Social Services Assistant

Aperion Care; Wauconda (IL); On-site; USD 36,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Aperion Care is seeking a Social Services Assistant to support planning, implementing, and directing the facility’s Social Services Department, ensuring residents' emotional and social needs are met per standards. You will collaborate with an interdisciplinary team to assess, plan, and advocate for residents’ psychosocial well-being within a long-term care setting.

You will develop care plans, coordinate discharge planning, and provide education and referrals to families and appropriate

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a human services field.
• Minimum of one year of supervised experience in mental health or human services preferred.

Responsibilities

• Review policies with interdisciplinary team to ensure regulatory compliance.
• Participate in policy development for resident care and quality of life.
• Help develop facility social work policies and care plans.
• Contribute to quality assurance and interdisciplinary meetings.
• Ensure social service documentation meets government requirements.
• Document residents' psychosocial progress and needs.
• Support resident rights and psychological wellbeing; address abuse as required by law.
• Engage with residents, families and staff to enhance advocacy and quality of life.
• Complete social histories and psychosocial assessments for residents.
• Coordinate interdisciplinary care plans identifying psychosocial needs and interventions.
• Provide therapeutic interventions for transitions to long-term care.
• Offer education and referrals to families and appropriate services.
• Provide group sessions for residents and family members as appropriate.
• Deliver clinical interventions for events impacting residents.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in human services

Job description

SUMMARY:

The primary purpose of the Social Services Assistant is to assist in planning, organizing, implementing, evaluating, and directing the overall operation of our facility’s Social Services Department in accordance with federal, state, and local standards, guidelines and regulations, our established policies and procedures, and as may be directed by the Administrator, to assure that the medically related emotional and social needs of the resident are met/maintained on an individual’s basis.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Review facility policies and procedures as part of the facility’s interdisciplinary team to assure compliance with state and federal regulations.
• Participate in reviewing and setting policies concerning resident care and quality of life.
• Participate in developing facility social work policies.
• Participate in quality assurance interdisciplinary team meetings.
• Understand and meet all government requirements for social service documentation.
• Document progress in meeting the psychosocial needs of residents.
• Work with the interdisciplinary team and administration to promote and protect resident rights and the psychological wellbeing of each resident. Prevent and address resident abuse as mandated by law and professional licensure.
• Work with residents, families, significant others and staff to provide support, information and organization for taking a more proactive role in self advocacy to improve quality of life/care for individual residents and those who live and work within the nursing home and the community at large.
• Complete a social history and psychosocial assessment for each resident that identifies social, emotional, and psychological needs.
• Participate in the development of a written, interdisciplinary plan of care for each resident that identifies the psychosocial needs/issues of the resident, the goals to be accomplished for those needs/issues, and the appropriate social worker interventions.
• Ensure or provide therapeutic interventions to assist residents in coping with their transition and adjustment to a long-term care facility, including their social, emotional, and psychological needs.
• Ensure or provide support and education to residents’/family members/significant others to assist in their understanding or placement and facility issues in addition to referring them to appropriate social service agencies when the facility does not provide the needed services.
• Provide groups for residents’/family members/significant others as appropriate to their needs.
• Provide clinical interventions to address catastrophic events that occur during the resident’s stay in the facility.
• Coordinate the resident discharge planning process and make referrals for appropriate home care services prior to the resident’s return to the community.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• An individual that possess a bachelor’s degree in a human services field (including but not limited to: sociology, special education, rehabilitation counseling or psychology).
• A minimum of one year of supervised experience in mental health or human services is preferred.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• Required to sit, stand, bend and walk regularly; lift and/or move up to 25
• Visual and auditory ability sufficient for written and verbal communication.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.