Evening Residential Counselor, New Chardon

SCHEDULE: 40 hours, Tuesday – Saturday, 3:00 p.m. – 11:30 p.m., or Tuesday-Saturday 3-1130pm, or as needed

Pays$ 21.40 per hour DOE

LOCATION: 41 New Chardon Street, Boston, MA

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Summary of the Position:

The Weekday Evening Residential Counselor is responsible for the overall safety of the tenants in the program at the 34 New Chardon Street residence under the Behavioral Health Division of Pine Street Inn, a program that provides permanent housing to formerly homeless woman using a Housing First/Stabilization model. The program serves women from diverse backgrounds, circumstances, and age groups. The mission is to provide trauma-informed, gender sensitive and gender specific support services that meet the special needs so they can heal and have time to heal, prepare to reintegrate into the community, and break the cycle of homelessness. The Evening Residential Counselor will assist tenants in obtaining their dinner meal and performing other activities of daily living (ADL) skills. The Evening Residential Counselor will also work with other staff to engage tenants in leisure time activities; to create and maintain a respectful atmosphere that empowers very chronic, mentally ill tenants to reach their highest level of functioning. The Evening Residential Counselor will be assigned tenants and work with them on developing treatment plans and will ensure follow through on individual treatment plans and document progress in the log and in the chart. The incumbent will also run groups on their assigned shift. Due to emergency or unforeseen program needs, staff may be temporarily or permanently reassigned to another Pine Street Inn program at any given time.

REQUIREMENTS:

Qualifications:

Education/Training:

Required:

• High School diploma or GED
• Some basic prior human services trainings

Preferred:

• Advanced training in human services work
• Training in Motivational Interviewing and Trauma – Informed Care

Knowledge/Experience:

Required:

• Minimum of one (1) year of prior work experience working with individuals suffering from complex disabilities in a shelter, community residence, or in an inpatient setting
• Experience maintaining a safe environment for clients in a program setting
• Experience as a human services team member
• Familiarity with the concepts of rehabilitation and consumer empowerment
• Experience working with dually diagnosed individuals
• Experience assisting people with ADL skills
• Effective writing and verbal communication skills

Preferred:

• Previous experience working with a Housing First/Stabilization model
• Experience working with the homeless population

Physical Abilities/SKILLS;

Required:

• Ability to respond to individuals in crisis
• Ability to climb multiple sets of stairs quickly and frequently
• Ability to assist certain individuals with ADL skills

Mental Abilities/SKILLS;

Required:

• Ability to attend to multiple tasks
• Ability to tolerate stress, patience
• Ability to resolve conflicts diplomatically with supportiveness and nurturance
• Ability to set limits when needed, and observance of appropriate boundaries
• Ability to be open minded about exploring creative new ways to help clients maintain housing stability; willingness to use continuing education as a tool to gain ideas for improving client outcomes
• Comfort level working with tenants with untreated psychiatric conditions
• Comfort with Trauma – Informed Care and a Harm Reduction approach to substance abuse

Essential Functions Include But Are Not Limited To:

• Be responsible for the overall safety and security of tenants in the program.Supervise meal operations and cleanup.
• Ensure that program is clean and safe at all times including but not limited to floors being clean and tidy, kitchens, hallways, bathrooms etc.
• Conduct inspections of individual tenant’s rooms to ensure that they are safe and free of clutter.
• Work with other staff to help prepare occasional meals and holiday celebrations.
• Confer and collaborate regularly with other program staff.
• Meet regularly with each individual tenant to see how tenant is doing.
• Communicate any observed issues or problems via the log and verbal reports.
• Maintain positive relationships with other employees around the Inn in other departments such as Food Services, Men’s Inn, Outreach, and Housekeeping.
• Participate in keeping the outside of the building secure.
• Set a tone of respect and support for all tenants of the program.
• Work with tenants to reinforce good ADL skills, including personal hygiene, and leisure time activities.
• Assist tenants in cooking, laundry, and other activities of daily living as needed or requested.
• Provide peer support for other staff at the 41 New Chardon Street program.
• Guide the chronically mentally ill tenants in an intentional progression towards increased autonomy, improved life skills, and enhanced quality of life.
• Involve tenants in milieu to enhance connectedness with life satisfactions and responsibilities.
• Introduce tenants to hobbies, pastimes and movies on site. Apprise them of activities of interest in the Boston Area.
• Meet for regular supervision with the Residential Supervisor.
• Work together with other staff to assist clients improve their overall quality of life.
• Maintain necessary records and documentation in a timely fashion.
• Encourage tenants to be responsible neighbors
• Due to emergency or unforeseen program needs, staff may be temporarily or permanently reassigned to another Behavioral Health Division programs at any given time.
• Perform other tasks as assigned by the Supervisor.

INTERNAL CANDIDATES, IF INTERESTED IN APPLYING FOR THIS POSITION, PLEASE SUBMIT A PROMOTION/TRANSFER APPLICATION TO THE HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT WITHIN 10 DAYS OF POSTING.

Pine Street Inn is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.