Behavioral Health & Mentoring Partnership Specialist, Osel

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 330,000 students in 600+ schools and employing nearly 36,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

As a unit within the Office of College and Career Success, the mission of the Office of Social & Emotional Learning (OSEL) is to partner with schools and networks to establish and sustain supportive-learning communities founded on caring relationships and multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) for students’ social, emotional, and behavioral needs. OSEL supports training, coaching, and implementation of research-based strategies to foster positive school and classroom climate development, trauma-informed practices, restorative approaches to discipline, social and emotional skills instruction, and targeted social, emotional, and behavioral interventions. Note: The Behavioral Health & Mentoring Partnership Specialist role is a grant-funded position from December 31, 2022 to December 30, 2026.

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Manager of Behavior Health & Mentoring Partnerships, the Behavioral Health & Mentoring Partnership Specialist will develop, implement, and evaluate partnership programs and services designed to improve the Behavioral Health and relational trust of students and staff within an assigned portfolio of schools. Under the direction of the Director of Healing-Centered Supports, the Behavioral Health & Mentoring Partnership Specialist will work to meet the increased demand for school and community provider partnerships, ensuring the delivery of high-quality individual counseling and mentoring services to students to ensure continuity of care for students. The Behavioral Health & Mentoring Partnership Specialist will support the development of meaningful school-agency partnerships, agency growth and training, and school-day integration of community-based agency services. The Behavioral Health & Mentoring Partnership Specialist provides critical leadership in implementing the District’s Healing-Centered initiatives and Behavioral Health-related policies.

The Behavioral Health & Mentoring Partnership Specialist will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain network-based community partnerships to provide regional Behavioral Health supports and services to assigned portfolio of schools
• Create, coordinate, and deliver onboarding training to new community partner organizations
• Maintain the database of OSEL-sponsored Strategic Source and other established District vendors
• Oversee the documentation of all network and school-based community partnerships through No-Cost Agreements, Purchase Orders, and Task Orders
• Meet with school-level Behavioral Health Teams and community partners to ensure appropriate documentation and progress monitoring of assigned school-day Behavioral Health & Mentoring interventions and services in the designated district data management system
• Meet regularly with Network leadership and assigned Network SEL Specialists to review school needs, provided supports, documented interventions, and services, etc.
• Coordinate regular reporting of service delivery, invoicing from, and payment to community partners in partnership
• Maintaining regular communication with community partners and schools with OSEL-sponsored partner relationships, providing relevant information including updates on changes in best practice and policy
• Support the resolution of school and community-based partner disputes, ensuring accountability for all parties
• Participate in periodic requests for proposal review, re-establishing existing and creating new Board agreements
• Coordinate yearly partnership evaluations in collaboration with other department staff, including an analysis of feedback and, reports to all relevant stakeholders
• Facilitate Behavioral Health awareness and suicide prevention training (e.g. Youth Mental Health First Aid) and de-escalation training to school and partner agency staff in partnership with the Office of Student Health and Wellness and Office of Safety and Security
• In collaboration with the Office of Safety and Security, ensure students that are experiencing or have experienced a Behavioral Health crisis are receiving continuity of care as part of a school-based system of supports
• Provide intensive case management progress monitoring supports to students identified by the Office of Safety and Security that have been routed for continuity of care support through the district’s Crisis Team
• Performs other duties as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Behavioral Health & Mentoring Partnership Specialist must possess the following qualifications:

Education Required:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
• Active endorsement or license in counseling, social work, or a similar field preferred
• Master’s degree in social & emotional learning, Behavioral Health, or related fields preferred

Experience Required:

• Minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience in program development and implementation;
  • Or 1 year of relevant work experience with a Master’s degree in social & emotional learning, Behavioral Health, or related fields
• Experience in school counseling or clinical experience working with adolescents and youth in an urban setting is preferred

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experience in project management concepts, practices and procedures
• Working knowledge of Behavioral Health initiatives and trauma-informed practices for PK-12 youth and adult employees
• Previous participation on, and/or working knowledge of, multi-systemic organization or team such as school-based Behavioral Health Teams, strongly preferred
• Experience building and maintaining meaningful relationships between organizations and departments
• Experience working with urban public schools and/or youth in Chicago preferred
• Deep knowledge of City of Chicago Behavioral Health/community service agencies preferred
• Skilled in the use of Behavioral Health assessments and progress monitoring data to drive critical conversations and planning
• Ability to connect with school and/or community-based programming to offer fundamental social service or Behavioral Health services for children and families
• Cultural competency and ability to navigate and promote sensitivity with issues of race and equity
• Skilled multi-tasker and excellent time manager; ability to effectively achieve multiple goals and manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Outstanding knowledge of child development, social and environmental conditioning, cultural diversity, psychopathology and family systems
• Knowledge of best practices in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support to meet students’ social and emotional needs
• Knowledge of trauma-informed practices and interventions
• Ability to develop supportive consultative relationships with Network and school leaders, classroom teachers, school-based Behavioral Health professionals, and other stakeholders
• Familiarity with ISBE SEL Standards and CPS-supported SEL strategies (i.e. Restorative Practices, Behavioral Health Team, etc.)
• Ability to articulate a vision, set high standards, and effectively guide schools and principals in the realization of expectations set
• Strong communication skills (speaking - including presentations - listening, and writing)
• Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals, and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment
• Strong leadership and team building skills, e.g. ability to develop high-performing teams united around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving student success
• Knowledge of operations, budget/finance, management, and organizational development
• Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support schools and principals
• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.
• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. “Up-to-date” on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters.