Residential Social Worker

Official Position Title: Licensed Behavioral Health Practitioner

Position Summary:As a Residential Social Worker, your role involves assisting young people aged 12-18 and their families through counseling, education, and support. You'll collaborate with a team of professionals to establish goals for each child and family while assessing their specific needs. Additionally, you'll provide therapy, address issues such as substance use, and offer support for mental health challenges. Your primary responsibility is to ensure that the young individuals you serve receive the necessary support for their success. This includes maintaining records and assisting with tasks like court hearings and connecting them with community resources.

New Directions is an equal opportunity employer committed to championing the principles of anti-racism, justice, and equity. We welcome prospective employees from diverse cultures and backgrounds, for all positions, who will uphold our values and contribute to our mission. We aim to have a leadership and workforce that is reflective of the communities we work in partnership with.

Skills and Qualifications:

• Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), or Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), or Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC or LMHC-P), or Licensed Psychoanalyst, or Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) under the supervision of LCSW/Licensed Psychologist, or Psychiatrist
• LMSW or LMHC candidates may be considered with the stipulation that licensure must be obtained within 90 days of hire.

Pay and benefits:

• 3 weeks of paid time off your first year.
• An additional 13 agency holidays.
• Access to life, dental and medical insurance.
• 401k with up to 3% agency matching.
• Tuition Assistance.
• Student Loan Assistance
• $47,000 - $53,050/yr your first year (based on degree and experience).
• Primarily Monday - Friday, 9:00 - 5:00, with some flexibility required and given.
• Mileage reimbursement
• Agency provided cell phone and laptop computer.
• Join our company, where over 30% of our staff have been with us for 10 years or more.

We want to emphasize that the preferred qualifications are not required and that we are committed to helping our future colleagues develop these preferred skills. We strongly encourage those who are passionate about fostering a diverse, inclusive and equitable human service organization to apply.

Job Description

Title: Licensed Behavioral Health Practitioner
Department: 29I Health Facility
Title of Immediate Supervisor: Treatment Team Supervisor - North

POSITION SUMMARY: LBHP provides counseling and education and assists youth to develop skills to meet their goals. Provides case management services with a focus on permanency to include individual, family, and group interventions to the youth and youth families served by the agency. Works well in an interdisciplinary treatment team including social work, psychiatry, nursing, educational, and paraprofessional staff. Maintains all record keeping requirements, correspondence, and documentation needed to conduct the most professional case management. Promotes equality practices.

RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES:
▪ Establishes individualized client and family centered treatment goals for children utilizing historical and current available information in collaboration with the multi-disciplinary team.
▪ Completes comprehensive assessments to assess for level of risk, trauma, daily living skills, substance use/abuse or dependency, risk of or exposure to violence, individual and family strengths, developmental and mental health diagnosis and needs, and other assessments as necessary.
▪ Assists children and youth to develop skills as defined in treatment goals.
▪ Provides psychiatric supports and therapy.
▪ Provides individual counseling and treatment, substance abuse counseling and treatment, trauma-informed counseling and treatment, family and group counseling and traditional counseling.
▪ Promotes integration with community resources and skill building.
▪ Provides psychoeducation and wellness education.
▪ Communicates with family, case planning staff and medical practitioners.as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
▪ Enhances compliance with behavioral expectations.
▪ Utilizes interventions drawn from evidence-based psychotherapeutic methodology.
▪ Structures interventions to decrease problem behavior and increase developmentally appropriate pro-social behavior.
▪ Provides case management services to the youth assigned.
▪ Build positive and collaborative relationships with county, direct care staff, youth and families and systems.
▪ Facilitates youth referrals to other agencies or service providers as requested and appropriate and provides aftercare to link to school, employment, mental health services and/or housing as indicated based on treatment plan.
▪ Maintains timeliness and quality of written reports, FASP and records.
▪ Serve as a liaison and ambassador for the agency and the community while working collaboratively with permanency support programs.
▪ Participates in multi-disciplinary treatment team to collaborate and coordinate services for youth i.e., health services, school, appointments, activities family time, schedules and community supports.
▪ Attends CSE meetings for youth.
▪ Actively participates in regularly scheduled supervision.
▪ Provides direct services at all office locations, in family’s home and community.
▪ Engage with youth to build healthy relationships, provide crisis support, partner with the family to prepare and maintain consistent family time.
▪ Partner with the family to develop and review home safety plans, incorporating external safety assessments/court orders.
▪ Maintains and manages case records in accordance with OCFS, Department of Social Services, Family Court and CSE guidelines documenting diligent effort to achieve permanency and transitions.
▪ Engage youth in the creation of their individualized Lifebook.
▪ Enroll and participate with youth in external permanency resources i.e., Blue Book, photo listing, adoption resources, Family Finding Events, Heart Gallery, and Family Fest.
▪ Case plan and/or provide aftercare services as contracted by LDSS with NDYFS.
▪ Case plan and/or complete Transition Plan with youth.
▪ Attend permanency resource trainings i.e., family finding training, case mining, kinship and kin-gap opportunities.
▪ Exploring community resources with youth to meet the youth’s level of independent living skills for successful transition to permanency.
▪ Knowledgeable about ICWA and form working relationships with SNY Indian nations.
▪ Screen adoptive resources and complete home studies for freed youth.
▪ Facilitate permanency round tables with multi-disciplinary teams regularly.
▪ Prepare reports, petitions, and attend family court.
▪ Attends all mandatory in-service training and regularly attends supervision meetings.
▪ Attends other training and in-services as needed to maintain a level of expertise in the field.
▪ Any additional duties assigned by immediate supervisor

SKILL, QUALIFICATIONS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITY & PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Minimum Education and/or Professional Qualifications/Skills Education
• Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), or Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), or Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC or LMHC-P), or Licensed Psychoanalyst, or Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) under the supervision of LCSW/Licensed Psychologist, or Psychiatrist
- Experience in the provision of individual family and group psychotherapy to adolescents and their families preferred.
- Experience in providing services to those who are substance use disordered and/or in acute crisis preferred.
• LMSW or LMHC candidates may be considered with the stipulation that licensure must be obtained within 90 days of appointment.
Other
All LBHPs must comply with all of the following:
• Complete required background checks:
- NYS Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR)
- NYS Sex Offender Registry (SOR)
- NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) fingerprinting
- NYS Justice Center Staff Exclusion List (SEL)
- NYS OMIG Medicaid Exclusion List
• Complete mandated reporter training
• Compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations to include NYSED guidance

Special – Personal Skills, Qualities, Aptitudes and Physical Requirements
New Directions Youth & Family Services, Inc is an equal opportunity employer. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable persons with disabilities to perform essential functions.
1. Ability to work effectively with youth, families, staff and community contacts from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
2. Ability to deal effectively with youth and/or families.
3. Ability to accept supervision and perform as part of a team.
4. Ability to be flexible and adapt to change.
5. Ability to interface with people (groups and individuals) and communicate within various mediums (logbooks, E-mail, telephone, written).
6. Must have excellent organizational and communication/interaction skills.
7. Must have a valid driver’s license, adequate auto insurance and meet the criteria for driving set forth in the New Directions Driver’s License policy and Auto Insurance policy.
8. Ability to pass annual physical for Category 2 job classification in accordance with New Directions Employee Health policy.
9. Must comply with Agency safety standards and be responsible for own actions and conduct concerning safety and healthy working conditions.