Early Childhood MH Consultant

SUMMARY

Responsible for providing consultation services to children ages 0-6, their families, teachers, and other staff/providers at their designated child-care centers. This includes, but is not limited to facilitating use of DECA, facilitating Incredible Years and other evidenced-based programming, and creating/facilitating social and emotional trainings for parents and professional development for childcare providers as needed to provide a comprehensive trauma-informed, early childhood mental health consultation service. This position reports to the ECMH/Prevention Program Director.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Contributes to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for our clients, colleagues and community partners from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Integrates principles of Trauma Informed Care in all aspects of work.
• Is sensitive to the children’s culture and socioeconomic characteristics that delivers the best possible care to the youth and families served.
• Provide Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation services (modalities to include child-specific consultation, group, classroom, programmatic, and training) to children, families, teachers and providers in-line with Incredible Years, DECA, The Georgetown Model, DC: 0-3, and other evidence-based practices as identified by the Program Director.
• Provide strategies for other staff/providers/families; in part through the use of DECA classroom reports, individual reports, and Fidelity Checklists; to increase the social-emotional, behavioral-mental health needs of children served.
• Continue to monitor/document each child’s developmental progress and emotional/behavioral needs through the use of Pre + Post outcomes measure Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA).
• Engage families in the process of increasing the social-emotional, behavioral-mental health of their child by providing education, updates, resources, linkages, and interventions to use at home.
• Collaborate with other staff/providers and community partners as needed.
• Be available for regular, on-site consultation for staff/providers/families.
• Complete required documentation in accordance with funding requirements and agency standards in a thorough and timely manner.
• Maintain up-to-date certification in regard to all mandatory training and licensure (e.g., First Aid and CPR) and all relevant background checks necessary for work in Ohio child-care centers (including annual BCI/FBI checks, and OCCRRA background checks for individual centers (to be completed once every 5 years by assigned center).
• Complete all necessary training in order to use the evidence-based models identified for the program and fully adhere to all standards, practices, and guidelines needed to maintain fidelity to the model.
• Complete all assessment tools (i.e. Pre/Post DECAs) and track all information needed for outcome purposes, reporting, and model fidelity.
• Complete required documentation (i.e., Partnership Agreement, New Child-Specific Consultation Referral Packets, Progress Reports, and Action Planning Forms, etc.) in accordance with ODMH, ADAMH, United Way, other funders, and agency standards in a thorough and timely manner.
• Work to achieve relevant Early Childhood Mental Health credentials in Ohio Childcare Resource and Referral Agency (OCCRRA) website, including Ohio Infant Mental Health Provider, Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant, and Trauma-Informed-Care Credential (Levels commensurate with worker’s education and background level).
• Work to achieve required Prevention credentials for Ohio, starting with Ohio Chemical Dependency Bureau credential “Registered Applicant”.
• Attend and participate in meetings/trainings/supervision related to ECMH-C as needed and scheduled.
• General office duties to include copying, filing, faxing and answering phone messages and calls from clients.
• Other duties as assigned or requested.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work/Counseling/Psychology/related field required.
• Master’s Degree preferred.
• A minimum of two years of experience working in early childhood required.
• Experience with 0-6 evidence-based practices and early childhood networking preferred.

Licenses Required: Valid Driver’s License, Proof of Automobile Liability Insurance and vehicle registration.

Language Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills are a must. Must also have the ability to communicate with diverse audiences both internal and external to the agency.

Mathematical Skills: Basic mathematical skills required.

Technical Skills: Working knowledge of Outlook, Excel, Word and phone operations, and ability to navigate to various locations in Ohio.

Reasoning Ability: Ability to build strong bonds with clients, employees and managers to foster open, honest and candid communication. Ability to multi-task and maintain organization in a fast paced, changing environment. Ability to manage change in an organization reengineering its culture and approach to workload management. Ability to create and maintain highest levels of confidentiality when dealing with client information, SVFC proprietary information and sensitive situations.