What are the responsibilities and job description for the Animal Assisted Therapy Coordinator/Dog Handler-Child Life Program-Mount Sinai Hospital-Full-time Day position at Mount Sinai Hospital?
Job Description
The Animal Assisted Therapy Coordinator is a certified or licensed psychosocial professional (Certified Child Life Specialist, Creative Arts Therapist, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Social Worker, etc.) responsible for the coordination and delivery of animals assisted therapy within the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department's Paws & Play program. The AAT coordinator is the primary handler for the facility dog, providing clinical interventions, overseeing the referral process for therapeutic visits with patients, families, and staff and participating in applicable research utilizing the resident dog.
Responsibilities
- Utilizes the facility dog to provide comprehensive supportive services for patients, families and staff in a variety of clinical settings including inpatient units and outpatient areas.
- Coordinates the referral process for the resident dog, responding to all formal referrals across the medical setting.
- Functions as a key member of the healthcare team, communicating all relevant programmatic and psychosocial information to other team members via participation in team meetings, etc.
- Participates in the planning and implementation of special events and programming that involve the facility dog.
- Develops and assists with projects addressing the needs of staff in line with the goals of the facility dog program and those identified by the child life and creative arts therapy director and leadership team.
- Collaborates with clinical staff to create opportunities for research across all populations and medical settings.
- Develops and disseminates collateral materials for internal and external marketing initiatives.
- Maintains communication with Donor to provide programming updates and successes.
- Develops and implements educational seminars that address psychosocial needs and challenges of hospitalization and the clinical benefits of utilizing a therapy dog.
- Maintains all requirements for dog handling set out by facility dog organization regarding weight management, vet care, home environment, grooming and reporting.
- Assesses the needs of the dog throughout the work shift to provide adequate rest and down time.
- Maintains program statistics and budget to assess and evaluate quality of programming and to make necessary adjustments.
- Maintains professional development and competency.
- Participates in individual and clinical group supervision.
Qualifications
Non-Bargaining Unit, 358 - Child Life Program - MSH, Mount Sinai Hospital
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Strength Through Diversity
The Mount Sinai Health System believes that diversity, equity, and inclusion are key drivers for excellence. We share a common devotion to delivering exceptional patient care. When you join us, you become a part of Mount Sinai's unrivaled record of achievement, education, and advancement as we revolutionize medicine together. We invite you to participate actively as a part of the Mount Sinai Health System team by :
At Mount Sinai, our leaders strive to learn, empower others, and embrace change to further advance equity and improve the well-being of staff, patients, and the organization. We expect our leaders to embrace anti-racism, create a collaborative and respectful environment, and constructively disrupt the status quo to improve the system and enhance care for our patients. We work hard to create an inclusive, welcoming and nurturing work environment where all feel they are valued, belong and are able to advance professionally.
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About the Mount Sinai Health System :
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time - discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it. Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients' medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked : No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology / Heart Surgery, Diabetes / Endocrinology, Gastroenterology / GI Surgery, Neurology / Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology / Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report's "Best Children's Hospitals" ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country's best in several pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is ranked No. 14 nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding and in the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Newsweek's "The World's Best Smart Hospitals" ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 20 globally.
The Mount Sinai Health System is an equal opportunity employer. We comply with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate, exclude, or treat people differently on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We are passionately committed to addressing racism and its effects on our faculty, staff, students, trainees, patients, visitors, and the communities we serve. Our goal is for Mount Sinai to become an anti-racist health care and learning institution that intentionally addresses structural racism."
EOE Minorities / Women / Disabled / Veterans
