Therapist

Jewish Board; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The Jewish Board is seeking a BSFT Therapist to deliver family-focused preventive services in clients’ homes and communities across New York City. You will assess needs, plan interventions, and supervise progress with families and providers in a collaborative setting.

Requirements include a Master’s in a relevant field and experience with family-based therapy. Travel across NYC and a hybrid work schedule are expected.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in social work, psychology, mental health counseling, marriage and family therapy, or related field.
• Experience delivering BSFT or family-based therapy is a plus.
• Experience working in NYC child welfare settings preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide child welfare preventive services in home and community.
• Build collaborative relationships with families and stakeholders.
• Deliver BSFT-based therapy and monitor progress toward goals.
• Maintain documentation and adhere to model fidelity.
• Travel across NYC; hybrid schedule; participate in supervision.
• Engage families and coordinate with other service providers.

Skills

Experience working in client’s home

Child Welfare / Adolescent-focused

BSFT model knowledge

Motivational Interviewing

Solution-Focused practice

Direct family therapy

Microsoft Office

Education

Master’s degree in Social Work

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

For nearly 150 years, The Jewish Board has been delivering innovative, best-in-class mental and behavioral health services. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families, to children, teens, and adults. That adds up to countless opportunities to use your skills, training, and compassion to make a difference in the lives of over 45,000 New Yorkers each year.

Purpose

The purpose of the Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) Therapist in the Preventive Service Department is to implement the BSFT model with family with child(ren) between the ages of 6 to 17 years old who present with various behavioral problems, including school truancy, substance use, conduct problems, and delinquency. The Preventive Services Department provides child welfare services using Evidence Based models to ensure that families can provide safe environments for their children, keep children safe in their homes and reduce the need for foster care. Prevention is an essential part of the child welfare continuum and requires a commitment to the wellbeing of all members of a client family. All services are provided in a family’s home and community.

Position Overview

The Therapist works with families to assess their needs, develop intervention plans, and deliver therapy sessions that are tailored to the family’s unique circumstances. They collaborate with other service providers to ensure a comprehensive approach to family care. The therapist also plays a crucial role in monitoring the family’s progress, adjusting treatment plans as necessary, and working towards successful case closure.

Therapists are a key figure in helping families overcome challenges, strengthen relationships, and create a safe and nurturing environment for children within the child welfare system. The Therapist provides all services in a client’s home and community.

Key Essential Functions

• Provide Child Welfare Preventive Services exclusively or primarily within the client’s home and community
• Build and maintain a collaborative relationship with every family member that has or should have a relationship with the youth who has identified needs.
• Provide direct clinical treatment to the entire family using BSFT MODEL theory and techniques
• As the leader of the therapeutic relationship, take responsibility for family progress and outcomes
• Build and maintain a collaborative relationship with relevant community stakeholders (i.e., child protection services, probation officers, judges, schools, etc.) to ensure cooperation among service providers
• Integrate case management services with an assigned evidence base model to help families meet their basic needs to promote stability and reduce stress
• Transform negative interactions into positive and collaborative interactions
• Focus on family strengths (defined from an interactional perspective). These are the connection, concern and love that are behind a family member’s negative behaviors.
• Conduct assessments including review of referral information, identify and engage key participants, identify strengths and weaknesses and collaboratively develop goals.
• Videotape all family therapy sessions, with consent
• Conduct family therapy in a place and at the time that is most convenient to the family
• Maintain clear and concise documentation of treatment efforts that promote peer, supervisory, model expert and ACS review and feedback.
• Adhere to the fidelity of the model. Work within the model’s structure, regarding length of treatment, case contacts, interventions, supervision, and documentation.
• Entering documentation in the OCFS and ACS Database System (PROMIS and CNNX)
• Collaborate with child welfare and follow ACS guidelines for preventive services, in particular the safety and risk aspects.
• Participate in all BSFT MODEL training, supervision and consultation activities
• Manage the extensive travel requirements involved in serving families in their homes
• Work a hybrid schedule based on program needs
• Comfortable with group supervision and commitment to work on professional development goals to improve adherence
• Work a flexible schedule to meet the needs of families
• Outreach to generate referrals to programs
• Work with a team to meet client, program, and division needs
• Ability to connect at a human level with clients to engage and maintain them in therapy
• Ability to establish an effective and collaborative relationship with all family members, requiring the therapist to manage her/his own feelings about each family member.
• Willingness and ability to be strengths focused
• Ability to function in the context of high tension and anger in the family
• Ability to shift the family from content to process, from past and future discussions to interactions that occur in the present
• Appreciation, respect, and understanding for teamwork and organizational systems
• Ability to maintain high level of self-awareness
• Ability to observe the present- the interactions that occur in front of the therapist- as they occur.
• Ability to be comfortable with cultural differences; to relate in ways that are respectful, strength-focused, and culturally appropriate
• Ability to be family-centered, and to allow the family to interact. The therapist does not need to be the center of the therapy but rather places the family at the center of the therapy.
• Ability not to buy the family’s frame. Keep sufficient independence from the family to enable you to observe the family and come to your own conclusions based on what you see, rather than on what the family says.

Educational/Training Required

• Master’s degree in social work, Psychology, Mental Health Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy, Creative Arts Therapy or a related subject area.

Experience Required/Language Preference

• Experience working in the client’s home.
• Experience working in a Child Welfare, JJI, or Adolescent Focused program.
• Experience and /or knowledge of Evidence-Based Models, Motivational Interviewing and Solution- Focused work. Experience of working within diverse communities.
• Direct practice with families

Computer Skills Required

• Knowledge of Microsoft office required
• Knowledge and experience with the Connections system preferred

Work Environment / Physical Effort

• To perform the essential functions of this job the candidate must be able to travel within New York City carrying equipment such as a notebook, forms, laptop, mobile hotspot and cell phone weighing up to approximately 10 pounds.
• Risks/hazards associated with the position are those which may be encountered travelling around New York City and interfacing with clients experiencing an acute mental health crisis or serious emotional disturbance.
• Position is currently hybrid but can become 100% in person based on program need.

The Jewish Board delivers innovative, high-quality, and compassionate mental health and social services to over 45,000 New Yorkers each year. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults. We are proud to employ and serve people of all religions, races, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams to help support our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates from historically marginalized backgrounds to apply to work with us.

Our Values.

Our values help guide us in everything we do, from our relationships with fellow staff to the clients and communities we serve.

Treat every person
with dignity

We act with respect and caring towards our clients, colleagues, and communities.

Strive to
be outstanding

We are exceptional professionals in all that we do.

Embrace each
other’s differences

We create a fair and inclusive environment for all.

We heal our communities one person at a time through thoughtful collaboration.

We respect diversity and accordingly are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, age, disability, sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, partnership status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

This applies with respect to recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, termination, assignments, benefits, employee activities, access to facilities and programs, and all other terms and condition of employment as well as general treatment during employment.

We will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of qualified employees with disabilities, without regard to any protected classifications, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. Any employees who need assistance to perform their job duties because of a physical or mental condition should contact human resources.

We respect diversity and accordingly are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, age, disability, sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, partnership status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

This applies with respect to recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, termination, assignments, benefits, employee activities, access to facilities and programs, and all other terms and condition of employment as well as general treatment during employment.

We will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of qualified employees with disabilities, without regard to any protected classifications, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. Any employees who need assistance to perform their job duties because of a physical or mental condition should contact human resources.