Manager, Trauma Prevention and Recovery

District of Columbia Public Schools; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

District of Columbia Public Schools seeks a Manager, Trauma Prevention and Recovery to support the School Mental Health team across DCPS. You will provide prevention education, crisis response, and recovery planning for school communities, and collaborate with leadership to scale a district-wide trauma response model.

This role requires advanced training in social work or psychology, crisis intervention experience, and the ability to translate complex concepts for diverse audiences.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 4–6 years of related work experience.
• Master's degree in Social Work (MSW), Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (PhD), or PsyD preferred.
• LICSW and/or Psychology licensure per DC requirements is preferred.
• Previous exposure to education sector is a plus.
• Crisis intervention and recovery experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Delivers prevention education and youth mental health programs.
• Develops professional learning for educators and families on trauma prevention.
• Provides technical assistance to schools on trauma strategies.
• Consults with administrators on school safety and related issues.
• Ensures school-wide crisis plans and post-crisis follow-up are in place.
• Attends required trainings and coordinates with stakeholders.
• Coordinates long-term recovery planning after crises and supports incident-specific interventions.

Skills

Crisis Intervention

Staff Training

Data-driven Decisions

Collaboration

Education

Master's in Social Work or Psychology

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Microsoft Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Google Drive

SharePoint

Teams/Zoom

Job description

Office: Office of School Improvement and Supports

The mission of theOfficeofSchool Improvement and Supports (OSIS) is to ensure we support our schools and our students to succeed and to meet the Goals of our Strategic Plan. TheOfficeworks to dramatically accelerate the number of excellent schools through school transformation, including design, partnerships, Connected Schools, and Comprehensive School Planning (CSP). TheOfficedevelops, aligns, and delivers high-qualitysupportsto ensure students, particularly students furthest away from opportunity, are in school, able to engage in rigorous learning, and have a joyous educational environment. TheOfficeensures our schools have excellent leaders, educators, and staff who are prepared to meet the diverse needs of the young people we serve.

Divisions/Teams

School Improvement

• School Performance:Promotes data-driven decision-making through a cycle of continuous improvement to develop, implement, andmonitorthe comprehensive school plan designed to move schools toward a consistent standard of excellence.

• Design:Designsinnovative school models that transform learning for our students furthest from opportunity and supports District workstreams to be more grounded in community voice by anchoring in data, community engagement and understanding, and elevating and integrating student voice.

• Connected Schools:Supports schools in implementing the DCPS Connected Schools Model. Connected Schools take a whole child, whole school, whole community approach by making schools spaces that support not only a student’s academic development, but also the student and family’s overall wellbeing through access to resources related to health, employment, housing, and more.

Student Supports

• School Mental Health:Ensures that students' behavioral and social-emotional needs are met to increase access to the curriculum,strengthenemotional regulationandprosocial skills, and respond to school communities in times of crisis.

• Student Placement:Ensuresevery student thatrequiresa change in school assignment based on housing status,military transition,communityreleaseor other specialcircumstancereceives aplacement that considers their unique needsfor school success.

• Student Health Services:Ensuresaccess to preventative and coordinatedservices forall students to supporthealth and wellness,appropriate careofstudents with chronic healthconditionsandpreventabsenteeism due to health-relatedfactors.

Learning and Development Sciences

• Learningand Development Sciences Division(LDS)is charged with supporting the district’sStrategic Plan goals on Safety and Belonging. Grounded inthe latestscienceof learning and developmentandpowered by lived experiences, the district’s approach is a long-term vision thatincorporates criticalsystemshifts,codifies the most effective evidence-based practices,and supports individual schools to implementsystemsand practices that create favorable conditions for learning.

• Multi-Tiered Systemsof Support(MTSS):DCPS’s approach to tieredsupportsis grounded in a commitment to serving the whole child. The MTSS team supports schools to understand student and staff strengths and needsholistically andsupports their implementation of aligned evidence-based best practices across academics, social-emotional learning, attendance, and behavior.

IMPACT: IMPACT isDCPS’effectiveness assessment system for all school-based staff. IMPACT endeavors for all school-staff members to receive timely and accurate feedback on their performance and to have that performance recognized and rewarded. The ultimate goal of IMPACT is to ensure that all students, at all schools, have access to a highest quality staff members across all roles.

• IMPACT Operations:The team coordinates across DCPS to develop guidance for individual components that reflect DCPS’ priorities, manages external vendors for the accurate and timely production of scores for various components, manages a helpline where all staff can reach out with questions about their evaluation, supports managers to ensure all evaluations are conducted with fidelity, and produces data analysis to support the mission of other teams across DCPS.

• IMPACT Align:This team develops tools to ensure all teacher evaluators have what they need to apply DCPS’ classroom observation rubric accurately and consistently; produces resources and guidance designed to build fluency in the observation rubric among teachers; supports principal and instructional superintendent alignment with respect to DCPS’ school leader evaluation rubric; and collaborates with teams across DCPS to ensure all supported rubrics continue to provide a clear language of effectiveness that supports the mission of IMPACT.

