Supportive Services Specialist

Position Summary                                                                                                                            

Sea Mar Community Health Centers has recently acquired a multifamily apartment building for its Affordable Housing program. This building is located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle. The Supportive Services Specialist will support this building by working autonomously and collectively as an empowered staff member of Sea Mar’s Affordable Housing program. The role of the Supportive Services Specialist is to conduct an initial screening and provide a comprehensive assessment; develop care plans based on that assessment; check in with resident about their care plan through discussion and/or counseling, and consult with the interdisciplinary supportive services team on the needs of clients served. The productivity expectation for this position is 15 or more client encounters per week for full-time work and a caseload in excess of 65 low-income, marginalized or otherwise disadvantaged clients who may or may not have been previously homeless.

Duties and Responsibilities                                                                                                              

As a mission-driven organization, the core values of, and the services offered at Sea Mar are based on the belief that everyone deserves to be respectfully treated in a way that preserves dignity and enhances self-worth. Sea Mar is an advocate for its clients and aims to achieve industry-leading, client-centered, culturally-aware services.

Sea Mar employees serve as an extension of this mission and demonstrate their commitment to an excellent client experience by:

• Understanding and empathizing with client needs
• Surpassing client expectations
• Demonstrating a high level of integrity
• Exhibiting compassion and commitment
• Advocating for social justice
• Taking pride in individual work as well as that of the team
• Continually learning to stay current with industry standards, best practices and technology

As a Sea Mar employee, the individual in this position commits to adherence to these values to their utmost ability and endeavors to strengthen and embody this mission daily.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Exemplify excellent customer relations with clients, visitors, and other employees; show courtesy, friendliness, and respect.
• Identify specific problem behaviors and with knowledge of agency and community-based resources propose/recommend interventions that could reduce or eliminate those behaviors. 
• Provide brief, consistent, and culturally relevant discussion for client which would include: crisis intervention, mental health concerns, pregnancy and birth options, grief; stress, parenting, coping skills, problem-solving, abuse/neglect; and family violence. Educate the client to make informed decisions regarding personal, child and family health/mental health care and treatment. Brief discussion is defined as talking with the client to assist the client in developing skills to cope with issues that are presented and developing a plan to refer to and address ongoing longer term treatment with appropriate mental health providers.
• Complete a thorough, culturally sensitive, psychosocial assessment which includes but is not limited to: personal history (cultural background, health status, coping strategies, mental health status, substance use, abuse and violence); current family functioning; review of support systems (formal and informal); ability with maintaining housing; and basic physical needs. This assessment is shared with the client and team members to assure that all relevant psychosocial issues are addressed in the care planning. 
• Ensure that treatment planning and interventions are client centered, culturally competent and age appropriate. Consider all aspects of the client by respecting their family and their community’s psychosocial, economic and cultural needs, as well as providing care with respect to client confidentiality, safety and self- determination.
• Based on identified client needs, make referrals to appropriate agencies/services or provide information that assists clients with self-referral.
• Assist client in accomplishing tasks necessary to access services such as filling out appropriate forms, obtaining necessary documentation or authorization.
• Facilitate ongoing discussion of the psychological, social, vocational, systemic and economic goals and needs of the client, then document each encounter and update assessment. 
• Charts notes of the services provided as required by the state and agency in Sea Mar’s Electronic Health Records. If encounters can be compensated with billable hours, record and submit hours for each encounter while charting notes. 
• Monitor, compile, submit, and report paperwork and data for the supportive services program. 
• Participate in outreach services to prospective clients. Work collaboratively with co-workers and with personnel from other agencies with whom we interact. 
• Maintain professional standards and follow the treatment policies and procedures of the agency, as well as applicable federal, state and local regulations.
• Report unusual incidents to their manager, immediately. 
• Other duties as assigned. 

The Supportive Services Specialist must be able to perform each essential duty as outlined above satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Qualifications                                                                                                                                   

• The Social Service Specialist must be of good character and able to maintain the understanding, physical health, emotional stability and the personality that is necessary to meet the physical, mental, emotional, and social needs of the population that is being served.
• The person in this position must have knowledge of the principles of growth and development throughout the life span, and be able to identify and describe each client's age-specific grouping of needs.
• The ability to work with an inter-disciplinary care team. Members of the team may include medical providers, nursing staff, care coordinators, behavioral health, preventive health and other support staff.
• Knowledge of evidence-based screening tools (PHQ 9, GAD 7, AUDIT, DAST, etc.) and the ability to use these tools as part of a framework to make appropriate level of care interventions and referrals for patients as needed.
• The ability to maintain effective relationships and professional rapport with patients and members of the multidisciplinary team.
• The skills and ability to actively engage patients in therapeutic alliances.
• Good working knowledge and skills in using electronic health record platforms, external registries, as well as the Microsoft suite of programs in order to document patient services, develop and run reports, etc.
• Possess the ability to learn new programs as they may pertain to use of electronic health records.
• Typing proficiency of at least 35 wpm. 
• The person in this position shall have no history or evidence of alcohol or other drug misuse for a period of three (3) years prior to the date of employment at the facility, and no misuse of alcohol or other drugs while employed at this facility.
• This individual cannot be a person who has been convicted of a felony within the last seven years or ever been convicted of child abuse and / or any crime involving physical harm to another person nor be a perpetrator of substantiated child abuse.

Education, Certificates, Licenses, Registrations, and Medical Screening                                     

• Prefer Bachelor’s level degree in Counseling, Social Work, Psychology or related field. Will consider substitution of work experience for degree on an individual basis.
• Prefer Agency Affiliated Counselor in the State of Washington.
• Prefer Certified Peer Support Certification in Washington State.
• Must pass a background check from Washington State Patrol.
• Must have access to a car, have a valid driver’s license and current auto registration.
• Must pass pre-employment Motor Vehicle Record check and annual MVR check for work-related driving compliance.
• Proof of minimum liability auto insurance coverage required by Washington state.
• Must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a Medical or Religious exemption. 
• Must pass a TB test at time of hire and annually. 
• Must obtain Basic Life Support (BLS) CPR within 90 days of hire date and is required to maintain current BLS CPR throughout employment.