social worker

youth worker

case manager

clinician

medical coordinator

Southwest Key Programs

•	Conduct detailed Initial Intake interviews of youth
•	Promptly request and obtained required documentation for cases
•	Maintain communication with parties involved via telephone, text messages, email, fax and in person
•	Complete background checks, address verification and orientation appointments for sponsors along with complete full assessment of sponsors ability to care for minor
•	Schedule and complete fingerprint appointment (digital and paper) and submit to OSSI
•	Keep open communication with other departments to ensure youth’s emotional and medical needs are addressed and ensure youth feels supported by his or her team.
•	Document complete case details, sponsor information, client information and upload documents on government web portal 
•	Work with travel agency to prepare travel arrangements for departing youth
•	Create files upon youths arrival and close physical file as well as upload electronic file to web-based system after reunification
•	Complete and send court dockets on weekly basis
•	Complete exit process with youth and sponsors
•	Complete follow-up phone calls to youth and sponsors, refer individuals to ORR National Call Center
•	Work on various projects as needed
•	Must ensure that youth are properly enrolled in to the program’s internal intake system (ETO, NSLP).
•	Document all actions taken and contacts with youth, sponsor, and stakeholders on the form of progress notes (efforts) as required by SWK, State and Federal contracts.
•	Facilitate attorney to client contacts as requested by youth.
•	Assist with the coordination of Treatment Team meetings conducted on a weekly basis with representatives from all departments found at the shelter.
•	Assist case management department with filing, closing, and with overall daily maintenance of records found in either the physical case file or on ETO.
•	 Assist with the coordination of travel arrangements for program staff transporting youth for reunification or transfer purpose (may include booking airfare, hotel, and rental car).
•	Attend all department and program meetings to ensure that up-to-date information is received and/or provided and to ensure that changes to policy or practice are implemented and adhered to.
•	Attend all trainings that will enhance professional growth in the area of case management and documentation or other topics as deemed appropriate by the Program Director.
•	Ensure the proper supervision of youth at all times.
•	Manage staff 
•	Provide crisis intervention service to clients and facilitate conflict resolution 
•	Evaluate clients’ needs and generate referrals for clients for counseling, case management and/or medical services
•	Provide activities related to life, social, and academic skills to facilitate clients’ transition from their native countries into the United States environment  
•	Plan and supervise a variety of developmentally-appropriate activities for over 100 clients
•	Coordinate and monitor services, including comprehensive tracking of client activities in relation to care plan
•	Assist clients in developing goals and areas of need, and assist in developing treatment plans which are assessed regularly; make recommendations to clinical team about clients’ mental health
•	Provide transportation for clients
•	Front Desk receptionist; answering phones, faxing, filing, outgoing mail.

Responsible for the submission of service plans and other assessments required for the compiling of a comprehensive case file found on Southwest Key Programs.
Conduct initial intake, conduct interviews of family members, friends of family and/or sponsors to determine the integrity of the relationship and verify information received from minor within 24-48 hours upon admission to the shelter. • Determine options available for youth within 48-72 hours and proceed • Coordinate with local pro bono attorneys for the timely provision of “Know Your Rights” presentations to youth and ensure youth signs the acknowledgment and receives a copy of the Legal Service Provider list and Notice to Juvenile Aliens in Federal Facilities Funded by DHS or HHS. • Ensure the timely completion of (assessments) Initial Intake, Emergency Placement, and Preliminary Service Plans in accordance with SWK, State, and Federal requirements. Additional assessments may be required depending on the location of the program and state licensing requirements. Forms are subject to change at any time. • Ensure the timely submission of the initial Individual Service Plan due within 21 days of the youth’s arrival to the shelter and 30 day updates thereafter in accordance with SWK, State and Federal requirements. • Document all actions taken and contacts with youth, sponsor, and stakeholders in the form of progress notes (efforts) as required by SWK, State and Federal contracts. • Complete and submit reunification packets for initial review to Lead Case Manager or Designee. (if applicable) • Submit completed reunification packet with appropriate referral made by Case Manager for the timely release of youth to designated ORR representative. • Provide weekly face to face updates to youth and telephonic updates to family members/sponsor with documentation found in ETO. • Ensure the provision of two weekly telephonic contacts with family of origin, primary caregiver and/or sponsor. • Facilitate incoming calls to minors with the appropriate family members and other approved caregivers. • Facilitate attorney to client contact as requested by youth. • Coordinate weekly treatment team meetings with representatives from all departments at the shelter. • Attend case staffing with funding source representative. • Maintain physical and web-based client files. • Drive clients to facilitate program services, may include transportation to court appointments, attorney visits, other appointments as per contractual requirements as needed. May also include transporting youth within the United States if reunified. • Attend all organizational required trainings. • Attend all departmental and program meetings to ensure that up-to-date information

