Community Mental Health Advocate

Description

Overview: The Door is an unparalleled model for youth development, offering a comprehensive range of integrated services within a single site for nearly 11,000 New York City youth each year. Our mission is to empower young adults to reach their full potential by providing comprehensive youth development services in a diverse and caring environment. At The Door, youth can access health care and education, mental health counseling and crisis assistance, legal assistance, college preparation services, career development, housing supports, arts, sports and recreational activities, and nutritious meals – all for free and under one roof. By providing participants with our suite of integrated services, we seek to provide any motivated young person with the tools, resources, and opportunities needed to successfully transition to adulthood.

Position Description: The Community Mental Health Advocate (CMHA) will be responsible for supporting the mental health of young people while maintaining a small caseload. They will work with Programming staff to identify young people (YP) that need support and create building-wide programming to engage and connect young people to appropriate supportive services, create long-term supportive plans, and move young people towards independence.  They will work with youth who are aging out of services at The Door to connect them externally, and with youth who are under-utilizing Door services to connect them internally. They will spend time engaging with young people, building rapport, and helping youth to plan for the future. They will serve as a peer leader in the use of evidence-based screening tools by taking an active role in tracking and following up on both initial screens and re-screens at appropriate intervals as well as in supporting other staff in their implementation of similar activities.

Responsibilities:

• Establish a rapport with young people based on consistency and conversation
• Build and maintain a caseload of approximately 5-10 youth, focusing on clients who have high-scores on evidence based screening tools and implement individualized progress plans developed through case conferencing
• Engage in 1:1 milieu supportive counseling with the goal of engaging hard to reach young people in long-term goal setting and progress
• Assist with prevention, de-escalation, and management of behavioral incidents
• Support and guide reintegration for young people involved in incidents, following The Door’s Restorative Justice model
• Help to identify traditionally hard to reach young people and young people who are aging out of The Door
• Participate in an ongoing case conferencing rotation including staff from all program areas to determine appropriate plans for young people and engaging in follow up and appropriate advocacy as needed
• Provide facilitation or co-facilitation of training and learning groups for interns and staff on topics such as trauma-informed care, basic mental health knowledge and best practices, and others
• Ensure that youth consistently receive and connect with referrals to appropriate Door programs as well as community resources
• Complete evidence-based screening tools with young people directly and support other staff in this process
• Maintain all agency reporting requirements
• Supporting young people in post-hospitalization discharge
• Report all program activities and changes directly to the supervisor
• Participate in agency-wide and department staff meetings, as well as all scheduled team meetings
• Participate in agency-wide initiatives as required by supervisor
• Attend professional development trainings and workshops
• Complete any additional responsibilities and functions as assigned by their supervisor

Qualifications:

• License required: LMSW, LMHC, LMFT
• Demonstrated experience in group facilitation
• Knowledge of youth issues and/or familiarity working with youth population
• Knowledgeable of and ability to apply positive youth development principles to working with young people
• Able to provide crisis management and crisis intervention
• Experience and/or knowledge working with street-involved youth
• Commitment to professionalism and ability to maintain a very professional attitude as a staff representative of the Door
• Skill in facilitating evidence-based assessments
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to work effectively and creatively as part of an interdisciplinary team
• Proficiency in Spanish, French, or Mandarin is a plus

Hours:  Full Time, Monday - Friday, 35 hours/week (afternoon and evening hours, may include travel to our Bronx Youth Center and housing sites)

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive community. We support a broadly diverse team who will contribute to our organization. We are an equal opportunity employer for all regardless of race, color, citizenship, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran or reservist status, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.

Qualifications

Salary : $58,000 - $62,000