Program Manager Lcsw/Lmft - Vash

Step Up on Second, a well-known community mental health agency dedicated to providing permanent supportive housing and assistance to individuals and Veterans in recovery from serious & persistent mental illnesses and homelessness.

Position Summary:

The HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program combines Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) rental assistance for homeless Veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA provides these services for participating Veterans at VA medical centers (VAMCs) and community-based outreach clinics. As a VA Contractor, the Step Up VASH Team is comprised of Master's Level clinicians, Case Managers, and Housing Specialists. The Service Coordinators work to engage Veterans who are experiencing homelessness, a mental health diagnosis, and/or co-occurring disorders, and provide supportive services to support these Veterans as they attain and maintain permanent supportive housing. A hiring preference will be made for qualified veterans.

DUTIES: Primary areas of responsibility include, but are not limited to the following:

· Staff Recruiting and Onboarding Support:(Under the direction of the VASH Director)

o Collaborate with Director as requested to assist with staff recruiting and onboarding, including attending job fairs, screening potential applicants, and coordinating interviews, applications, and background check process.

o Communicate with Director, Manager, HR, IT, and Director of Training throughout the Step Up onboarding process and complete the new employee onboarding checklist with new staff. Ensure staff attends Step Up New Staff Orientation. Train staff in SUOS policies, procedures, and core values.

· Leadership and Support:

o Assume leadership of the VASH team when program manager is unavailable.

o Attend Program Manager Meetings as appropriate.

o Manage assigned service team members ensuring:

§ Staff provide clients with quality, timely, professional care services in accordance with Agency’s mission and values

§ Services provided comply with regulatory agency requirements, contractual obligations and funding sources.

§ Effective, professional communications within and outside of the office and effectively resolves problems relating to the provision of services.

§ Coordinate with VASH staff, Director and management team to ensure adequate coverage is in place for the program’s operation.

§ Review and co-sign staff documentation.

§ Provide weekly adminstrative supervision to clinical staff on the VASH team.

· Clinical Services and Supports:

o Outreach to and assess potential new clients; make recommendations to the treatment team for appropriate treatment or enrollment.

o Coordinate with team members to ensure Veterans have access to available resources, including psychiatric and medical care/appointments, housing, benefits establishment, community rehabilitation and socialization activities, and drug/alcohol services, with VASH staff providing transportation and accompanying the client using personal or VASH vehicles when necessary.

o Manage a reduced client case load and assume all job duties as specified for a Service Coordinator II position. Assist clients, identify needs, set goals, establish concrete objectives and develop a treatment plan.

o Work cooperatively with VASH team members, including sharing responsibility for 24 hour on-call coverage. Provide ongoing support and crisis intervention to colleagues and clients as needed.

o Coordinate with VA Liaison to organize weekly case conferences for TBV/PBV and send out reminders to staff. Collect and review staff updates/plans for the Veterans that will be covered in the upcoming conference and ensure that VA liaison has a copy before the conference date. Attend PBV case conferences with staff and VA Liaison. Ensure cross collaboration between Step Up VASH and VA.

· Quality Assurance and Reporting: (Under the direction of VASH Clinical Manager)

o Provide support to individual staff members as needed regarding clinical documentation, assessments, and VA policies and procedures.

o In collaboration with Clinical Manager and Director and Management Team, ensure that the program census for PBV is up to date, detailing documentation that has been done/needs to be updated, and enter LOC tracking information.

SKILLS: Possesses leadership, motivational and management desires or experience; Strong clinical assessment, interpersonal and intervention skills. Accuracy in charting of required documentation. Ability to train or guide professional staff to achieve confidence and ability to work independently in the field. Able to engage and work effectively with the homeless and mentally ill population; Strong organizational skills and ability to delegate tasks to staff and monitor outcomes.

QUALIFICATIONS: Masters of Social Work, Counseling Psychology or Family Therapy, (MSW, MFT). Must be licensed. Registered with BBS, licensed with at least 1-2 years supervisory experience, including one year working with Veterans. Case management experience is essential, including the ability to chart client progress to meet VA documentation requirements. Valid California driver’s license, personal vehicle and insurance required. Computer fluency with Windows applications necessary.

Disclaimer: Work with the homeless population whether on the streets, in shelters or other places of habitation or services, may present inherent challenges and difficulties such as: exposure to bed bugs or other infestations, unpleasant smells or odors, unclean individuals or homes due to homelessness or mental health symptoms or poverty. While Step Up as an agency strives to protect all employees from adverse events, Step Up is not responsible for rectifying the outcome of such exposures and considers this the nature of the field-based environment and workplace.

Step Up utilizes the principles of trauma-informed care and mental health recovery. These principles inform our Core Values of Hope, Wellness, Voice and Choice, Respect, and Collaborative Relationships. As representatives of Step Up, employees agree to adhere to these values in their interactions with members, colleagues, supervisors, and associated community members.

Step Up Core Values:

HOPE – We believe all people have the capacity for positive growth and change. We use hope to inspire and motivate ourselves, our members, our colleagues, and our community.

WELLNESS – We believe in promoting a culture that supports healthy and fulfilling lives. We use a supportive environment to foster well-being for ourselves, our members, our colleagues, and our community.

VOICE AND CHOICE – We believe in the right to choose and be heard. We use voice and choice to create meaningful outcomes and empowerment for ourselves, our members, our colleagues, and our community.

RESPECT – We believe in promoting interactions that are non-judgmental, transparent. We use respect to guide all of our words and actions with ourselves, our members, our colleagues, and our community.

COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS – We believe in forming partnerships to share resources, knowledge, and experiences. We use collaborative relationships to strengthen accomplishments for ourselves, our members, our colleagues, and our community.