• IMPACT Design:This team gathers and responds to feedback from DCPS leadership, staff and other central services teams. This team uses this feedback to consider possible adjustments to IMPACT to ensure the evaluation system remains accurate and aligned to DCPS priorities. The team also liaises with other states, districts, education groups, and researchers to learn from the best practices and lessons learned in the field of staff and school leader evaluation.

The Manager, Trauma Prevention and Recovery will support the School Mental Health team and serve on the Trauma Prevention and Recovery team within School Mental Health. The Trauma Prevention and Recovery Manager will provide professional learning, technical assistance, and support to school communities in the areas of prevention of adverse childhood experiences (school, familial, and community). The Manager will be expected to collaborate with schools, the Director, School Mental Health, and other stakeholders to ensure that schools receive comprehensive training and community collaboration. The Manager will assist the Director, School Mental Health and deployed teams as needed to respond to crisis events that impact a school community. The Trauma Prevention and Recovery team will support the Director, School Mental Health and assist the school-based team with planning and execution of long-term recovery plans following a school-wide crisis. This individual will be instrumental in implementing, evaluating, and growing our school crisis prevention and recovery model.

This position has been designated as Protection Sensitive. Pursuant to section 410 of Chapter 4 of the D.C. Personnel Regulations; in addition to the general suitability screening, individuals applying for or occupying protection sensitive positions are subject to the following checks and tests: Criminal background check; Sex Offender Registry check; Traffic record check (as applicable).

The Manager, Trauma Prevention and Recovery will report to the Director, School Mental Health – Social Work, Secondary.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other duties may be assigned.

Prevention

• Delivers education and prevention programs to school community members, including Youth Mental Health First Aid and Threat Assessment.
• Develops and delivers professional learning for educators and families on topics that aim to prevent and/or mitigate trauma exposure, including sexual violence, gang violence, racial trauma, bullying, and physical abuse, and monitoring suicide data, prevention and follow up.
• Provides technical assistance to schools on strategies that improve outcomes for trauma-exposed children and families.
• Consults with administrators around issues such as school safety, substance abuse, human trafficking, child abuse, neglect, et cetera.
• Works with school teams to ensure school communities have a schoolwide crisis plan and individual crisis plans for students who have the need.
• Maintains a working knowledge of the mental health and human service systems in our region to provide appropriate referral and linkage for clients served and cross-agency programming.
• Attends and participates in all required training, staff meetings, and case conferences, as indicated by the manager.

Crisis Response

• Provides brief crisis counseling, and or restorative justice intervention to students, staff, and caregivers to support school crisis response as needed based on assigned cluster of schools.
• Provides information and referrals to individuals who are in crisis, pre-crisis, or post-crisis to support school crisis response as needed.
• Assists school wellness teams with the creation and delivery of post-crisis follow up plans.
• Completes all required documentation, and computer entry, on a timely basis related to post-crisis planning and follow up.

Recovery

• Collaborates with the school mental health teams and other stakeholders for coordination of long -term recovery from crisis events impacting a whole school such as the death of school community member, among other types of trauma.
• Coordinates parent, staff, and student skill building sessions specific to an incident at times most accessible to stakeholders.
• Tools school mental health and behavior teams with incident-specific interventions.
• Establishes methods to measure the post-crisis impact of recovery supports.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and four to six years of related work experience.
• Master's degree in Social Work(MSW), Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (PhD), or Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) preferred.
• Previousexposure to or experience in the education sectora plus.
• District of Columbia Government, Department of Health Professional License, which must be renewed every two years by obtaining the required continuing education units: Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and/or Psychology.
• District of Columbia Certification through the Office of the State Superintendent of Education as a School Social Worker, which must be maintained throughout employment with DC Public Schools.
• Previousexperience with crisis intervention and recovery and emergencymanagementa plus.
• Certificationin art therapy, music therapy, or other expressivetherapiesa plus.
• Certificationand/orpreviousexperience in Restorative Justice practices a plus.
• Trainer certification in Life Space Crisis Intervention, Crisis Prevention Institute, Mandt, Safety Care, or another crisis intervention programa plus.
• Familiarity with mental health and trauma with school-aged youth and families.
• Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills.
• Previousexperience developing and delivering presentations for both in-person and virtual audiences.
• Ability to translate complex concepts and terms into digestible information for users with varying levels of literacy.
• Proficiency with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Drive, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.
• Commitment to using data to make decisions and assess performance.

DCPS Values

• STUDENTS FIRST: We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do.
• COURAGE: We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success.
• EQUITY: We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds.
• EXCELLENCE: We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions.
• TEAMWORK: We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically.
• JOY: We enjoy our collective work and will enthusiastically celebrate our success and each other.

We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to creating an inclusive, accessible workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals with disabilities. Accommodation and/or application assistance is available upon request at all stages of the application and employment process. To request accommodation, please contact [e-mail].