Substance Abuse Counselor

Position Summary

The mission of Hope the Mission (HTM) is to prevent, reduce, and eliminate poverty, hunger,

and homelessness by offering immediate assistance and long-term solutions. Our mission is to

meet our participants’ needs through an individualized and non-judgmental approach that will

ultimately lead to long term housing stability.

The Substance Use Counselor will provide counseling and support to clients suffering from drug

or alcohol dependency, psycho-educate clients on evidenced based practices to help in their

recovery process, assist with case management needs, and work on linking clients to Medication

Assisted Treatment, detox, and residential services as needed. Under the supervision of the

clinical supervisor, the Substance Use Counselor will assist in conducting seeking safety, harm

reduction, trauma-informed, low-barrier, culturally responsive, and person-centered care to

improve mental health and behavioral health outcomes of participants residing at Hope the

Mission’s interim housing shelters. This position will be a part of a multi-disciplinary team of

staff including but not limited to clinical supervisors, clinicians, mental health care coordinators,

substance use counselors, and peer support specialists and provide support to staff in other

departments through case consultation, training, and de-escalation.

Specific Duties

● Outreach and engagement with clients in a variety of different settings at various shelter

locations.

● Conduct enrollment assessments, SUD screenings, individualized wellness, safety and

care plans in collaboration with participants.

●Facilitate substance use counseling, psychoeducation groups, case management and

provide psychoeducation to clients.

● Utilize a person-centered, seeking safety, crisis management, motivational interviewing,

harm-reduction, trauma-informed care, and housing first approach with clients.

● Coordinate SUD services such as provide referrals/linkage to external substance use

resources including MAT treatment, psychiatric services, detox, and residential services.

●Ability to create and maintain boundaries with clients and understand the limitations of

a professional working relationship only within the work setting.

●Completes and maintains all documentation of services delivered.

●Collaborates with members of the multidisciplinary treatment team to ensure effective

delivery of a full spectrum of clinical and social services

●Participates in all staff meetings with HTM when appropriate

● Conduct risk assessments and support with requesting the Psychiatric Mobile Response

Team and emergency personnel for 5150 holds as appropriate.

● Strong group facilitation skills, ability to plan and execute onsite activities for clients.

● Carry a full case load of individuals struggling with SUD, severe mental illness, and co-

occurring disorders.

● Must be comfortable working in a disciplinary team consisted of clinicians, SUD

counselors, peers, supervisors, case managers, and other community partners.

● Expected to participate in care coordination meetings, treatment team meetings, and

trainings.

● Collaborating and connecting with resources outside of the organization when necessary.

● Expected to participate in individual and group supervision meetings.

Other Duties

● Communicate effectively and respond to correspondences in a timely manner.

● Identify potentially unsafe systems/processes/situations and takes initiative to report to

supervisor.

● Perform any other duties, projects and responsibilities as assigned by supervisor.

Minimum Qualifications

• Must have a high school diploma or GED with an associate degree.

•Bachelor’s degree in a related field preferred but not required.

•Must have completed an SUD program.

•Registered or certified as a Drug and Alcohol Counselor from an accredited CA Substance Abuse

organization (CAADE, CADDTP, CCAPP).

• 1 year experience providing substance use counseling preferred

• Bilingual Spanish Preferred but not required

• Experience working with culturally diverse, severely mentally ill clients and clients with co-

occurring substance use diagnoses preferred

• Experience working with individuals experiencing homelessness highly preferred

• Demonstrated ability to develop and conduct in-service training to staff/interns on substance

use and related topics.

•Must be able to accurately document all services provided to clients

• Drug screen, Background, Motor Vehicle record (MVR), Live Scan, TB test required

• A valid CA Driver’s License is required.

Knowledge

● Willing and able to work well with no or low-income homeless individuals

● Demonstrate courtesy, mutual respect and compassion in dealing

with others

● Initiate and present positive solutions to problems

● Demonstrate effective working relations and works effectively as part of the team

● Demonstrate a willingness to accommodate requirements or changing priorities in

the workplace

● Knowledge of current legal standards pertaining to professional practice, reporting

requirements (i.e., suspected abuse; Tarasoff), professional boundaries and related

issues.

Skills

• Ability to develop excellent rapport with clients

• Must be able to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing

• Must have the ability to coordinate a continuum of treatment / services for clients

• Excellent verbal, oral and presentation skills

• Strong interpersonal skills

• Problem solving and strategizing capabilities

• Ability in decision-making and problem-solving

PHYSICAL DEMANDS, ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, EQUIPMENT

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an

employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable

accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential

job functions. Employee is required to: Walk and climb stairs; stand, bend, squat, climb, kneel,

and twist on an intermittent or sometimes continuous basis; Grasp, push, pull objects such as

files, file cabinet drawers, and reach overhead; Handle, finger, grasp and feel objects and

equipment; Reach with hands and arms; Be mobile by moving oneself from place to place

quickly and easily; Repeat various motions with the wrists, hands, and fingers; Be able to

perform visual activities for (including, but not limited to) administrative and clerical tasks;

Ability to lift up to 25 lbs. Communicate, receive and exchange ideas, information by means of

the spoken and written word; Drive vehicle in and around Los Angeles County; Be able to enter

various buildings that may require climbing stairs. Be periodically subjected to outside

environmental conditions. Employee may work in proximity to service animals and emotional

support animals; Use a desktop and/or laptop computer; copy, postage, and fax machines.

Complete all required forms in personal writing.

Work Environment:

The employee may be in contact with individuals and families in crisis who may be ill, using

alcohol and drugs, and who may not be attentive to basic personal hygiene, health and safety

practices. The employee may experience a number of unpleasant sensory demands associated

with the clients’ use of alcohol and drugs, and lack of personal hygiene. The employee must be

ready to respond quickly and effectively to many types of situations, including crisis situations

and potentially hostile situations. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate in

an office setting. Sometimes work may become stressful when working under pressure.

◊ EEO: HOTV (Hope of the Valley) provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all

employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex,

national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements,

HOTV complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in

employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to

all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, placement, promotion,

recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.