Juvenile Justice Counselor 1/2

Family & Community Services; Fairbanks (AK); On-site; USD 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Job summary

The Division of Juvenile Justice in Fairbanks, Alaska is seeking a Juvenile Justice Counselor at the 1/2 level to supervise and guide youthful residents in a secure facility. The role involves applying behavioral health techniques, maintaining safety, and supporting court-related documentation.

You will work on a 24-hour unit at the Fairbanks Youth Facility, with varied shifts, escorts, and potential overtime, helping youth transition and develop skills for safe community reintegration.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Must be 20 years of age or older.
• Background investigation, criminal record check, and medical examination prior to appointment.

Responsibilities

• Provide direct supervision of juvenile offenders in secure confinement.
• Understand the legal aspects of juvenile residents and employ behavioral health techniques.
• Utilize de-escalation, counseling, case management, and court report writing.
• Maintain order, facilitate group movements, and transport juveniles as needed.
• Identify and document concerning behaviors and support skill-building and behavior regulation.

Skills

Conscientiousness

Integrity/Honesty

Interpersonal Skills

Stress Tolerance

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

Job Description

This position is open to Alaska Residents Only.

This position will be filled at either the 1 or 2 level depending on the applicant’s qualifications and job experience. It is recommended that you apply for all levels if you are qualified.

The Division of Juvenile Justice is recruiting to fill a Juvenile Justice Counselor 1/2 position in Fairbanks at the Fairbanks Youth Facility Detention Unit.

What You Will Be Doing:

The FYF Detention Unit is a short-term coed program that is the initial contact point for youth entering a secure facility. The FYF Detention Unit serves youth detained, awaiting court decisions, bail processing, and/or placement. Some of our residents have mild to severe mental health needs in addition to their justice system challenges.

As a member of the Fairbanks Youth Facility (FYF) team, your role involves providing direct supervision of juvenile offenders with diverse emotional behaviors in secure confinement. You'll need to understand the legal aspects of juvenile residents and utilize a variety of behavioral health treatment and public safety techniques such as verbal and physical de-escalation, counseling skills, case management documentation, and writing court reports. Responsibilities include maintaining order, facilitating group movements, transporting juveniles into the community and completing detention admissions. Additionally, you'll recognize, and document concerning behaviors, participate in skill-building sessions, and provide consistent support for behavior regulation and correction.

Skill Development.

Our Mission, Values, and Culture:

The Division of Juvenile Justice’s mission is to hold juvenile offenders accountable for their behavior; promote the safety and restoration of victims and communities; and assist offenders and their families in developing the skills to prevent crime. As a Juvenile Justice Counselor, you will support this mission by working with the youth on their individual needs and maintaining the security and safety of residents, visitors, staff, and facility buildings.

You will be part of a team that takes prides in creating a positive environment for both team members and juveniles. In this role, each day you will be contributing to building a stronger community by supporting our youth, guiding them to be successful and happy.

Our core values include:

• Prioritizing Safety – of our youth, staff, families, and communities
• Responsiveness – providing timely response to youth, families, victims, staff, and justice partners.
• Professional Relationships – recognizing that successful treatment services provided to our clients, coworkers, victims, and others rely on positive, respectful, and collaborative relationships and a spirit of inclusiveness.
• Dedication – doing the right things for the right reasons and modeling relentless integrity and leadership.
• Respect – for the inherent value of each person's unique strengths and individual differences.

Benefits of Joining Our Team:

Joining our team will give you an opportunity to make meaningful change within the lives of youth in Alaska. The Division of Juvenile Justice prides ourselves on empowering our team through a variety of training and offers professional development through various career paths.

We foster a culture of integrity, trust, and respect. The team members within the Division of Juvenile Justice have a lot of pride in the work we do by making a positive impact one juvenile’s life at a time.

The Working Environment You Can Expect:

This position is at the Fairbanks Youth Facility, located at 1502 Wilbur Street in Fairbanks, Alaska. As a Detention/Treatment Unit Staff on a 24-hour unit, you will cover various 8-hour shifts that will include holidays, weekends, and occasional overtime. The shifts may be on both the Treatment and Detention Units depending on the needs of the facility. The shift schedule is prepared quarterly and many scheduling requests are done a month out. Escorts are a part of this position with various community work service, and other outings, court, medical and release escorts. Air travel may be required at times.

Who We Are Looking For:

In addition to the Minimum Qualifications below, we are looking for a candidate with the following competencies:

• Conscientiousness: Displays a high level of effort and commitment towards performing work; demonstrates responsible behavior.
• Integrity/Honesty: Contributes to maintaining the integrity of the organization; displays high standards of ethical conduct and understands the impact of violating these standards on an organization, self, and others; is trustworthy.
• Interpersonal Skills: Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations; is sensitive to cultural diversity, race, gender, disabilities, and other individual differences.
• Stress Tolerance: Deals calmly and effectively with high stress situations (for example, tight deadlines, hostile individuals, emergency situations, dangerous situations).

Minimum Qualifications

• PJ03A1 – Juvenile Justice Counselor 1:
• A high school diploma or GED
• AND
• Must be 20 years of age or older.
• Special Note:
• Prior to initial appointment, successful candidates for the Juvenile Justice Counselor are subject to a background investigation, criminal record check, and medical examination to determine the essential duties of the position can be safely performed.
• A valid driver’s license is required at the time of appointment.
• PJ03A2 – Juvenile Justice Counselor 2:
• A high school diploma or GED.
• AND
• Six months of experience, paid or volunteer, teaching or coaching group activities for youth.
• AND
• Must be 20 years of age or older.
• OR
• Six months of experience as a Juvenile Justice Counselor 1 with the State of Alaska.
• AND
• Demonstrated achievement of department approved performance standards.
• OR
• Six months of experience administering, advising on, performing, or supervising corrections, law enforcement, parole, probation, residential treatment casework, or social casework.
• Substitutions:
• Completed coursework from an accredited college may substitute for the required work experience (3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours equal one month of work experience).
• AND/OR
• Military experience may substitute for the required work experience on a month for month basis.
• Special Note:
• Prior to initial appointment, successful candidates for the Juvenile Justice Counselor are subject to a background investigation, criminal record check, and medical examination to determine the essential duties of the position can be safely performed.
• A valid driver’s license is required at the time of appointment.

Additional Required Information

• At time of interview applicant must submit
• Copy of transcripts if using to meet MQs (unofficial are okay, please ensure that the institution name/URL is listed on the transcripts).
• Three (3) names & phone numbers of professional references.
• Two (2) performance evaluations from previous employers, if available.
• At the time of appointment, selected candidate must submit:
• Copy of current driver’s license

BACKGROUND CHECK

The successful candidate must pass a comprehensive background investigation, which includes a state and FBI fingerprint-based background check.

FLEXIBLY STAFFED

This position is flexibly staffed. This vacancy may be filled at either the 1 or 2 level, depending on the applicant's training and/or