Night Shift Counselor

Night Shift Counselor

The Night Shift Counselor position performs a variety of direct and non-direct care duties
in creating a therapeutic milieu. This position provides therapeutic care, safety and supervision to emotionally
disturbed children and performs duties in the areas of housekeeping, laundry, meal preparation, record keeping
and others as assigned. The Night Shift Counselor is responsible to review and stay abreast of assessments,
logs, reports and treatment plans and attend clinical staffings and training as directed. The Night Shift
Counselor is largely distinguished from the Counselors by the major assignment of non-direct care duties which
do not require specialized skills acquired through advanced training, limited development of significant
relationships and therapeutic interventions which do not exceed “care and control” with children (the “here and
now” provision of safety, nurturance and structure). The Lead Night Shift Counselor and the Coordinator
supervise the Night Shift Counselor.

Examples of Tasks:
• Assist in training new overnight staff in all overnight duties and responsibilities as assigned.
• Provide orientation for new overnight counselors as assigned.
• Assist in preparation and delivery of meals according to policies, menus, and procedures, and creates a
wholesome and nurturing, experience at mealtime.
• Provide or arrange for transportation of residents as needed.
• Perform routine housekeeping and cleaning as needed to maintain a healthy, nurturing environment.
• Carry out assigned responsibilities during fire drills and disasters.
• Obey all safety rules and regulations and exercise sound judgement in regards to children’s safety in all
settings.
• Work with and follow lead staff; function as an emotionally accessible, reliable, and cooperative team
member, solving problems, giving and receiving feedback and support.
• Perform various office duties such as filing, recording, organizing and evaluating data.
• Demonstrate initiative and creativity to promote a warm nurturing child oriented home environment (ie.
Bulletin boards, decorations for various occasions).
• Provides for and ensures building safety and security during shift.
• Meet individual client needs:
o Provide individualized care.
o Assess the needs of the milieu and design and carry out milieu interventions which create a safe
and supportive environment.
o Provide support and control utilizing milieu holdings and supportive physical control per agency
policy and procedure.
o Initiates and leads house meetings and assists in co-leading house groups as assigned or
appropriate.
o Ability to provide consistent care, control, safety, and structure for children.
• Maintain program structure and assist with program accountability:
o Provide input to individual treatment plans.
o Make entries in administrative and individual logs.
o Document and report any problems or unusual circumstances to the appropriate personnel in a
timely manner.
o Stay abreast of all information in logs.
o Attend and participate in staff meetings as requested by supervisor.
o Demonstrate an ability to establish effective working relationships with families, community
resources, and placing agencies.
o Actively contribute to the design and implementation of treatment objectives and strategies.
o Log accurately and concisely according to agency procedures, and assuring all entries involving
subjective interpretation of the child’s progress are supplemented with the description of the
actual behavior observed.

Responsibilities:
• Provide a safe living environment.
• Operate program as designed and directed.
• Accept supervision.
• Work within a team approach to treatment.
• Be available to have relationships with children in care.
• Communicate clearly, precisely and directly.
• Respond to needs of children in care.
• Provide consistency and structure.
• Be a role model.
• Administer medications to children according to policies and procedures.
• Provide continuous awake coverage for children, meeting standards of professional performance.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:
• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Sound moral character.
• Interest and insight to both seek supervision and respond to it with growth and change.
• Experience working with troubled children in a professional or volunteer setting.
• Basic knowledge of childhood development as acquired through staff training.
• Talents for supervising and working with children.
• Knowledge of state laws and agency policies on confidentiality and reporting child abuse and neglect.
• Working knowledge of the rationale, use and implementation of basic techniques such as activation,
sittings, 60-second scoldings, permissions, supportive physical control and teaching interactions
• Ability to lift 50 lbs as needed.
• Ability to climb stairs as needed.

Working conditions:
• Frequent involvement in controlling physically out of control children. A Relief Counselor should be
able to lift 50 pounds and possess the physical ability and endurance required in the highly active role
of caring for disturbed young children. The work environment is high in emotional, physical and
mental stress with high activity and noise levels and the personal difficulties presented in the course of
working with seriously disturbed children and families.
(Revised October 2020)
• Predominantly works long graveyard shifts in a scheduled 30 or 40 hour work week including evenings,
weekends and holidays, with occasional schedule changes. Hours and shifts rarely fluctuate. Position
requires some flexibility in scheduling.
• Performance of tasks is largely self-paced with minimal interruptions upon time and focus.
Environment can be ungratifying due to highly routine and repetitive tasks and minimal interaction with
children and peers.

Employee Classification, Compensation and Benefits:
• This position is a Full-time, Non-Exempt position.
• Compensation is based on range establish in the Partnership for Children Salary Schedule.
• Partnership for Children provides a generous benefit package inclusive of:
o Annual Leave, Exceptional Leave, Educational Leave
o Health, Dental, Vision, Long-term Disability and Life insurance.
o Health Savings Account and 401(k) options with agency match.

Salary : $17