Kinship Mental Health Specialist

Kinship Mental Health Specialist

790 Ridge Rd, Lackawanna, NY 14218, USAReq #461

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Are you looking for a rewarding career? If you love making a difference, building relationships and being in a supportive community, we may have the perfect career for you!

A kinship case manager plays a vital role in child welfare services, focusing on supporting children who are placed with relatives or close family friends when they cannot stay with their biological parents.

Salary: $22.00 per hour.

This position is 6 hours per month. May include, evenings, weekends and holidays.

Perks:

Flexible schedule

Casual dress code

$$ Employee referral program $$

Responsible to: Assistant Foster Care Director

Job Summary:

The Kinship Mental Health Specialist provides a supportive role within the Kinship Caregiver Program. The Kinship Caregiver Program focuses on providing case management and supportive services to kinship families in order to prevent disruption of the child's placement in the kinship home. The program specifically works with families in both Erie and Chautauqua counties. Further, the program places emphasis on improving relationships between relative caregivers and birth parents where applicable, and decreasing kinship caregiver stress overall. For the purposes of the program, kinship families are defined as relatives or other adults with preexisting relationships, who care for children through either informal arrangements, or temporary or permanent legal custody arrangements.

The Kinship Mental Health Specialist is responsible for assisting in the planning and leading of peer and child support groups, community education groups, and family engagement activities, ensuring a group focus on addressing mental health needs for program participants. The Kinship Mental Health Specialist has the capacity to provide group, family, and one-on-one counseling for program participants as needed.

The Kinship Mental Health Specialist also provides hourly respite services as needed.

Essential Job Duties:

Develop a strong working knowledge of the roles, permanency options, needs and services for relative caregiving families. Will demonstrate strong initiative in developing this knowledge through individual research, effective partnerships with kinship caregivers, and participation in trainings on topics relevant to kinship care at the program, agency, and community levels.

Willingness to develop strong relationships, and ability to demonstrate patience, compassion, and empathy for clients.

Provides one-on-one, family and group counseling for program clients as needed.

Assists in planning and co-facilitating peer and child support groups, education groups, and family engagement activities, ensuring a focus on addressing mental health needs for program participants.

Assist in securing and transporting tangible items to kinship families.

Attends trainings necessary to provide approved program curriculums for group sessions (ie. Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Families, Caring For Our Own, Parenting A Second Time Around, etc).

Participates in family team conferences, case reviews and department meetings as needed.

Will provide hourly respite services for youth in kinship care as needed.

Documents interactions with kinship families in the case record.

Attends all mandatory in-service training and regularly attends supervision meetings.

Follows OLVHS and OCFS policies to ensure compliance with regulations and requirements.

Performs other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Skills:

Culturally sensitive to the needs and diversities of multi‐cultural communities.

Computer skills in typing, basic computer operations, Microsoft, PowerPoint, Excel.

Strong organizational and time management skills.

Ability to work independently, demonstrating good judgment and prioritizing.

Must be accurate and detail oriented.

Practices good customer service skills in all working relationships.

Strong interpersonal skills, respectful, and courteous nature.

Demonstrated assessment skills in identifying strengths, needs, and opportunities for clients.

Intermediate knowledge of child welfare regulations and regulatory agencies whenever possible.

Ability to present and teach in front of a group and individual sessions.

Ability to establish strong interpersonal skills to foster healthy and productive relationships with clients and colleagues.

Strong mediation/conflict resolution skills.

Ability to work effectively with clients, families, staff and community contacts from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Knowledge of community resources and the ability to access specialized services to clients.

Ability to advocate effectively for clients.

Ability to be flexible and adapt to change.

Excellent communication skills. Must be able to work with groups and people on an individual level. Need to be open to communicating through various mediums such as in person, e-mail, telephone, virtual platforms, etc.

Must be an excellent listener.

Minimum Education Required:

Master's Degree in Social Work, Psychology or a Mental Health related field.

Minimum Experience Required:

A minimum of 1 year of experience working with children and families is required

License/Registration/ Certifications Required:

LMSW/LCSW/LMHC is preferred but not required.

Valid NYS Driver's License is required.

Training Requirements:

New Hire Orientation

Physical Requirements:

The overall nature of the position is sedentary requiring little physical effort with occasional light physical exertion required. There is little, if any, exposure to environmental conditions.

The constant physical demands of the position are sitting. standing, walking

The frequent physical demands of the position are climbing, talking, hearing, repetitive motions, and eye/hand/foot coordination.

The occasional physical demands of the position are lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, balancing, stooping, crouching, reaching, handling, grasping, and feeling

Other details

Pay TypeHourly

Min Hiring Rate$22.00

Max Hiring Rate$22.00

Required EducationMaster's Degree



790 Ridge Rd, Lackawanna, NY 14218, USA