Direct Service Advocate

Job Description

Job Description

Position Summary

Provides trauma-informed advocacy and support to individuals and families impacted by violence, ensuring access to resources, safety planning, and compassionate guidance in the aftermath of trauma.

Job Description

Required Education, Experience and Qualifications

• Degree in women’s studies, social work, criminal justice, psychology, or related field required. If no degree, previous experience in victim advocacy or related field required.
• Maintain valid Ohio driver’s license and ability to meet agency requirements for driving insurability.
• Must be able to meet agency requirements for criminal background check (Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations and Federal Bureau of Investigations).

Role and Responsibilities

Provides crisis intervention, advocacy, education on crime victims’ rights, and trauma-informed support to survivors in diverse settings, including but not limited to hospitals, children’s advocacy center, medical facilities, law enforcement agencies, court, on-scene community responses, campus and educational settings, and within community organizations.

Manages an individual caseload, providing ongoing advocacy, emotional support, crisis intervention, and referrals, while conducting comprehensive needs assessments and partnering with each client to develop an individualized goal plan that promotes empowerment and informed decision-making.

Utilizes crisis intervention best practices including safety planning, trauma-informed care, and listening skills to provide compassionate support to all survivors and co-survivors.

Completes client documentation and statistical information accurately in compliance with agency requirements.

Maintains anonymous / confidential record-keeping for all survivors and co-survivor contacts.

Completes a minimum of 40-hour training in compliance with OAESV best practices and maintains annual training requirements in compliance with agency policy.

Works closely with allied professionals and all victim advocacy agencies to ensure collaboration and cross training while always representing the mission and philosophy of Hope & Healing.

Complies with agency and program policies and procedures, federal and state requirements, CARF standards and educational / certification / registry requirements

Supervisory Responsibilities (if applicable for the position)

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical demands : While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects; reach with hands and arms; step up and down; stoop, kneel, crouch; talk, hear and drive. The employee must occasionally lift and / or move up to 10 pounds.

Work environment : This position will be in a facility with victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. In addition to interaction with the survivors, the employee may have interactions with families of these individuals, the assailants and law enforcement.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

Full-time; non-exempt

Serves in on-call rotation for hospital & community response

Schedule is flexible - based on client needs and on-call responsibilities. Some evenings, overnights, and weekends required.

Additional Qualifications

Ability to remain calm, empathetic, non-judgmental and compassionate in crisis situations

Ability to establish and maintain professional boundaries

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, particularly with diverse populations.

Computer skills including, but not limited to, Microsoft Word and Excel.

Benefits :

401(k)

401(k) matching

Dental insurance

Health insurance

Paid time off

Vision insurance

EEO

Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center (H&H) is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. H&H prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, ancestry, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state or local laws. Additionally, reasonable accommodations will be made (where appropriate) for religious practices or employees with disabilities. Employees who may require a reasonable accommodation should contact an agency Director or the CEO. This policy applies to all employment practices within H&H, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. H&H makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit and program needs at the time.