Health Technician - Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Job Description:

Health Technician - Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Description

Description

POSITION
Under direction, assist with mental health programs in the Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC) Inpatient Psychiatric Unit.

DISTINUGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:
This class differs from Health Technician II in that the responsibility for patient or health care is in specialized and more difficult programs.

EDUCATIONAL/BILINGUAL INCENTIVE: Some positions may be eligible for educational incentive. This incentive may be 2.5%, 3.5%, or 5% for incumbents in eligible positions based on completion of an Associate's, Bachelor's, or Master's degree that is not required for the classification. Incumbents may also be eligible for bilingual incentive depending upon operational need and certification of skill.

AGENCY/DEPARTMENT: Health Care Agency - VCMC Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Health Technician III is represented by the Service Employees' International Union (SEIU) and is eligible for overtime compensation.

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 are currently three (3) Regular vacancies with the Health Care Agency.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
OPENING DATE: 8/27/25
CLOSING DATE: 9/17/25

Examples Of Duties

Duties may include but are not limited to the following:

• Conducts arts and crafts activities, recreational activities and exercise groups;
• Interviews clients, charts on client participation;
• Assists with program planning, ordering and purchasing of supplies;
• Assists with supervision of volunteers and students;
• Gathers assessment data, including vital signs, patient location, and patient activities;
• Ensures safety in the Milieu by monitoring patient mood, actions, and behavior;
• Intervenes to de-escalate patients who are beginning to become agitated; demonstrates competency in Crisis Prevention, and Intervention (CPI);
• Provides Activities of Daily Living (ADL) care for patients including showering, assisting with meals, and general hygiene encouragement and teaches various normalization skills;
• Promotes a therapeutic environment incorporating group activities;
• Participates in outdoor recreational activities;
• Provides safety of the unit with frequent rounding of patients and environment;
• May provide transport to other facilities as needed; and
• Performs other related duties as required.

Typical 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
Any combination of education, training, and experience which would lead to the possession of the required knowledge, skills and abilities. An example of qualifying experience would be:

Six (6) months’ experience working in an Inpatient Psychiatric setting.

College coursework in the area of social science, rehabilitation or related areas may be substituted for experience.

Candidates qualifying with education units must provide college transcripts showing courses taken.

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

• Candidates must have a valid Basic Life Support (BLS/CPR) certificate prior to the first day of employment and maintain it thereafter.

DESIRED

• Hospital experience working with psychiatric patients.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, and ABILITIES:

Knowledge of:

• interviewing methods
• social rehabilitation techniques and skills
• mental illness resources
• methods of working with the mentally ill

Ability to:

• perform routine recordkeeping duties
• function in a community-based special program

Recruitment Process

FINAL FILING DATE : Applications must be received by County of Ventura Human Resources, Health Care Agency in Ventura, California, no later than 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 17, 2025.

To apply online, please refer to our web site at www.venturacounty.gov/jobs . If you prefer to fill out a paper application form, please call (805) 654-5129 for application materials and submit them to County of Ventura Human Resources, 800 South Victoria Avenue, L-1970, Ventura, CA 93009.

NOTE TO APPLICANTS: Sufficient information must be provided under the Education/Work experience portion of the application and supplemental questionnaire to thoroughly and accurately demonstrate your qualifications in order to determine eligibility. A resume may be attached to supplement your responses in the above-referenced sections; however, it may not be substituted in lieu of the application.

NOTE TO LATERAL TRANSFER CANDIDATES: 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.

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE - qualifying: All applicants are required to complete and submit the questionnaire for this exam at the time of filing. The supplemental questionnaire may be used throughout the exam process to assist in determining qualifications for the position. Failure to complete and submit the questionnaire may result in removal of the application from further consideration.

APPLICATION EVALUATION - qualifying: All applications will be reviewed to determine whether the stated requirements are met. Applicants meeting the stated requirements will be invited to continue to the next step in the examination process.

TRAINING & EXPERIENCE EVALUATION - qualifying:
A Training and Experience Evaluation (T&E) is a structured evaluation of the job application materials submitted by a candidate, including the written responses to the supplemental questionnaire. The T&E is NOT a determination of whether the candidate meets the stated requirements; rather, the T&E is one method for determining who are the better qualified among those who have shown that they meet the stated requirements. In a T&E, applications are either scored or rank ordered according to criteria that most closely meet the business needs of the department. Candidates are typically scored/ranked in relation to one another; consequently, when the pool of candidates is exceptionally strong, many qualified candidates may receive a score or rank which is moderate or even low resulting in them not being advanced in the process.

ORAL EXAMINATION - 100%: A job-related oral examination may be conducted to evaluate and compare participating examinees' knowledge, skills, and abilities in relation to those factors which job analysis has determined to be essential for successful performance of the job. Examinees must earn a score of seventy percent (70%) or higher to qualify for placement on the eligible list.

NOTE: The selection process may consist of an Oral Exam, which may be preceded or replaced with the score from a Training and Experience Evaluation (T&E), contingent upon the size and quality of the candidate pool. In a typical T&E, your training and experience are evaluated in relation to the background, experience and factors identified for successful job performance during a job analysis. For this reason, it is recommended that your application materials clearly show your relevant background and specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. It is also highly recommended that the supplemental questions within the application are completed with care and diligence, using proper grammar and complete sentences to showcase your writing skills. Responses such as "See Resume" or "Refer to Resume" are not acceptable and may disqualify an applicant from further evaluation.
If there are three (3) or fewer qualified applicants, a T&E or an Oral Examination will not be conducted. Instead, a score of seventy percent (70%) will be assigned to each application, and each applicant will be placed on the eligible list.

Applicants successfully completing the exam 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 Nathan Wood by e-mail at nathan.wood@venturacounty.gov or by telephone at (805) 677-5232.

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.

YOUR BENEFITS AS A COUNTY OF VENTURA EMPLOYEE

Service Employees International Union (LOCAL 721)

(SEIU)

To learn more about Benefits, Retirement, and the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), see links below.

• Benefits website or you may call (805) 654-2570.
• Retirement FAQ's
• Memorandum of Agreement

Union Codes: UPA, UPC, UPE, UPH, UPI, UPJ,UPT, UWS

Closing Date/Time: 9/17/2025 5:00 PM Pacific

Salary:

$43,680.00 - $54,241.26 Annually