Mental Health Specialist

Position Location and Department:

• Early Childhood Mental Health Department.
• This  position will work at our Children's Campus of Kansas City located at 444 Minnesota Ave, Kansas City, KS 66101.

Benefits Offered:

• Medical Insurance (The Family Conservancy offers health insurance to all full time employees working a minimum of 30 hours per week)
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Health Savings Accounts
• Vision & Dental Insurance.
• Long Term Disability.
• Life Insurance.
• 403(b) Retirement Plan matching up to 2%.
• Yearly 5% employer retirement contribution.
• Paid Vacation.
• Medical Leave.
• Personal time off.
• Agency paid holidays.
• Flexible work schedules (Hybrid)

Salary Range: $40,497.29 - $53,285.91

Job Summary: The Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist (ECMHS) supports social emotional development of children through consultation and coaching of early education staff. Consultation and coaching includes observation, assessment, social emotional and mental health screening and training. Additionally, consultation and coaching helps to strengthen early educators’ capacity to use everyday situations and conflicts to teach and model developmentally appropriate social skills and support mental health. The ECMHS works in collaboration with early childhood staff and families to improve their ability to prevent, identify and reduce the impact of trauma among children ages zero to six.

• Consults with partner teachers, support staff and administrators in assessing site needs and developing practices that support social emotional development of enrolled children. Collaborates with partner site staff and parents to implement supportive discipline strategies that promote best practices for early childhood social/emotional wellness and decrease challenging behavior.
• Conducts classroom and individual child observations to support social/emotional development of children and strengthens capacity of staff and families to address challenging behavior.
• Maintains applicable documentation and completes all required paperwork in a timely and organized manner, according to The Family Conservancy policies and procedures.
• Provides child or family-centered consultation to address factors that contribute to an individual child's success in functioning in the early childhood setting. Collaborates with teachers, support staff, interdisciplinary teams, program management and parents/guardians as needed to develop and implement individualized behavior support plans for children to support social emotional development and address mental health concerns within the early childhood setting. Provides referrals to community providers for mental health follow up when necessary, and provides support for parents/guardians in pursuing resources available.
• Performs data collection and reporting to ensure appropriate services are provided for children and families.
• On an on-going basis, collaborates with community partners to ensure integration of mental health services and referrals, and to support consultation provided to partner sites.
• Supports the procedures and timeline outlined for the completion of social emotional screenings including scoring, reviewing results, sharing results with partner sites and parents, and contacting parents for follow up on any concerns that are identified.
• Works with Program Management to identify areas of need with regards to training and technical assistance. In response to identified needs, provides technical assistance, shares educational materials and conducts training in the areas of mental well being, social emotional development, and challenging behaviors. Training may be provided to child care professionals, families and community partners, as requested, and may occur at staff meetings and/or parent meetings.
• Immediately reports safety concerns and potential hazards identified to the Early Childhood Mental Health Manager.

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Master's degree in Social Work or related field required.
• LMSW or related licensure to be obtained within a year of hire.
• Minimum one year prior professional experience providing services to infants, toddlers and pre-school age children and their families required.
• Possess ability to work with families in a supportive manner throughout the assessment and referral processes.
• Demonstrate proficiency with Microsoft Office applications including Word and Excel, as well as Google Docs, Drive and Sheets.
• Demonstrate proficiency with e-mail and internet functions.
• Possess knowledge of infant/early childhood development.
• Possess excellent communications skills and teaching/training skills.
• Develop rapport with consumers including early education teachers, support staff, administrators, children and their parents/guardians.
• Be open to change and considerable variety in work environments. Be able to adjust to new or changing situations and unexpected events. Willing to work flexible hours, including evening and weekends.
• Understand and show respect and appreciation for the uniqueness of all individuals; acknowledge differences in others’ perspectives and ideas; appreciate cultural differences and adjust one’s approach to successfully integrate with others who are different from oneself.
• Possess the ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrate a strong work ethic, sound judgement, discretion and tact. Maintain professional boundaries with clients.
• Be able to serve clients from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
• Collaborate with a diverse group of individuals, staff and community partners; serve as a positive role model and team player.
• Maintain successful clearance on Criminal, Sex Offender, Medical, and Missouri and Kansas Child Abuse/Neglect Background Screenings.
• Effectively carry out The Family Conservancy’s Mission.
• Travel throughout the facility, metropolitan area and counties within the service delivery area is required.
• As an employee providing direct services, must test negative for tuberculosis.

Preferred Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Bilingual fluency in written and oral English/Spanish.
• Prior relevant work experience with communities of color, communities subjected to poverty, immigrants and other communities subjected to oppression.
• Working knowledge of community resources.
• Previous professional collaboration with vendors, agencies and mental health professionals.
• KAIMH endorsement at Level II or higher in Early Childhood Mental Health or demonstrated active pursuit of Level II endorsement.

• Position requires off-site work; individuals must have access to transportation. Travel throughout the facility, metropolitan area and counties within the service delivery area is required.
• Employment is contingent upon successful clearance of Criminal, Kansas & Missouri Child/Elder Abuse and Neglect, and Sex Offender background investigations.
• Occasional weekend and/or evening work may be necessary.
• Must have ability to complete documentation, recordkeeping, and filing.
• Employees are required to sit for extended periods with prolonged exposure to computer monitors.
• A cubicle within a larger work area may define workspace.
• As an employee providing direct service, must be free from tuberculosis.

To apply for this position, please visit our website at: https://www.thefamilyconservancy.org/careers/