Family Support Specialist

Background

The (new) Urgent Crisis Center (UCC) is a walk-in, police or ambulance psychiatric crisis stabilization program designed to triage, stabilize, and assess youth who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis, and then link the youth/family to a lower level of care within the community. This is a fast-paced environment that operates 24/7, 365 days a year. As part of an interdisciplinary team, the Family Support Specialist will support and guide the family as they work through their child’s mental health crisis.

The Family Support Specialist should have lived experience with mental health conditions, substance abuse, or trauma in order to best serve our clients.

The Family Support Specialists will advocate, mentor, engage, empower, and support families to take the lead in their own Plan of Care and help connect families to needed resources within their own communities. The Family Support Specialist engages with the family from the time they walk in the door and guides them through the evaluation and discharge planning at the Urgent Crisis Center.

• Welcomes families to the Urgent Crisis Center and ensures a smooth transition through the intake process, including identification of language preference and connections with existing providers.
• Uses the core principles of WRAP to support families in developing their crisis plan with the UCC team.
• Assists with gathering screening and clinical data required to support the crisis intervention.
• Follows up with families with permission to support the crisis plan and coordination with services.
• Assists the families in obtaining needed resources, including referrals to FAVOR network of support and training.
• Assists families to access culturally appropriate resources to support them in crises, using their proactive and reactive safety/crisis plan.
• Assists with outreach efforts in the region to facilitate referrals through schools, community organizations, and regional collaboratives to broaden awareness of the UCC and Wellmore as a whole.
• Maintains records on all UCC children and families. Complies with all documentation guidelines established by Wellmore.
• Maintains confidentiality in management of records and communications regarding families – including obtaining appropriate consents to release information.
• Supports families through community meetings and settings as needed, providing advocacy and guidance.
• Develops knowledge of existing community resources and educates families on resources that will best meet their needs.
• Provides families with advocacy in community meetings and settings as appropriate.
• Informs families about available Family Support Groups and other “natural supports” available to them in the community.

Education and Experience: The Family Support Specialist holds a degree in a human service field (e.g., social work, marriage and family therapy, counseling, or psychology, etc.). Persons with a degree in an unrelated field or without a college degree may be considered if they have at least 3 years’ experience working with families and are knowledgeable about community resources and services preferred.

The Family Support Specialist must have the skills necessary to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of the families to be served by the program. Bi-lingual (Spanish-English) may be required.

Experience with advocacy, special education services and policies, and work with children and families is preferred. Parents of their own special needs’ children are encouraged to apply. Successful candidates must have the ability to maintain the utmost confidentiality and must be capable of both working independently and as part of a team.

Per Diem Overnights and Weekends