Youth Advocate – Roxbury

About the Program

Hope Well supports transition age youth with child welfare involvement in a variety of community-based environments as they work towards their goals around healthy living, housing stability, sustainable employment, and educational achievement. Hope Well offers a continuum of transition age youth services that offer community-based case management and individualized education and employment support.

Through My First Place™, youth ages 18 and older receive these services while residing in stable, safe and affordable housing provided by Hope Well. My Next Step is for youth ages 16 and older who are typically living in foster care, with extended family, or independently in the community. And for youth who have exited the child welfare system and obtained an FYI voucher through their local Public Housing Authority, we also help them find housing that will accept their voucher.

The Youth Advocate is a dynamic, collaborative, and results-oriented service provider who is passionate about a future where the disparities between foster care-involved youth and their non-foster peers have been eliminated. Hope Well offers a unique approach in a highly collaborative environment, delivering services by a team of staff including a Youth Advocate, an Education and Employment Specialist, and a Housing Specialist.

The Youth Advocate will be excited about the ways that delivering services as a unified team can best meet youth needs.

We are seeking someone who will bring a strength-based, youth-centered approach to partnering with and coaching youth on their path to independence. The Youth Advocate will take an individualized, therapeutic approach to case management, psychosocial assessment, and development and implementation of intervention strategies, and will be comfortable working independently and directly with youth in the program, able to assess danger and risk, and make sound decisions in partnership with youth and program leadership.

Youth often face uncertainty as they enter adulthood — and this is especially true for those with child welfare involvement. To help them reach their full potential at a pivotal time in their lives, Hope Well’s continuum of services for transition age youth provide support that prepares them for independence as they launch into adulthood. Hope Well’s transition age youth services are steadily expanding, and this is an exciting opportunity to join a growing and engaged team to support youth comprehensively.

• Develop a partnership strategy with each youth. Provide direct support, coaching, mentoring, and intervention to increase youth self-sufficiency and goal attainment.
• Provide youth with individual counseling, crisis intervention, referrals, advocacy and life skills training, as well as crisis counseling as needed.
• Provide on‑going assessment of youth well‑being and develop plans to ensure safety and de‑escalate crisis as needed.
• Provide clinical leadership to multi‑disciplinary teams consisting of youth, family and other natural supporters, social workers, Employment and Education Specialists, and Housing Specialists to ensure seamless and effective service delivery. Ensure continuous information sharing and communication.
• Collaborate with community providers including but not limited to social workers, courts, professionals, vocational and independent living skills programs, schools, universities, family members and significant others.
• Complete documentation including but not limited to intake paperwork and consents, Care and Services plans, needs assessments, and progress notes.
• Participate on a rotating basis to provide on‑call coverage.
• Actively participate in program and agency internal (e.g. collaborating with colleagues, staff meetings, town halls) and external meetings (e.g. collaborating with other providers, DCF) both in person and virtually as assigned.
• Other duties as assigned. Hope Well’s service continuum is evolving, and as such, the roles and responsibilities of various team members will likely adapt and change over time to most comprehensively and…