About DABSJ
- MISSION STATEMENT: To help children and empower families by providing safety, advocacy, and support.
- VISION: A safe, nurturing home for every child, a supportive community for every family.
- VALUES:
- Exceptional Service: Client-focused and teaming at the center of our work.
- Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion: All are welcomed, valued, and belong.
- Excellence: Ongoing commitment to learning and improvement.
- Integrity: Responsibility and ownership of our actions and results.
- SANCTUARY COMMITMENTS:
- Nonviolence: Maintaining safety for all members of the community.
- Emotional Intelligence: Managing emotions so we don’t hurt ourselves or others.
- Social Learning: Together we accomplish more, we care for one another.
- Democracy: Everyone has a voice, not necessarily a vote.
- Open Communication: Respecting and sharing ideas of our team.
- Social Responsibility: Say what you mean, don’t be mean when you say it.
- Growth & Change: Creating hope for ourselves and the people we serve.
- POSITION SUMMARY
The Youth Development Specialist (YDS) is responsible for ensuring children receiving residential services are physically and emotionally safe while receiving support, empathy, feedback, and direction. YDS will serve the population of children who may exhibit non-compliance with authority, physical aggression, may use self-harm as a means for coping, may be nonverbal, may require assistance with hygiene and other activities of daily living. YDS are responsible for providing effective and therapeutic responses to challenging emotions and behaviors that led to the need for placement. YDS staff help children and adolescents develop critical internal and external assets to facilitate and support healthier behaviors and emotional regulation, in accordance with individual treatment plans developed by program therapists.
- ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Develop and maintain supportive, consistent, and therapeutic relationships with children and youth, including maintenance of clear roles and boundaries.
- Structure residential milieu to ensure physical and emotional safety of children and youth, in accordance with established policies and procedures.
- Deliver services according to established treatment plans for each child, including dispensing medications according to established schedules and protocols.
- Facilitate therapeutic, recreational, and psycho-educational activities according to established schedules and parameters.
- Engage and support family members according to established parameters, demonstrating a welcoming and respectful approach.
- Effectively document children’s activities, behaviors, emotional responses, and progress toward treatment plan goals.
- Participate in team and staff meetings, including supervision and staff development opportunities.
- Work shifts as scheduled, arranging for coverage only according to established policies and procedures.
- Meal preparation in the homes.
- Must be available to serve at least one on-call shift per month in order to ensure adequate staff to child ratio.
Supervision Received: Specific Direction - Follows established work procedures. Receives periodic checks for performance. Refers unique questions/conditions to immediate supervisor. Additionally, YDS will meet with assigned supervisor once weekly for the first 90 days. After successful completion of 90 days, YDS could meet with assigned supervisor on bi-weekly basis.
Supervisory Responsibilities: N/A
- MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience working with children and youth with emotional and behavioral challenges strongly preferred. This includes working with developmentally disabled and cognitively impaired youth (can include youth with classic autism spectrum disorder that exhibit severely restricted functioning levels), and youth with or without substance use or dependency symptoms.
- High school diploma required, with some college education in psychology, social work, sociology, youth and family studies or related field preferred.
- Positive acceptance of supervision to learn and be trained in job-related functions.
- Ability to work with various people within and outside the Agency.
- Promote a positive image for the Agency in the community and in relationship with other Agencies and their personnel.
- Valid driver’s license and good driving record.
- Possess an understanding and sensitivity to the client’s socioeconomic characteristics with personal qualities of warmth with the ability to establish meaningful relationships with people from various cultures.
- The capacity to make sound decisions.
- Effective oral and written communication.
- Good organizational skills.
- Competence in computer use and keyboarding skills.
- High frustration tolerance level.
- Assertiveness and self-direction.
- CORE COMPETENCIES
- Working Under Pressure: Ability to maintain composure when exposed to stress.
- Teamwork: Effectively interacts with people by being able to share and receive information that supports team goals.
- Communication: Ability to effectively receive and express ideas, both written and verbal; using clear and concise vocabulary and active listening skills. Ability to communicate with small and large groups and ability to communicate with a wide variety of individuals.
- Reliability: Ability to be dependable, trustworthy, and committed to doing the best job possible and completing work in a timely and consistent manner.
- Problem Solving: Ability to recognize courses of action to handle problems, gathering and organizing information, identifying cause and effect relationships, and applying contingency plans to solve those problems.
DABSJ is an equal opportunity, at-will employer, and will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment. DABSJ does not discriminate on the basis of race, including but not limited to hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists; culture, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, height, weight, marital status, veteran status, socio-economic status, disability, or other legally-protected characteristics as required by law.
This job description does not list all duties of the job. Employees may be asked by management to perform other duties as needed. The Company reserves the right to revise this job description at any time. This job description is not a contract for employment and does not infringe upon the Company’s at will employment status.
