaptable, and will demonstrate sound clinical judgment. Finally, the ideal candidate is an experienced leader confident in crisis intervention, medication management, and safety protocols, while consistently demonstrating empathy and effective collaboration.

PAYROLL TITLE AND APPROXIMATE SALARY:  
Senior Registered Nurse-Mental Health: $59.22 - $70.81 hourly

WHAT WE OFFER
The County of Ventura offers an attractive compensation and benefits package. In addition to the annual salary, an employee within these positions may also be eligible for additional incentives, subject to the applicable section of the respective Memorandum of Agreement. To learn more about what we have to offer, please click the links below:

• Regular – Highlight of Regular CNA Benefits 

AGENCY/DEPARTMENT: Health Care Agency - Ventura County Medical Center
 
Senior Registered Nurse-Mental Health is represented by the California Nurses' Association (CNA) and is eligible for overtime compensation. Salary placement will be determined according to the current CNA memorandum of agreement.
 
The eligible list established from this recruitment may be used to fill current and future Regular (including Temporary and Fixed-Term), Intermittent, and Extra Help vacancies. There is currently one (1) Regular vacancy. The shift for the current vacancy will be determined based on the need of the unit.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
OPENING DATE:  September 22, 2025
CLOSING DATE:  Continuous and may close at any time; therefore, the schedule for the remainder of the process will depend upon when we receive a sufficient number of qualified applications to meet business needs.

FIRST REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS: October 6, 2025

Position Duties

Duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Provides direct, expert emergency mental health service to persons in crisis and their families;
• Plans, with a multi-disciplinary team, health service programs to meet the needs and provide continuity of care of mentally ill patients in the Inpatient Psychiatric unit of the Ventura County Medical Center including utilization management, transfer coordination, discharge planning, and securing necessary authorizations or approvals for outside services;
• Initiates and conducts regular evaluation and revision of the nursing personnel and functioning in the Inpatient Psychiatric unit; 
• Implements nursing processes such as assessment, planning, implementation of care, evaluation of patient responses and revision of plan as needed; 
• Recommends alternate levels of care when the patient does not meet the medical necessity for Inpatient hospitalization and ensures compliance with federal, state and local requirements;
• Adheres to regulatory, accreditation, and compliance guidelines, as well as Post Stabilization notifications;
• Acts as a liaison and case manager between the inpatient facility and referral agencies;
• Refers patients to community resources to meet post hospital needs;
• Coordinates the transfer of patients to appropriate facilities and maintains required documentation;
• Assists with program planning, evaluation, and review;
• Performs daily clinical reviews to support utilization and quality management, ensuring compliance with guidelines and standards for patients across outpatient, emergency, inpatient, and non-KFH settings;
• Adheres to internal and external regulatory, accreditation, and compliance guidelines and reports any instances of unusual occurrences;
• Develops and assigns a staffing pattern which facilitates implementation of the service program and educates members of the team on their roles and responsibilities in the discharge planning process and appropriate use of resources;
• Reviews and analyzes utilization patterns to identify trends, issues, or inappropriate resource use, and contributes to data collection and analysis for studies, projects, planning, and routine monitoring activities;
• Orients new nursing employees, students, volunteers, and other professional groups;
• Evaluates and provides clinical supervision to nursing staff in areas of employee development, work performance, and in the development and implementation of effective treatment plans, proper medication procedures, proper use and maintenance of equipment and effective relationships with other staff members and agencies; 
• Assists in budgetary planning and evaluation;
• Supervises the field placement of students from various health training programs;
• Renders expert, direct service to a regular caseload of patients and their families;
• Provides consultation, information, and education to individuals, agencies, and community partners, including social services, law enforcement, and referral resources; and
• Performs other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

These are entrance requirements to the examination process and assure neither continuance in the process nor placement on an eligible list.
 
EDUCATION, TRAINING, and EXPERIENCE: 

• Requires four (4) years of full-time professional, registered nursing experience, including two (2) years of full-time experience in mental health nursing
• One (1) of the four years must also be in a charge nurse capacity
   

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Must possess and maintain a current, valid license as a Registered Nurse issued by the State of California
• Must possess a current, valid Basic Life Support (BLS/CPR) certification by first day of employment and maintain it thereafter
• Must possess a current, valid Crisis Intervention (CPI) certification within six (6) months of hire and maintain it thereafter
• Must possess a current, valid Violence Prevention (AVADE) certification within six (6) months of hire and maintain it thereafter

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and ABILITIES: 
Thorough knowledge of: the theories, techniques, and practices of professional nursing; mental health nursing theories and practices, including the varied theories, techniques, and practices related to working with mentally unstable persons; theory of human growth and development; current mental health treatment approaches; community, County, State and Federal resources and their interrelationships; California Mental Health laws and their application, and other mental health laws related to patient care; the social and political factors influencing mental health care delivery.
 
Working ability to: participate in comprehensive planning in consultation with a multidisciplinary team; make independent decisions on behalf of patients; provide effective functional supervision and leadership; maintain confidentiality of patient/client information; implement an effective training program for non-professional and professional co-workers, and other community agencies or groups; establish and maintain the confidence of and working relationships with professional staff, patients and families, and other related entities; communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
 
Supplemental Information: Duties are performed in a variety of inpatient settings and tasks will range from sedentary to those that may require alertness and strength in a crisis situation.

Other Qualifications

FINAL FILING DATE: This is a continuous recruitment and may close at any time; therefore, apply as soon as possible if you are interested. Your application must be received by County of Ventura Human Resources in Ventura, California, no later than 5:00 p.m. on the closing date.
 
To apply online, please refer to our website at www.ventura.org/jobs. If you prefer to fill out a paper application form, please call (805) 677-5184 for application materials and submit them to County of Ventura Human Resources - Health Care Agency, 646 County Square Drive, Ventura, CA 93003.
 
LATERAL TRANFER OPTION:  If presently permanently employed in another "merit" or "civil service" public agency/entity in the same or substantively similar position as is advertised, and if appointed to that position by successful performance in a "merit" or "civil service" style examination, then appointment by "Lateral Transfer" may be possible. If interested, please click here for additional information.  
 
Note to Applicants: It is essential that you complete all sections of your application and supplemental questionnaire thoroughly and accurately to demonstrate your qualifications. A resume and/or other related documents may be attached to supplement the information in your application and supplemental questionnaire; however, it/they may not be submitted in lieu of the application and supplemental questionnaire.

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE – qualifying: All applicants are required to complete and submit the questionnaire for this examination at the time of filing. The supplemental questionnaire may be used throughout the examination process to assist in determining each applicant's qualifications and acceptability for the position. Failure to complete and submit the questionnaire will result in the application being removed from consideration.

APPLICATION EVALUATION - Pass/Fail: An application evaluation will be conducted to determine whether or not each applicant possesses the required licensure and certification for this recruitment. Those candidates who do will be placed on the eligible list. Candidates successfully completing the examination process may be placed on an eligible list for a period of one (1) year.

BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: A thorough pre-employment, post offer background investigation which may include inquiry into past employment, education, criminal background information, and driving record may be required for this position.
 
For further information about this recruitment, please contact Maritza David by e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (805) 677-5162.
 
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: The County of Ventura is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.