The Youth Counselor works as scheduled in Healing Homes, providing supervision, support and direction to children fostering their positive growth and development; maintains a hazard free, clean and orderly household; prepares meals to conform to menus; completes all required logs, forms and reports, participates in meetings as scheduled; accompanies groups or individual children for outside activities or appointments as scheduled.

Responsibilities:

• Provides a warm, homelike atmosphere by establishing an individual relationship with each resident focusing on that resident's positive growth and development.
• Provide individualized care and supervision of each resident.
• Under the supervision of the Supervising staff, ensure an orderly schedule for the residents by supervising their daily activities: wake-up, school, or other program attendance, mealtime, study time, assigned Healing Home chores and bedtime; monitors individual appointments for each child to endure punctual attendance.
• Monitors each youth's physical well-being ensuring suitable clothing, adequate food, and all required medical treatments, including the dispensing of medication.
• Communicates and enforces Healing Home rules with each child; applies discipline as outlined in Healing Home procedures in a fair and objective manner.
• Accompanies and transports children to outside activities (including supervised recreation) and appointments as required.
• Maintains a hazard free, clean, and orderly household by promptly reporting maintenance problems to the supervisory staff and by completion of assigned household chores in a timely and efficient manner.
• Prepares meals and snacks under the assignment and direction of the Household Coordinator according to posted menus.
• Holds petty cash and other valuables of the home as assigned and dispenses according to Healing Home procedures.
• Completes all required paperwork such as incident, AWOL, medical, medication, and logs book reporting for the Healing Home.
• Participates in meetings as required and ensures that treatment/permanency plans are carried out daily.
• Accompany, supervise, and provide transportation for activities.
• Provide direct care coverage with flexible work hours.
• Organize and facilitate independent living skills groups in the residence.
• Record client progress in regard to independent living skills development
• Create a warm, caring, home-like environment.
• Participate in the service planning and review process.
• Deliver services in accordance with service goals and objectives.
• Employ trauma-sensitive practices.
• Accompany, supervise, and provide transportation (when necessary) for appointments and activities.
• Provide counseling and support.
• Ensure adherence to medication regimen.
• Provide crisis intervention and behavior management.
• Report incidents, occurrences, or untoward events to the supervisor as soon as they occur and complete appropriate paperwork.
• Complete all assigned documentation in a timely fashion.
• Assist in residence household duties (general cleaning, laundry, shopping, meal planning and preparation); train and supervise children in developing these skills.
• Attend supervision and meetings as scheduled.
• Distribute and reconcile petty cash;Fulfill any other tasks assigned by House Supervisor

Qualifications:

• Must have a high school diploma or equivalent.
• Must have a valid NYS driver's license.
• Full working hours flexibility
• Must obtain S95 & F-07 fire safety certification within first 3 months.
• Must have the ability to support, nurture and discipline children in a structured environment, as evidence by 1-year professional childcare experience
• Experience in working with diverse communities, and knowledge of multicultural issues including race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, gender expression, etc.
• Must have proven skills in cooking and household maintenance.
• Experience working with youth with serious emotional disturbance.
• Must have proven interpersonal skills, physical stamina, and the ability to adjust for the unique needs of anyone participating in your activities.
• Must comply with all agency policies and procedures.
• Must project emotional stability and authority in order to form an appropriate role model relationship with children.
• Must be open to trauma informed training and maintain a trauma informed environment.
• Ability to develop and maintain appropriate boundaries.
• Must demonstrate sensitivity to the needs of clients in crisis.
• Must demonstrate responsiveness to cultural differences and a commitment to the value of cultural competency.