Multisystemic Therapy - Building Stronger Families Team Leader

POSITION TITLE:   MST-BSF Team Leader  

PROGRAM:  Multisystemic Therapy- Building Stronger Families (MST-BSF)   

GENERAL STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES:

Provide support, supervision and oversight to MST-BSF team which provides intensive in-home services to families in which the identified caretaker is involved with DCF and has an identified substance use disorder. This position reports to the Vice President of Child Services, or his/her Designee. The supervisor is the primary liaison between the team and the MST Services consultant regarding clinical concerns.

SUPERVISION:       Supervised by:        Director, Home Based Services, or Designee     

Supervises:             MST-BSF Clinicians and Case Manager, as assigned

Job Responsibilities:

• Conduct weekly group supervision for MST-BSF team to assure adherence to MST Principles and the MST Analytic Process.
• Conduct individual supervision as needed to target clinician competency needs and to remove individual barriers to effective implementation of MST-BSF treatment.
• Assure appropriate documentation of clinical effort to allow for peer and supervisory input, and to meet all reporting and communication needs of funding and referral sources.
• Provide supportive and corrective feedback to clinicians to promote client outcomes through interventions such as enacting role play and practice, attending field visits with therapists, acting as co-therapist in sessions, listening to audio tapes of clinicians’ sessions, and providing feedback about clinicians’ performance.
• Provide administrative support targeting systemic barriers to treatment success.
• Assure availability of clinical and administrative support to clinicians 24 hours/day, 7 days/week.
• Assure therapist accessibility to clients when needed at times most likely to promote engagement.
• Assure that clinicians achieve engagement with all key participants.
• Provide direct clinical training to assure clinician competency in all clinical areas relating to the implementation of MST-BSF interventions. This includes enacting role play and practice, attending field visits with therapists, acting as co-therapist in sessions, listening to audio tapes of clinicians’ sessions, and providing feedback about clinicians’ performance.
• Assure that all assessments are comprehensive, multisystemic, and provide adequate information to determine the causes and correlates of referral behaviors to direct effective treatment within the ecological context.
• Ensure that each clinician has a Clinician Development Plan that is reviewed monthly and revised quarterly.
• Work with the Family Services Research Center at the Medical University of South Carolina to ensure that all data for the adherence measure (ART) are collected.
• Build a relationship with community stakeholders (i.e., child protection services, Guardians ad Litem, judges, schools, adult probation, etc.) to ensure that there is a continuous stream of referrals and that customer satisfaction is high.
• Collaborates with MST-BSF expert to provide feedback, resources, and training to all team members.
• Supports weekly MST-BSF consultation through ensuring that clinicians’ paperwork is submitted to the consultant in a timely manner, participating in all consultations, and collaborating with the consultant on feedback to team members.
• LCSW Supervision for child service staff

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assume primary responsibility for hiring and on-the-job training of new staff.
• Follow proper procedures and personnel policies regarding staff, including hiring, disciplinary and discharge protocols.
• Ensure required personnel documents for MST staff are maintained.
• Keep program manager and MST consultant informed of staff issues and concerns.
• Collect, review and approve timesheets, expense reports and check requests for accuracy and submit according to agency guidelines. Ensure agency protocols regarding petty cash, receipts, credit card usage, etc. are followed.
• Meet contract guidelines for submission of billings, invoices, and service reports.
• Assist the team in assessing its relationships with others in the organization.
• Participate in community groups and build strong relationships within the local community.
• Maintain positive working relationships with DCF staff and others in the community.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

REQUIREMENTS

• Commitment to the MST-BSF model.
• Graduate degree in human services or related field and at least 2 years working with children and families. (Ph.D. or master’s degree in clinical or counseling Psychology, Social Work, or a related subject area)
• Ability to work with diverse individuals.
• Ability to exercise discretion and maintain client and employee confidentiality.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Valid CT driver’s license and vehicle in good working condition.
• Automobile liability insurance that meets minimum agency requirements.
• Must be Licensed by the CT Department of Public Health in Clinical field (Licensed Psychologist, LCSW, LMFT, LPC)
• Familiarity with Word, e-mail and Internet. Familiarity with Excel preferred.
• No history of DUI violations.

Preferred Experience:

• Direct use of pragmatic (i.e., structural, strategic and functional) family therapies
• Individual therapy with children and adults using cognitive behavioral techniques
• Marital therapy using behaviorally based approaches
• Substance abuse treatment for adults and children using behaviorally based approaches
• Behavioral therapy targeting behavioral change in children at home and school
• Trauma treatment for adults and children using exposure, cognitive therapies, and stress inoculation training
• Implementation of interventions within or between systems in the family’s natural ecology that affect or contribute to the child abuse and/or neglect (i.e., individual child, family, peer, school, and neighborhood)
• Provision of group and individual clinical supervision
• Experience with assessment of suicidality and depression and related crisis intervention
• Experience with assessment of substance abuse

Preferred Knowledge:

• Family systems theory and application
• Social ecological theory and application
• Behavioral therapies theory and application
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy theory and application particularly in the areas of trauma treatment and anger management
• Family Problem Solving and Communication
• Pragmatic family therapies theory and application
• Child development research and its application in treatment
• Research on child physical abuse and neglect
• Social skills assessment and intervention
• Behavioral treatment for substance abuse