Family Advocate

Overview

For nearly 150 years, The Jewish Board has been delivering innovative, best-in-class mental and behavioral health services. We serve everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults, providing opportunities to use skills, training, and compassion to make a difference in the lives of over 45,000 New Yorkers each year.

Purpose
:
Youth Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) services focus on improving functional impairments and symptomatology related to youth mental illness or serious emotional disturbance. Clinical and rehabilitative interventions aim to enhance family functioning to foster wellbeing, stability, and reintegration for youth returning home after residential treatment or inpatient hospitalization. The Youth ACT Team is a multidisciplinary team delivering family-driven, youth-guided, developmentally appropriate services across family, school, medical, behavioral, psychosocial, and community domains.

The Youth ACT Family Peer Advocate works as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide treatment and support services to families and children, ages 10 to 21, with significant behavioral health needs at risk of entering or returning from high-end services (inpatient or residential). This role involves highly individualized services focused on clinical treatment, family psychoeducation, and skills development. The Family Peer Advocate delivers services to youth and families in homes and communities and collaborates with other service providers and systems.

Some evening availability and rotating on-call coverage are required.

• Provide advocacy with providers across the child-serving system to raise awareness, reduce stigma, engage families, and coordinate services.
• Educate families about self-help techniques and self-help group processes.
• Provide psychoeducation to family members, caregivers or social supports.
• Provide individual or group parent skill development related to the behavioral health needs of the child/youth.
• Teach effective coping strategies and assist in developing community support systems and networks.
• Support families in developing skills to manage their child/youth behaviors and navigate multiple systems.
• Identify formal services and informal resources for families that are culturally affirming and facing social-emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges.
• Assist families in identifying challenges, strengths, and goals for improvement.
• Monitor and document family progress in accordance with agency and regulatory policies.
• Collaborate with care providers and community supports to track progress toward goals.
• Participate in multidisciplinary team meetings, staff meetings, trainings, and supervision.
• Maintain documentation according to the standards and time frames established by the Jewish Board, regulatory agencies, and funding sources.
• Maintain professional and ethical standards as established by licensing boards, professional associations, and Jewish Board policies.
• Using an electronic database, document demographics, family goals, and services provided to parents/caregivers; participate in quality improvement activities.
• Perform services in the family’s home, youth’s home, community, or office.
• Any additional duties assigned.

• Excellent engagement skills
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Attention to detail
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

• High School Diploma or Equivalency
• Specialty credentialing in advocacy (may be obtained during probationary period)
• Lived experience parenting a child or adolescent with serious emotional disturbance and/or lived experience of mental health challenges
• Lived experience with mental health and/or co-occurring behavioral health challenges in home, school, or community
• Ability to work with diverse social, cultural, economic groups
• Background in advocating mental health and/or in the educational system
• Bilingual in Spanish/English a plus

• Bilingual Spanish/English preferred

• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office
• Ability to learn electronic health records and other software…