Youth Care Specialist (YCS) - The Pines

Shrub Oak International School; Lake Mohegan (NY); On-site; USD 44,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Reduced Cost Meals on site

Employee assistance program (EAP)

Health, vision, dental, life insurance

Flexible spending account (FSA)

Paid time off (PTO)

401k with company match

Tuition/Professional development

Job summary

Shrub Oak International School (SOIS) seeks a Youth Care Specialist to provide direct care and behavioral support for students with ASD and complex needs. The Pines program emphasizes safety, documentation, and collaborative treatment planning on site.

The role requires strong de-escalation, observation, and teamwork; TCIS training is preferred. Compensation starts at $22+ per hour based on experience and program needs.

Qualifications

• High-School Diploma and relevant combination of post-secondary education and experience in residential, psychiatric, or special education academic settings; bachelor’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Manage and support the day-to-day direct care needs, operations and programs of students at The Pines, both in and outside of the classroom.
• Develop and maintain trusting, respectful relationships with students based on their unique interests and treatment goals.
• Complete administrative tasks including shift logs, incident reports, and progress tracking.
• Proactively work with students to minimize and prevent crises; de-escalate crises when they occur.

Skills

Patience with children

De-escalation techniques

Strong communication

Team collaboration

Observation skills

Education

High School Diploma

Bachelor’s degree preferred

Tools

TCIS training

Job description

Position: Youth Care Specialist

Compensation: $22+ based on experience

Dept: The Pines

Type: Non-Exempt

Reports To: Pines Supervisor

Location: On Site

Company Overview:

Shrub Oak International School (SOIS) is a therapeutic day and residential school for children, adolescents, and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and complex co-occurring conditions. Located in northern Westchester County, Shrub Oak offers unparalleled educational opportunities for autistic students in a family-centric, supportive environment. We offer a variety of programs to meet the needs of students across the spectrum, and our curriculum is based on the most advanced and successful evidence-based clinical and academic approaches in ASD education. The Pines program is an intensive stabilization and assessment unit within Shrub Oak that provides intensive behavioral support within a specialized therapeutic program, created to meet the individualized needs of neurodivergent students.

As a school, SOIS maintains a smoke-free environment to ensure the health and safety of our students, employees, and community. We are a residential school located on a scenic 127-acre campus which includes multiple buildings and a working farm for student programming. The work environment will include both indoor and outdoor spaces.

Who We Are:

SOIS is a community of dedicated professionals that work together to find meaning with and for our students. We strive to make every day memorable in positive ways, and to manage students’ difficulties as a team. We are accountable, timely, and show up whenever needed to support our students and each other.

We are guided day-to-day by our four core principles.

• We Care
• We are Innovative
• We are Collaborative
• We are Resourceful

Benefits:

• Reduced Cost Meals every shift on site (All)
• Employee assistance program (EAP) (All)
• Insurance coverage: Health, vision, dental, life, supplemental and pet insurance (FT)
• Flexible spending account (FSA) (FT)
• Generous Paid time off (PTO) (FT)
• 401k w/company match (FT)
• Tuition/Professional development assistance (FT)

Who You Are:

• You have a passion for working with children and teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and complex mental health / behavioral needs ensuring the safety and well-being.
• You communicate effectively and efficiently, collaborating well with staff across departments and teams.
• You demonstrate strong written skills, including accurate documentation, progress notes, incident reports, and related administrative tasks.
• You actively invested in your own professional growth, pursuing both formal professional development and utilizing supervision on the job to continuously learn new skills and strategies to enhance student support.
• You have experience managing challenging behaviors, using effective de-escalation strategies to prevent crises and adapt activities to meet programmatic needs.
• You demonstrate good judgement and level-headedness in crisis and emergency situations.
• You understand the importance of and practice healthy personal and professional boundaries while working with children and adolescents in a treatment setting.
• You are personable, flexible, have a sound work ethic and value teamwork.
• You are detail-oriented, have good observational skills and follow-up well on tasks assigned to you.
• You are willing and able to complete TCIS training and maintain all required certifications.

Job Responsibilities:

• Manage and support the day-to-day direct care needs, operations and programs of students at The Pines, both in and outside of the classroom.
• Develop and maintain trusting, respectful relationships with students, by understanding their unique interests, needs treatment goals to maintain a positive and cooperative treatment environment.
• Complete administrative tasks, including but not limited to: assisting with move-in/move-out of students, shift logs, incident reports, intervention plans and progress tracking, and attend all required meetings/ trainings.
• Proactively work with students to minimize and prevent crises; work to de-escalate crises when they occur and process/debrief crisis situations after they occur.
• Attend to and report all emergencies and/or other situations requiring immediate attention in a timely manner to the appropriate staff member(s) in accordance with The Pines policies/procedures.
• Facilitate on-campus and off-campus programming and community development based on the treatment goals of each student outlined by the student’s clinical treatment plan.
• Support the clinical treatment plan goals for each student, collaborating with the Pines clinical and education team including documenting student effort and progress towards goals.
• Support individual and group educational programming for students through classroom support.
• Oversee and support student personal hygiene habits and bedroom cleanliness, proactively maintain a safe and clean environment.
• Provide emotional and behavioral support to students through professional relationship, role-modeling and DBT techniques.

Please note: This job description is not a comprehensive list of tasks or responsibilities. Specific assignments can change within the relevant field and training of your position, with or without notice.

Position Requirements:

• High-School Diploma and relevant combination of post-secondary education and experience in residential, psychiatric, or special education academic settingsrequired; bachelor’s degree preferred
• At least 2-years minimum of relevant or related professional experiencerequired
• Previousexperience working in special education and behavioral intervention strongly preferred
• Experience working in a DBT or other therapeutic treatment setting preferred, but not required.
• Due to the nature of work in supporting our students, all job description list the physical requirements for that position
• Our campus consists of some paved areas but primarily consists of grass, gravel paths and parking lots. Additionally, many areas of our building is fully accessible, however, as a historic building some areas are only accessible by stairs.
• You must be able to ambulate around the campus, including hills, stairs, grass and gravel.
• Special Accommodations can be requested but will only be approved if the accommodation does not impact the ability to perform your position and it does not put yourself, a student, or any other staff member at risk of harm or injury.

Student Facing Positions:

• Must be able to react and move quickly during student crisis, both for the safety of the student and for the staff.
• Must be able to run across the campus and throughout the school to catch/monitor an eloping student, and/or to remove yourself from an unsafe situation.
• You must be able to pass TCIS (Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Training for Schools).
  • You must be able to bend, stretch, sit, stand, crouch or kneel for sustained periods of time if implementing a hold.

Competencies:

• CPR
• First Aid
• Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Training for Schools (TCIS)
• Mandated Reporter Training

EEO Statement:

Shrub Oak is an equal employment opportunity employer. Shrub Oak International School is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Reasonable accommodation can be requested to enable individuals with disabilities to apply for a job or to perform the essentials functions of their job. Requests may be approved if the position/department/school/students will not be adversely affected. Please advise us if you require a reasonable accommodation.