Teacher/Counselor, Social Worker/Facilitator, Psychologist, or N9 Salary Scale, 240-Day/8 Hours Per Day
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Shenandoah Valley Head Start/Early Head Start is a regional preschool program serving the communities of Augusta, Bath, Highland, Harrisonburg, Staunton and Waynesboro. SVHS is a federal grant funded program with a long standing history of success. Our mission is to provide a quality preschool program that forms partnerships among families, sites, and communities. The program emphasizes the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development that is age appropriate for children while encouraging lifelong learning and empowering families through parent engagement.
General Description of Work: The Mental Health and Family Services Specialist is responsible for providing mental health and behavioral strategies to help strengthen the children's social and emotional skills and improve their ability to learn, as well as, to provide support and coaching to families and staff working with those children, utilizing Conscious Discipline practices under the supervision of the HS/EHS Director.
The Mental Health and Family Services Specialist will work collaboratively with supervisory staff, families and instructional staff to refer, develop and implement individual behavior plans, and make referrals to outside agencies as necessary. Support teaching staff in the establishment and maintenance of positive and productive relationships with children and families. Monitor, collect and analyze data to evaluate the effectiveness of social emotional/behavioral health practices. Participate in meetings and trainings as assigned.
The Mental Health and Family Services Specialist assists with developing and implementing behavioral interventions and delivering classroom support based on child behavior observation outcomes, with the support and guidance of Early Childhood Development Coordinator and HS/EHS Director. This position provides education and guidance, to families and colleagues, about social emotional development and positive classroom guidance and maintains the high quality behavioral services provided by Shenandoah Valley Head Start. The Mental Health and Family Services Specialist will participate in the identification of children who may have social, emotional, behavioral or familial concerns by working in partnership with Family Service Advocates, Education Staff, school personnel and families.
This position involves the supporting and tracking of mental health services and the implementation of all other performance standards that pertain to the mental health of children, families, and staff. Monitoring and tracking of mental health services occurs in conjunction with Leadership staff to ensure effective implementation of services throughout the HS and EHS-CCP program.
The Mental Health and Family Services Specialist supports FSAs to proactively assist parents, families and young children in acquiring the family strengthening tools, parenting skills, problem solving strategies, communication skills, healthy lifestyle habits, social and emotional skills necessary for increased self-sufficiency and school readiness. The Mental Health and Family Services Specialist will collaborate with Family Service Advocates and other staff to ensure families are linked to appropriate services within the program and/or in their local communities. This position collaborates with the Family and Community Development Coordinator to organize events, lead trainings and order supplies as needed for the Head Start and Early Head Start Family Services team meeting regularly through PLC.
Must have compassion and understanding for the needs of children and families from economically and culturally diverse backgrounds. All duties assigned to the Mental Health and Family Services Specialist will be supervised by the HS/EHS Director.
Duties: - Responsible for observing and assessing students with behavior issues.
- Collect data on the student's behaviors and share with appropriate individuals.
- Plans, formulates, facilitates and generates reports reflective of compliance with mental health performance standards.
- Determine behavior capabilities of students.
- Creates individualized visuals relating to schedules, expectations, rules, emotions, problem-solving strategies and self-regulation.
- Work with families, teachers, and other relevant personnel to devise a behavior plan for the student.
- Analyze the behavioral interventions to determine their success.
- Communicate with families and appropriate staff about students' behavior/mental health progress.
- Assist classroom teachers in facilitating behavioral interventions.
- Maintains all necessary tracking systems (including the use of ChildPlus and Devereux Early Childhood Assessment), files, documentation, records and reporting forms related to behavioral, mental health and education related component areas.
- Must travel to different locations within our service areas
- Must have the ability to support the training of other people to apply behavior management techniques effectively.
- Must know and understand state and federal laws and regulations associated with special education to implement behavioral strategies that support individualized educational plans.
- Must be able to handle emotionally charged situations.
- Support the reporting of possible cases of child abuse, neglect or endangerment to the proper authorities.
- Coordinates a sufficient frequency of mental health classroom observations, and as needed, on site visits, for parents and staff.
- Provides mental health prevention/assessment/intervention/treatment/referral as appropriate for children, families and staff.
- Acts as content specialist to Shenandoah Valley Head Start and Early Head Start with regard to the areas of Mental Health/Behavioral support which may include leading and participating in various committee meetings and governance processes throughout the region such as HMHSAC (Health/Mental Health Services Advisory Committee).
