Salary: $2,945.25 - $3,265.50 Biweekly
Location : Palmer, AK
Job Type: Full Time
Job Number: 55353
Department: Corrections
Division: Inmate Health Care
Opening Date: 09/17/2026
Closing Date: 10/1/2026 5:00 PM Alaska
Division: Health and Rehabilitation Services
Position Open To: All Applicants
Bargaining Unit: General Government
Range: 19

Job Description
The Department of Corrections, Division of Health & Rehabilitation Services, is recruiting for a Mental Health Clinician 2, based at the Palmer Correction Complex (PCC) in Palmer, Alaska.
Watch Alaska DOC HARS video here:

What You Will Be Doing:
Seeking a master's level clinician to provide treatment to justice involved individuals with mental health disorders.

Under the direction of the Mental Health Clinician 3, this position provides solution-focused mental health treatment by work directly with the incarcerated population either individually or in a group setting Palmer Correctional Center. Through direct interviews, clinical observations, and evaluation of existing history, this position will apply clinical expertise to complete mental health screenings, evaluations, and treatment plans. The position will be required to assess an individual's diagnosis and risk, respond effectively to emergent situations, and make clinical recommendations on appropriate treatment. This position will assist with the coordination of release planning, psychiatric treatment, and case management.

Benefits of Joining Our Team:

Working as a mental health clinician for the Department of Corrections offers the unique opportunity to make a profound impact on a vulnerable population, supporting rehabilitation and contributing to public safety. The role provides a deeply meaningful way to serve one's community by promoting mental wellness and reducing recidivism. Being part of our collaborative multidisciplinary team allows for shared knowledge and diverse perspectives, which support professional growth and improve patient outcomes.
The Working Environment You Can Expect:

This position is located at Palmer Correctional Complex, a secure facility for incarcerated individuals. This position will work closely with a team of correctional officers, mental health clinicians, medical staff, and probation officers.
Who We Are Looking For:
We are interested in candidates who possess some or all of the following position specific competencies:

• Decision Making: Makes sound, well-informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals; causes change.
• Adaptability: Adjusts planned work by gathering relevant information and applying critical thinking to address multiple demands and competing priorities in a changing environment.
• Oral and Written Communication: Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral and written presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

Minimum Qualifications
Competency Based Minimum Qualifications Instructions
This job class uses competency based minimum qualifications. Please ensure your application (through work history, volunteer experience (duties summary), training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports how you have gained the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors (competencies) and that you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class.

Competency Description
The competency description(s) listed below have been designed to promote a common understanding of the essential elements of the job class. They highlight the more general and customary knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), tasks, and behaviors used to describe the competency. They typically list expectations, as opposed to specific tasks, and are to be used only as parameters and guidelines. A competency's description is not intended to exclusively define every KSA, task, and behavior needed to successfully meet the competency, but rather to provide the manager/agency with a broad reference of options as to how an applicant can meet the job expectation.
Master's degree from an accredited college in counseling, psychology, social work, child guidance, vocational rehabilitation, or a closely related field.

AND

Any combination of education and/or experience that provides the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities in

• Analysis and Assessment: Uses information technology in accessing, collecting, analyzing, maintaining, and disseminating data and information.
• Decision Making: Makes sound, well-informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals; causes change.
• Interpersonal Skills: Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations; is sensitive to cultural diversity, race, gender, disabilities, and other individual differences.
• Psychology: Knowledge of the concepts, principles, and theories of human behavior and performance in various contexts, mental processes, or the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Therapy and Counseling: Knowledge of diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental ailments, and career guidance.

Equivalent to those typically gained by:
Professional experience performing psychotherapeutic casework.
"Professional experience" means work that is creative, analytical, evaluative, and interpretive; requires a range and depth of specialized knowledge of the profession's principles, concepts, theories, and practices; and is performed with the power or right to decide or act according to one's own judgment.
"Training" and "education" in this guidance are synonyms for the process of acquiring knowledge and skills through instruction. It includes instruction through formal and informal methods (such as classroom, on-line, self-study, and on-the-job), from accredited and unaccredited sources, and long-duration (such as a post-secondary degree) and short-duration (such as a seminar) programs.
"Typically gained by" means the prevalent, usual method of gaining the competencies expected for entry into the job.
Special Note:

Some positions require the incumbent be licensed as a Clinical Social Worker or a Licensed Professional Counselor. This requirement will be addressed in the job posting.

Additional Required Information
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
If selected for an interview, the applicant must provide the following:

• Official or unofficial transcripts from the highest level of education completed
• Three professional references

RECRUITMENT DIFFICULTIES
Starting salary may be approved up to Step D - $3,265.50, if criteria are met.
LEGAL EMPLOYMENT
The State's online recruitment system, Workplace Alaska, requires applicants to certify that they have a legal right to accept employment in the United States. It is the responsibility of the employee to maintain the appropriate documentation to accept or continue legal employment. The State of Alaska does not function in the role as an employer sponsor.

EDUCATIONIf post-secondary education is required to meet the minimum qualifications, you must fill in the Education section of the application. If you have not obtained a degree, please indicate the number of units completed. Copies of transcripts are required to verify educational credentials if used to meet the minimum qualifications for a position. Transcripts can be attached at the time of application or provided at the time of the interview.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FOREIGN EDUCATION

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the minimum qualifications listed above. If utilizing this education, you must show that the education credentials have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and that such education has been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs; or an accredited U.S. post-secondary institution reports the other institution as one whose transcript is given full value, or full value is given in subject areas applicable to the curricula at the post-secondary institution. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying.

WORK EXPERIENCE
If using work experience not already documented in your application, also provide the employer name, your job title, dates of employment, and whether full-or part-time. Applications will be reviewed to determine if the responses are supported and minimum qualifications are clearly met. If they are not, the applicant may not advance to the interview and selection phase of the recruitment.
MULTIPLE VACANCIES

This recruitment may be used for more than one (1) vacancy. The applicant pool acquired during this recruitment may be used for future vacancies for up to ninety (90) days after this recruitment closes. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply to each recruitment notice to ensure consideration for all vacancies.