Post Adoption Therapist

Job Description

Job Description

Job Description Summary: Under the direct supervision of the Director of Family Support Program (FSD) Post Adoption therapist provides short term counseling to children/youth and their families in their homes, the office or via Zoom. The goal is to prevent disruption of the adoptive/subsidizes guardianship placement. Assist in defining appropriate services to the family. Maintain client records and confidential information, conduct initial clinical assessments, assist clients with creating and completing service goals. Complete monthly, and quarterly reports. Other job duties as assigned.

Reporting Relationship:

Reports To: Director of Family Support Program

Supervises (Position Title): None

Essential Responsibilities & Duties:

• Provides counseling/therapy services to children/youth and their families in the home, and/or office settings. These clients typically represent more complex or difficult cases.
• Provides clinical input and direction to Family Support Specialist and other program staff.
• Conducts clinical assessments.
• Prepares and submits reports and data as required.
• Attend community committee meeting as required.
• Available evening and weekends as prescribed by the Program Director.
• Maintains necessary records on client services, and documenting case notes in the funder provided database in a timely manner.
• Completes monthly statistics and reports as required and prepares summaries for consultation, and monitoring for referral purposes.
• Establish a trusting relationship with all family members
• May serve as a liaison/coordinator of services between other agencies and practitioners
• Facilitates parenting curricula, individually, or in groups.
• Performs other duties as assigned within the Family Support Program

* Non-essential duties

Essential Competencies:

• Interpersonal Skills:
  • Possess the ability to partner with clients individually and/or in a familial setting to help them mobilize resources and build resilience.
  • Maintain appropriate boundary setting even during emotionally charged and difficult situations and interactions with clients.
  • Demonstrate the experiences, beliefs, attitude and awareness that indicate cultural sensitivity to the client populations served.
  • Must be able to objectively evaluate situations through observation, discussion, and research.
  • Must work with other staff in a fair and honest manner while treating others with respect, compassion and understanding.
• Communication Skills:
  • Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.
  • Possess active listening, concentration, and empathy skills to engage and establish trust with clients.
• Organizational Skills:
  • Effectively manage paperwork and case load while being able to identify a prioritization of tasks.
• Technological skills:
  • Ability to navigate Microsoft Office and related technologies to communicate with team and work on documentation.
  • Willingness to learn and utilize new technologies.
• Commitment to Mission:
  • Comply with all Ada S. McKinley policies and procedures as outlined in the organizational operating procedures and human resources manuals.
  • Participate in the Teamwork, Innovation, and Excellence initiative.
  • Contribute to the One Ada Culture.
  • Embrace and practices the concepts of a growth mindset.

Child Development & Youth Services Core Competencies:

• Adaptable: Adjust to new conditions, changes, challenges, and experiences.
• Communicator: Is understood by others (both verbally and in writing) and understands the ideas and perspectives of others.
• Uses a Growth Mindset: Embraces their potential to learn and grow and views successes and failures as development opportunities.
• Has Integrity: Honesty, trustworthiness, ownership, accountability, and respect are hallmarks of integrity.
• Collaborator: Cooperates and works well with peers, colleagues and team members by giving and receiving ideas, comments, and feedback with an open mind.

Requirements:

• Master’s degree in counselling, social work, psychology or a closely related field.
• Two years of counseling children and families.
• Valid Illinois Driver’s License and insurance.

Mental/Physical Demands: Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations. Work requires concentration using a computer in analyzing and manipulating data. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to sit. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

Environmental Conditions: The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Duties are performed in a typical office environment. No unusual or adverse working conditions exist.

This description documents the general contents and requirements of the job. It is not to be construed as an exhausted statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements. The principal duties and responsibilities shown are all essential job functions except for those indicated with an asterisk (*). The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.