Client Engagement Specialist - Swing Shift, STAR Center

Client Engagement Specialist - Swing Shift, STAR Center

Seattle, WA () STAR Center

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Job Type: Full‑time

Shift: Swing (4:30 PM to 12:00 AM)

Days Off: Monday, Tuesday

Shift Differential: $0.50 per hour

Benefits: Dental, Life, Long‑Term Disability, Medical (no premiums/payroll deductions for employee coverage)

Other Benefits: Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), ORCA card subsidy, Paid Time Off (34 days per year), Retirement Plan

Union Representation: This position is part of a union and is represented by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.

Recognized nationally as an innovator and leader in developing solutions to homelessness, DESC is a social services organization, supportive housing operator, and licensed behavioral health treatment provider focused on meeting the needs of people experiencing long‑term homelessness and living with complex behavioral health and other medical conditions. Approximately 3,000 people are actively receiving services from DESC at any given point in time.

Our vision is a community where all people are shown compassion, treated with dignity, and everyone has a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.

DESC operates five shelter/emergency housing programs, 19 permanent supportive housing facilities with over 1,750 units, several hundred additional scattered site apartments, and a range of behavioral health services including outpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment, residential crisis stabilization, street outreach, mobile crisis response, and treatment for opioid use disorder.

We are looking for a Client Engagement Specialist (CES) who will work within the larger Client Engagement Team spanning three locations:
Hobson Clinic, the DESC Pioneer Square clinics, and the STAR Center.

• To be present in all main operating areas of Hobson Place, 216 James, and STAR Center for client engagement and de‑escalation purposes. Be a welcoming presence and direct clients to the services they are seeking, at times escorting to designated area and walking regular rounds in both low and high‑risk areas of the clinic, Hobson Place, 216 James, STAR Center and 600 block of 3rd Ave, including the area immediately outside of the clinic.
• Monitor the general milieu outside the Hobson Clinic, 216 James Clinic, STAR center and the 500 and 600 blocks of 3rd Ave.
• Work to maintain a comfortable atmosphere for people along 3rd Ave, even in the presence of potentially unusual or posturing client behaviors.
• Proactively engage clients and community members in the public spaces on and around 3rd Ave. in front of Hobson Clinic, 216 James St, and the STAR Center.
• Coordinate real‑time intervention for crises both in and around DESC spaces.
• Enforce the DESC Good Neighbor policy and Project/Program rules with DESC Clients.
• Initiate and maintain appropriate social interactions with clients and prospective clients.
• Integrate experience with behavioral health and substance use conditions into work with clients and prospective clients.
• Commitment to the Harm Reduction and Trauma Informed Care models and working to incorporate those principles through an equity and social justice lens.
• Become a DESC trainer for de‑escalation and dis‑engagement for new employees and yearly refresher; this responsibility will be shared with another trainer within the agency.
• Assist in training clinic staff on de‑escalation skills and leading crisis response drills.
• Receive training in hands‑on techniques (escorts and holds) and work in collaboration with partnering agency security to ensure the safety of clients is made a priority.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, applying to all areas of work responsibility.
• Intervene when necessary to support clients, maintain order, and communicate/enforce clinic rules and policies.
• Intervene in client crises and emergencies (medical, behavioral health, interpersonal), participate in verbal de‑escalation and hands‑on escorts and holds in emergent situations, and initiate action as required, including contact with emergency response systems, and facilitating a higher level of care.
• W…