- Coordinates orientation/open house and Family Fun Events with Family Service Advocates.
- Assists in the development and implementation of professional relationships and mental health training/education for staff, parents, and volunteers.
- Monitors child and family welfare including cultural and ethical considerations within the program.
- Ensure parental input and engagement through group and individual opportunities that allow parents the opportunity to talk and network
- Support program governance through Family Service Advocates and the regular governance meetings scheduled by the program, including Family Fun Events.
- Train, model, and work with other preschool staff to support team collaboration and shared investment in program responsibilities and successful outcomes for families
- Observes implementation of mental health performance standards including FSA/Family interactions, staff/staff interactions, student/teacher interactions in the classrooms and homes as needed and appropriate.
- Develop and assist in implementing parent education and staff training plans associated with T/TA plans and performance standards
- Assist with development, implementation, and assessment of parent engagement and school readiness goals, objectives, and outcomes
- Provide direct crisis intervention services and/or support Family Service Advocates in the crisis intervention services for families who are experiencing emergencies related to issues such as incarceration, domestic violence, child protective services intervention, and substance abuse
- Recommend modifications to the Community Partnership programs for children, families, and staff, as needed.
- Assist families in the utilization of community resources and serves as a liaison with public and private agencies to provide family service support
- Monitor student and family records for completeness, accuracy and high quality services as related to mental health services.
- Coordinates with Head Start staffing team to ensure effective referral monitoring and follow upon all family and child services related mental health and related requirements for service follow-up.
- Works with the FSA to assist families in the utilization of community resources and serves as a liaison with public and private agencies to provide mental health and family service support.
- Provides confidential mental health support to staff, including Head Start and Early Head Start teachers.
- Documents regularly scheduled on-site mental health consultation with staff, children, and families.
- Assists the Program Health Specialist to ensure Head Start and EHS parents are afforded opportunities to obtain mental health screening results for their children served by the Head Start and EHS program.
- Participates in meetings with teachers and parents to explain the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment and how to accurately reflect a child's social and emotional development.
- In cooperation with Early Childhood Development Coordinator, supports the Instructional Coach with classroom observations for children with challenging behavior or a suspected disability.
- Other duties as assigned.
Knowledge and Abilities: Proven expertise with preschool children and knowledge of child development for children ages 0-5.
Knowledge of developmentally appropriate discipline practices for use with O-5 year-old children within a child care and public school setting.
Computer skills, including development o f reports and using reports to aggregate data. Knowledge of mental health principles and related consultation models.
Knowledge of the public school process for disability determination and strategies for adapting teaching.
Ability to write behavioral intervention plans that support the child's development and academic progress while addressing behavioral and social/emotional needs using positive behavioral supports.
Ability to relate appropriately to and coordinate ideas with the people being served and those who coordinate services with the Shenandoah Valley Head Start & Early Head Start Program.
Ability to problem solve independently with sound professional judgment.
Ability to collaborate within a regional program serving six local school divisions.
Ability to work under conditions that may be stressful such as crisis situations, situations involving Child Protective Services, and situations during which deadlines must be met.
Ability to multitask while still providing comprehensive mental health and behavioral services throughout the region.
Ability to prioritize work responsibilities so that crisis situations are met while routine reporting and data entry remains compliant.
Ability to provide confidential mental health services and work with teachers and other staff to maintain the privacy of children and families.
Familiarity with public/private human service providers in the areas of mental health. Skilled in working with staff and parents individually and in groups.
Skilled in forging relationships with children and families that are supportive of their unique needs while also encouraging them to advocate for themselves and focus on self-improvement.
Ability to work with diverse cultures and with children and families who demonstrate multiple risk factors related to low socioeconomic status.
ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION Salary and benefits are administered by Augusta County Schools. Successful candidate will have Master's degree in counseling, psychology, social work, or related field, or be LPC/LCSW or LPC/LCSW eligible. A minimum of Bachelor's degree in psychology, education, special education, or related field with demonstrated work experience in the field of human services and early childhood development is required. Successful candidate will have experience working with children between the ages of 0 and 5 and their families in direct service and consultative models.
Qualified current or previous Head Start parents are encouraged to apply. Bilingual skills are a plus. Successful completion of background checks is required upon hire, including TB test and physical exam. Professional development, comprehensive services, general support/oversight with regulations is provided by staff in SVHS. Complete application online at www.augusta.k12.va.us. Equal Opportunity Employer.