Mental Health Advocate in San Diego, California | Careers at 6363 Alvarado Court-Suite 103

FUNCTION OF THE UNIT The Body Image, Sexuality, and Health Lab (BISH Lab), directed by Dr. Aaron Blashill, conducts research focused on      sexual orientation and gender identity-based disparities in mental health, physical health, and health behaviors. The Cancer Disparities and Cancer Communication Lab is directed by Dr. Kristen Wells. Research in this lab focuses on the development and evaluation of patient navigation, community health worker, and health communication interventions. Drs. Blashill and Wells received funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct and facilitate research on suicide prevention in gender and sexual minority youth and young adults.   PURPOSE OF THE POSITION Under the immediate supervision of Drs. Aaron Blashill and Kristen Wells, the Mental Health Advocate will assist with guiding participants who are identified as high risk for suicide to medical, mental health, and social services by addressing systematic environmental and personal barriers to care. Additionally, the Mental Health Advocate will provide participants with skills to reduce suicide risk. The Mental Health Advocate will provide these patient navigation services as part of a suicide prevention intervention program that is being evaluated in a research study.  The Mental Health Advocate would interact with multidisciplinary research labs focused on LGBTQ+ health, clinical psychology, health behavior, social and psychiatric epidemiology, and intervention development.