ACT Housing Specialist

ABOUT PATH INC.

WHY WORK AT PATH?

JOB SUMMARY:

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Services/Social Services, Healthcare, or a related field. 
• Internships and/or other supervised practical experience in a clinical or rehabilitation setting with persons with mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders preferred. 
• Experience working in the Social Services/Mental Health/ Substance Abuse field.
• Valid Driver's License required
• Must be available or scheduled emergency on-call service and will be required to carry a mobile phone during regularly scheduled working hours and scheduled on-call service as essential personnel may be required to report to work during emergencies including inclement weather.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: 

SPECIFIC DUTIES:

• Provide service coordination (case management for an assigned group of consumers) including coordinating and monitoring the activities of the individual treatment team.
• Assume primary responsibility for developing, writing, implementing, evaluating and revising overall treatment goals and plans in collaboration with the consumer and the ITT.
• Educate and support consumers’ families, and advocate for consumers’ rights and preferences.
• Assist in conducting comprehensive assessment of psychiatric history, mental status, and diagnosis; physical health and dental health; use of drugs or alcohol; education and employment, social development and functioning; activities of daily living (e.g., care-care, living situation, nutrition, money management); and family structure and relationships.
• Acts as liaison and consultant with community agencies, inpatient services, and families to maintain coordination in the treatment process.
• Perform shift management in coordination according to established policies and procedures.
• Provide on-call crisis intervention during nighttime and weekend hours.
• Document consumer progress to maintain a permanent record of consumer activity according to established methods and procedures.
• Provide treatment, rehabilitation, and support services, with some interventions directed or performed by staff with specialty training and skills, including employment support and mental health interventions.
• Provide ongoing assessment of consumers’ psychiatric symptoms and consumers’ response to treatment.  
• Make appropriate changes in treatment plans to ensure immediate and appropriate interventions are provided in response to changes in mental status or behavior that put consumers at risk (e.g., suicidality).
• Provide symptom education to enable consumers to identify their mental illness symptoms.
• Provide ongoing assessment, problem solving, side-by-side services, skill training, supervision (e.g., prompts, assignment, monitoring, encouragement), and environmental adaptations to assist consumers with activities of daily living (e.g., personal hygiene, grooming, laundry, nutrition education, meal planning, grocery shopping and food preparation.)
• Assist consumers in finding and maintaining a safe and affordable place to live: apartment hunting, finding a roommate, landlord negotiating, teaching and assisting in household cleaning, furnishing and decorating, and procuring necessities (e.g., telephone, furnishings, linens, etc.)
• Provide practical help and supports, advocacy, coordination, side-by-side individualized support, problem solving, direct assistance, training, and supervision to help consumers obtain the necessities of daily living including medical and dental health care; legal and advocacy services, and the like.
• Teach money-management skills (e.g., budgeting and bill paying) and assist consumers in accessing financial services and benefits counseling (e.g., professional financial counseling, emergency loan sources, payee ship services, VA benefits, SSI, SSDI).
• Help consumers to access reliable transportation (e.g., obtain a driver’s license and car, arrange for cabs, access bus line and find rides).
• Provide individual and group interventions (e.g., problem solving, role-playing, modeling and support), social skill development and assertiveness training to increase consumer social and interpersonal skills in community settings.
• Plan, structure and prompt social and leisure-time activities on evening, weekends, and holidays (e.g., going with a consumer to a basketball game, coaching and supporting a consumer before he or she goes to a family reunion.) This includes providing side-by-side support
• Organize and lead individual and group social and recreational activities to structure consumers’ time, increase social experiences, and provide opportunities to practice social skills and receive feedback and support.
• Develop a resource directory for independent living sites based on consumer preference.
• Facilitate consumer group on preparedness and support for independent living.
• Complete trend analysis on consumers' residential status and desires.