YCOT Certified Family Partner

LifePath Systems; McKinney (TX); On-site; USD 34,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

LifePath Systems is seeking a YCOT Certified Family Partner to work with families of children aged 3-17 facing emotional or mental health challenges. You will provide peer mentoring, connect families with resources, and help caregivers navigate community services, schools, and crisis response.

Under supervision, you will attend trainings, maintain CEUs, and collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to promote recovery, advocacy, and family engagement in treatment plans.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or GED as required by state law.
• Experience as a parent or legally authorized representative (LAR).
• Experience navigating child-serving systems is expected.
• Certification training within one year of hire.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a peer mentor to parents and caregivers, providing informal emotional support and shared lived experience.
• Research and share community resources with families that meet their specific needs; assist families in accessing social support services.
• Teach families and caregivers effective advocacy skills.
• Facilitate caregivers' ability to work collaboratively with professionals in the community.
• Co-respond with YCOT to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.
• Respond to crises at schools, detention centers, hospitals, and private residences to support family members.
• Ensure families receive appropriate follow up after a crisis intervention.
• Attend all YCOT team meetings and trainings.
• Maintain certification by completing a minimum of 20 CEUs every two years.
• Support individuals during crisis and connect them with YCOT, MCOT, YES Waiver, MST and other resources.
• Remain with individuals as needed to maintain calm until specialized staff arrive and follow safety protocols.
• Participate in debriefing sessions with supervisor and team to review incidents and lessons learned.

Skills

De-escalation techniques

Trauma-informed care

Case management

Community resources

Time management

Organizational skills

Microsoft Office

Professional communication

Training others

Collaboration

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Parent or LAR experience

Certification training within 1 year

Job description

Under the direction of the Youth Crisis Outreach Team (YCOT) Supervisor the YCOT Certified Family Partner(CFP) provides information to clients or supporting staff in the delivery of social services including training or mentoring others. A CFP is an experienced, trained primary caregiver to an individual with mental illness or serious emotional disturbance who provides peer mentoring, education, and support to the caregivers of a child who is receiving mental health community services. The family Partner will provide services to families with children ages 3-17 who have emotional, behavioral, or mental health disorders and are being served by YCOT. The youth served will currently or recently have experienced a mental health crisis. The CFP will explore unmet family needs and explore possible community resources to help the youth and family have better treatment outcomes. The CFP assists the parent/caregiver in becoming an advocate for the child, provides guidance in utilizing existing services and developing/organizing natural resources within the family and community. The CFP assumes a peer-mentoring role, engages the family in the Recovery Process, and provides on-going training to the parent/caregiver to sustain success. The CFP can assist in the development of the Recovery Plan with strengths, needs, skills, supports and resources. The position will provide community-based services in the youth's home, at school or other community locations. This position will report directly to the YCOT Clinical Supervisor . This individual must be able to work within a multi-disciplinary treatment team and have excellent engagement, time management and organizational skills. Family Partners are not clinicians, but work alongside, complement, and enhance the work of the clinical team. By drawing on their own lived experience navigating behavioral health systems can inspire hope and model relationships built on respect, trust and validation. By sharing their own lived experiences, family partners help caregivers by providing education and emotional support. Walking alongside the family on their journey, the family partner is an ally and advocate for caregivers of children with mental health concerns.

Key Responsibilities

• Serves as a peer mentor to parents and caregivers, providing informal emotional support and shared lived experience.
• Research and share community resources with families that meet their specific needs; assists parents, caregivers, and consumers in accessing social support services.
• Teaches families and caregivers effective advocacy skills.
• Facilitates caregivers' ability to work collaboratively with professionals in the community.
• Co-responds to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis with other YCOT members.
• Responds to various community and Center locations to provide support to family members during a crisis episode, including but not limited to schools, detention centers, hospitals, and private residences.
• Ensures families receive appropriate follow up following a crisis intervention.
• Attends all YCOT team meetings and trainings.
• Maintains certification by completing a minimum of 20 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) every two years.
• Supports individuals experiencing a crisis by promptly connecting them with appropriate programs and services, such as the Youth Crisis Outreach Team (YCOT), Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT), YES Waiver, MST and/or other applicable resources. Ensure seamless coordination to facilitate timely intervention.
• Remains with individuals, when deemed safe, to provide support and maintain a calm environment until specialized crisis staff or emergency personnel arrive to take over intervention efforts. Adheres to safety protocols to prevent escalation of the crisis situation.
• Participates in debriefing sessions with the immediate supervisor or designated staff following a crisis event. Collaborate with the team to review the incident, identify lessons learned, and ensure all HHSC guidelines and Center policies are followed.

Qualifications

Education, Training, & Experience (including licensure & certification)

• Must have either 1) a High School Diploma; OR 2) a High School Equivalency Certificate (GED) issued in accordance with the law of the issuing state.
• Must be a parent or legally authorized representative (LAR) who has at least one year of experience raising a child or adolescent with an emotional or mental health issue. (They may be a birth parent, adoptive parent, foster parent or family member standing in for an absent parent or a person chosen by the family or youth to have the role of parent).
• They must have at least one year of experience successfully navigating a child-serving system (i.e. mental health, juvenile justice, social security and/or special education system).
• A Family Partner must receive specialized training and pass a Certification exam within one year of hire to be Certified, demonstrating that she or he has the competencies necessary to successfully navigate systems of care and help other families successfully navigate those systems.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Can think clearly and logically, to deal with potentially dangerous and/or emotional situations, and utilize de-escalation techniques.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed care principles and strategies.
• Knowledge of community resources, of case management principles, objectives, standards, and methods; and of program policies and procedures.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed care principles and strategies.
• Write clearly and professionally on all services and internal communication
• Can think clearly and logically, to deal with potentially dangerous and/or emotional situations, and utilize de-escalation techniques.
• Respond to individuals with patience, empathy and understanding
• Work under general supervision with moderate latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment.
• Able to work independently and collaboratively as needed and have effective communication with supervisory staff and community partners when necessary.
• Organized, detail oriented, computer proficient, and able to prioritize appropriately.
• Microsoft Office Suite skills - Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., with an ability to become familiar with company-specific programs and software.
• Experience in working case-management with children & youth or field crisis response teams.
• Ability to assess individual's needs, to coordinate services, to communicate effectively and to train others.
• Have the knowledge of the social services system and the ability to connect individuals with appropriate services.
• Have good time management and organizational skills.