Job Description

Salary

$6,271.00 - $11,284.00 Monthly

Location

Baton Rouge, LA

Job Type

Classified

Job Number

OBH/SP/215256

Department

LDH-Office of Behavioral Health

Opening Date

11/26/2025

Closing Date

12/10/2025 11:59 PM Central

About this Job

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The mission of the Louisiana Department of Health is to protect and promote health and to ensure access to medical, preventive, and rehabilitative services for all residents of the State of Louisiana.

Learn more about Louisiana Department of Health

Make a statewide impact as a Psychologist 3 within the Office of Behavioral Health. In this leadership role, you will guide and support Louisiana's most complex forensic and inpatient behavioral health programs, ensuring high-quality care for adults with mental health disorders across the state. You will oversee program operations at state psychiatric hospitals, manage key statewide initiatives including juvenile competency restoration, civil commitment processes, federal settlement compliance, and provide expert clinical oversight to facilities operating under Cooperative Endeavor Agreements.


This role offers the opportunity to influence systems-level behavioral health policy, collaborate with agencies such as DCFS, OCDD, OAAS, and LGEs, and ensure safe, effective, and compliant treatment across Louisiana. Ideal for a seasoned psychologist who thrives on meaningful responsibility, cross-agency collaboration, and improving behavioral health outcomes statewide. Statewide travel is required.

Minimum Qualifications

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Possession of a current Louisiana license to practice psychology followed by one year of experience in psychological research, testing, or counseling.

Job Specification

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The official job specifications for this role, as defined by the State Civil Service, can be found here.

Job Duties and Other Information

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Job Duties:

Serves as the Divisional Supervisory Monitor of all CEA hospitals:

Approval of continued stay requests based on determination of medical necessity. Onsite monitoring as needed Data collection, analysis, and reporting to ensure the hospitals provide quality treatment to patients

Serves as OBH subject matter expert on judicial commitments, forensic matters, and difficult inpatient psychiatric cases

Case coordination for adult inpatient psychiatric patients who present with behavioral or treatment needs that make finding placement difficult.

Manages the 648b evaluation process for evaluating criminal defendants found incompetent for judicial commitment

.


Ensure timelines are met and reports are sufficient for court;


Review of report to court and consultation with physicians regarding recommendations;


Coordinate placement and transfers from the Department of Corrections or LOE referrals for follow-up care, as appropriate;

Manages the statewide juvenile competency restoration program

The provision of a juvenile competency restoration certification training for providers statewide as required by the Louisiana Children's Code (La. Ch. C. art. 837.1) to insure an adequate number of certified competency restoration providers;

Manage the Federal Settlement Agreement Compliance for the state and the Adult Forensics Program

Review report for accuracy regarding timeliness and outcomes of assessments for the pre-trial and NGBRI individuals residing in the jail and awaiting hospitalization, frequency and duration of competency restoration sessions, timeliness of receipt of court orders by Community Forensic Services, timeliness of transfer from jail to the hospital or diversion;

Serves as the Divisional Supervisory Monitor of intermediate care hospitals (CLSH and ELM HS)

Ensure that appropriate placements are accessed; patients are discharged when they no longer meet intermediate criteria;

Serves as a LDH psychologist on the Department of Corrections Sex Offender Assessment Panel (SOAP)

Meetings, which requires reviewing sex offender cases and attending regular meetings of the Panel to determine offenders who are Violent Sexual Predators or Child Predators.


The ideal candidate should posses the following preferred experience:

Licensed psychologists with experience working with state level behavioral health hospitals is preferred. Willingness to work with forensic inpatient behavioral health facilities is preferred.


Position-Specific Details:

Location:

Office of Behavioral Health/ Executive / East Baton Rouge Parish

Appointment Type:

This position will be filled as aProbationary appointment

Cost Center: 3301010102

Position Number(s): 50417940

How To Apply:

No Civil Service test score is required in order to be considered for this vacancy.


Applicants are responsible for checking the status of their application to determine where they are in the recruitment process. Further status message information is located under the Information section of the Current Job Opportunities page.

Information to support your eligibility for the position must be included in the application (i.e., relevant, detailed experience/education).Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of completed education and experience sections. Applications may be rejected if incomplete.

Contact Information:


Shambrielle Pooler


Shambrielle.Pooler@la.gov


LA Department of Health (LDH)


Division of Human Resources


PO Box 4818


Baton Rouge, LA 70821


225-342-6477

This organization participates in E-verify, and for more information on E-verify, please contact DHS at 1-888-464-4218.

LDH supports Louisiana's commitment to being a State as a Model Employer (SAME) by promoting the recruitment, hiring, and retention of individuals with disabilities.

Information on the Louisiana Works, Louisiana Rehabilitation Services is available

here

.



Louisiana State Government represents a wide variety of career options and offers an outstanding opportunity to make a difference through public service. With an array of career opportunities in every major metropolitan center and in many rural areas, state employment provides an outstanding option to begin or continue your career.



As a state employee, you will earn competitive pay, choose from a variety of benefits, and have access to a great professional development program:

Insurance Coverage

More information can be found at https://info.groupbenefits.org/

Parental Leave

- Up to six weeks paid parental leave

More information can be found at https://www.civilservice.louisiana.gov/Parental-Leave/Default.aspx

Holidays and Leave

- State employees receive the following paid holidays each year:New Year's Day Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Mardi Gras, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Additional holidays may be proclaimed by the Governor


State employees earn sick and annual leave which can be accumulated and saved for future use. Your accrual rate increases as your years of service increase.

Retirement

- State of Louisiana employees are eligible to participate in various retirement systems (based on the type of appointment and agency for which an employee works). These retirement systems provide retirement allowances and other benefits for state officers and employees and their beneficiaries. State retirement systems may include (but are not limited to): Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (www.lasersonline.org). LASERS has provided this video to give you more detailed information about their system*
Teacher's Retirement System of Louisiana (www.trsl.org), * Louisiana School Employees Retirement System (www.lsers.net), among others