Social Worker, Brooklyn Felony Diversion

THE ORGANIZATION

The Center for Justice Innovation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing community safety and racial justice. Since 1996, we’ve worked alongside communities, courts, and those most directly affected by the justice system to build stronger, healthier, and more equitable neighborhoods. With a team of over 900 staff and an annual budget of $130 million, the Center carries out its mission through three core strategies:

Backed by decades of on-the-ground experience and nationally recognized expertise, we bring innovative, practical, and lasting solutions to justice systems nationwide.
Learn more about our work ovatingjustice.org.

The Brooklyn Mental Health Court (BMHC) launched in 2002 as NYC’s first mental health court, serving individuals charged primarily with felony offenses who are living with serious mental illness. The program diverts participants from jail or prison by conducting clinical assessments and then connecting them with long-term treatment in the community, along with rigorous judicial monitoring. The court aims to strengthen the justice system’s ability to identify, assess, and monitor individual participants, to create linkages between the justice and mental health systems, and to improve public safety by ensuring that participants receive high quality community-based services.

The Brooklyn Felony ATI Program utilizes a similar model to Brooklyn Mental Health Court, serving individuals facing felony charges who are not otherwise eligible for Mental Health Court or other treatment courts in Brooklyn. The program receives referrals through two pathways: (1) the dedicated Felony ATI court part within Brooklyn Supreme Court, with a dedicated judge and supervising prosecutor; and (2) through other court parts throughout Brooklyn Criminal and Supreme Court.

Regardless of the referral pathway, all participants receive individualized assessments, onsite and community-based services, compliance monitoring and judicial monitoring for the life of the case.

BMHC is seeking a Social Worker for its Brooklyn Felony Diversion programs. The Social Worker will serve individuals who are mandated to Felony Alternative to Incarceration (Felony ATI) programming through the Brooklyn Supreme Court. Reporting to the Clinical Director, the Social Worker is responsible for conducting psychosocial assessments, linking clients to a range of wrap-around services, providing comprehensive trauma-informed case management, compliance monitoring, and reporting for clients referred to the Brooklyn Mental Health Court and Brooklyn Felony ATI programs.

• Conduct comprehensive psychosocial clinical assessments, draft reports, and provide recommendations to court parties for services and treatment;
• Provide clinically-informed case management services to participants that address issues such as substance use, mental health issues, trauma, domestic violence, housing, and educational/vocational needs; and other challenges in client’s life (e.g. new arrests, family court cases and other civil legal issues);
• Manage and monitor compliance with treatment mandates, including care coordination with providers and obtaining compliance updates for court;
• Work to ensure the provision of high-quality, evidence-based, and culturally responsive clinical assessments and treatment services across the site;
• Provide written and verbal participant reports to the court and other court staff (e.g. prosecutors, defense attorneys), as needed;
• Coordinate and collaborate with a consulting psychiatrist;
• Work with the Clinical Director and interdisciplinary team to develop project specific policies, procedures, and data collection;
• Support clients who present to the clinic in crisis or with imminent needs to be addressed;
• Conduct intakes and needs-based screenings for newly mandated clients;
• Provide written treatment updates for court…