Family Support Specialist

Cambridge Health Alliance; Malden (MA); On-site; USD 3,203,000 - 4,830,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Non Union

Job summary

Cambridge Health Alliance is seeking a Family Support Specialist to join our Community Behavioral Health Centers. The role centers on bringing the family perspective to outpatient mental health care, translating between families and clinicians, and fostering trust through clear communication.

The position is part-time with day/evening shifts, located in Massachusetts. Prior experience as a parent or caregiver and bi-cultural/bilingual ability are highly valued, with a competitive hourly pay

Qualifications

• Experience as a parent or caregiver of a child with special health care needs is important.
• Experience advocating for families beside their own and collaborating with clinicians.
• Ability to represent the family voice on the clinical team and in leadership discussions.
• Bi-cultural and bilingual abilities are beneficial for the population served.

Responsibilities

• Bring a family perspective to outpatient mental health care teams.
• Translate between professional culture and family culture to build trust and share information.
• Assist in clarifying communication about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment planning.

Skills

Parent caregiver experience

Advocacy for families

Family voice representation

Bi-cultural

Bilingual

Job description

As one of the region's leading providers of mental health and substance use care, Cambridge Health Alliance is proud to announce the implementation of Community Behavioral Health Centers (CBHC) to serve the communities of Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, Medford, and Everett. These Behavioral Health Centers aim to provide timely, high quality mental health and substance use disorder treatment on an urgent and ongoing basis.

The Family Support Specialist (FSS) brings a key family perspective to clinical teams providing outpatient mental health care. In that context, they can help “translate” between the professional culture and the family’s culture, building trust and facilitating critical information sharing. That two-way process — clarifying communication about symptoms, diagnosis and treatment planning — enhances engagement between parents and clinicians, so that children and adolescents are more likely to receive needed mental health services.

Qualifications:

• Experience as a parent or caregiver of a child with special health care needs; important for other parents to know the FSS person has “been there,” and “can understand what families go through.”
• Prior experience advocating for families beside their own, learning when and how to share their own stories as examples, and how to collaborate with clinicians and/or other professionals.
• Ability to represent “family voice” on the clinical team when interventions are being discussed, but, also, at a leadership level, if asked. For example, having the capacity to represent the family perspective regarding such things as development of useful resource materials for clinic families, or strategies for health promotion in the community.
• Positive interpersonal presence as a team member. Preferably bi-cultural and bi-lingual, when needed for the population being served.

Pay Range: $23.25 - $35.06 per hour

Job Type: Part-time

Union Name: Non Union

Work Schedule: Day / Evening

Length Of Shift(s) In Hours: 5 hours

Shift Details: Monday and Friday shifts, hours TBD