Client Engagement Specialist - DEAC

Description

Shift: Day (9am - 5pm)

Days Off:
Saturday, Sunday

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 a part of a union and is represented by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.

About DESC:

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.

JOB DEFINITION:

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

Hobson Clinic is an integrated behavioral and physical health outpatient clinic jointly operated by DESC and Harborview Medical Center (HMC). The Clinic provides holistic health care services to thousands of community members annually with a focus on improving health care access for people who have experienced barriers to conventional health services. The Clinic specializes in serving people living on lower incomes, people living homeless, and people living with complex physical and mental health conditions and substance use disorders.

The Pioneer Square clinics are two clinics operated by DESC that support a variety of clinical staff and programs ranging from outpatient behavioral health, substance disorder treatment, supportive employment, medical, and drop-in services. The clinical programs located in Pioneer Square serve a myriad of clients daily to address complex needs related to their mental and physical health.

The CES team will be the point people to monitor the safety and security of the clinics by managing the milieu of the main lobby/building and engaging clients. The CES team will also be tasked with providing trauma-informed support to clients and patients utilizing Hobson clinic and Pioneer Square by employing various de-escalation skills and tactics, both verbal and hands-on approaches, while in coordination and consultation with the wider clinical and medical teams.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

* To be present in all main operating areas of both Hobson and Pioneer Square clinics for client engagement and de-escalation purposes only. 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, including area immediately outside of the clinic.

* Initiate and maintain appropriate social interactions with clients. Integrate experience with behavioral health and substance use conditions into work with clients.

* Monitor the general milieu, lobby, entryway, immediately outside of the clinic, security systems, and other common areas to monitor the safety and security of clients and staff. Work to maintain a comfortable milieu, even in the presence of potentially unusual client behaviors.

* Commitment to the Harm Reduction and Trauma Informed Care models and working to incorporate those principles through an equity and social justice lens.

* Become certified in enhanced behavioral de-escalation training and maintain annual re-certification.

* Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and applying to all areas of work responsibility.

* Assist in training clinic staff on de-escalation skills and leading crisis response drills.

* 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 de-escalation in emergent situations, and initiate action as required, including contact with emergency response systems, and facilitating a higher level of care.

* Write significant events involving clients and Clinic operations activities in a daily log; read log daily and coordinate with relevant staff.

* In collaboration with an interdisciplinary team, promote a safe and secure clinic…