You will end up working 50 hours plus. Caseload is high with a lot of documenting. The rest of the staff (YCW, Shift leaders, Teachers, etc.) think clinicians have a magic wand and everything is referred to clinicians. If you get 1 or 2 complex cases at the same time expect to not sleep. You will have so much documentation to do and still meet with your other 14/15 minors it's not humanly possible to get it done in 40 hours. To start with you are required to work 87 hours per pay period.  So automatically they are making you work an extra shift for the same amount of pay. Next you are expected to be on call an entire week and God forbids you get a hospitalization because you still have to show up for your next shift to complete your sessions/duties. Don't be fooled into working for SWK for the bonuses. Relocation bonus is not given out until 4/5 months later. Same with the sign on bonus. Oh and the extra caseload bonus is a complete lie. In order to get the caseload bonus you have to be perfect on everything. That means no missed/late notes, no tardies, and no absences. Trust me with such a high caseload you are bound to miss a thing or two especially because some documentation has to be recorded in 4/5 different places. To top it off the caseload bonus is two months behind meaning if you have 18 in your caseload for January you won't be audited until March/April for it and will receive the bonus in April/May. Before I forget the 5,000 more to salary for being bilingual will not be added to your pay until you're 2 to 3 months into your employment. And guess what...no they don't backtrack so basically they steal from you. If you're license BEWARE! They are so many ethical violations. The word confidentiality does not mean a thing to this company. In the program I worked in there was no offices only cubicles. You could hear everything and the kids could hear all their peers as well. You are told to report back to floor staff on follow ups for reports which is a breach of confidentiality. Everyone can access the case management system meaning everyone can see what the kids are talking about during sessions. The kids know this therefore they prefer not to  disclose anything so we can't get them the proper assistance. Most management is not licensed so they don't really care about ethics or confidentiality. You will be ask to go against your code of ethics and values. If you still decide to work for SWK do not agree to follow those instructions that violate your ethics. Fight for your ethics/values and take care of your license because they sure don't care about it.

Being in a Lead, Supervisory, or  Management roll is stressful and the worse at this company. Your staff that are under you make more with holiday pay, extra days in the month, and overtime. I mean about 5k more and have a lot less responsibilities. When in a management roll you have a work phone and laptop you are accountable for at all times, you'll get calls all throughout the day and night and urgent emails one has to respond to. You are literally working all the time or working 12 hour shifts when really you are scheduled for 8 hours. This includes hours at home that they don't want you to clock in although they make you clock in and although you are salary non exempt if you miss one work day you get paid less than your salary amount even if you already hit over 80 hours for the pay period. They give you a lot of tasks I mean a lot with no resources. You only get bonuses if you been with the company for a full year if you are a week or 2 off you don't get any. Individuals with write ups and poor reviews still get bonuses and awarded. The more you do and go out your way the more they screw you over. Literally if you work here just slack it and do less than the minimum that is required and you'll be treated a lot better than those who do the most to benefit the company in a positive way, literally. The job Is real unstable with lay offs almost every year. This would be a good job if you are hourly, I advise you not to take any salary rows. They make you clock in and out and expect you to arrive on time when you work early mornings even if someone calls you in the middle of the night disrupting your sleep, and yes you will get talked to possibly even written up. They wont let you alter your schedule for last minute incidents, although you are suppose to run a department and do things to benefit the department and program. They want you to notify them and get approval even if you are coming in earlier or later for employee call offs. Employee call offs are also a pain as you at times have to cover their shifts so with all the hours worked, you literally get paid eve less that your employees probably even by 10k if you were to divide your pay by the amount of hours you work. This program does not care about their management employees although they are the ones making sure everything is ran and done smoothly to keep in compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.

I worked for SWK for about 6 years in Education. During that time, I also visited other shelters and began to realize that it truly matters the shelter you work for as every single one of them are under different management. 

I started working in 2019 and at that time I did not know what I was getting myself into. My OJT training was very fast paced and because of that I struggled for some time to get adjusted to the work environment. I wanted to quit within months because to me, it was an overworked environment with a lot of rules and policies. It only got worse during Covid. Luckily I had a team that were creative enough to adapt to the many changes we went through. We threw ideas until our very last day to make our jobs less stressful and more efficient.

The reason I stayed more than I anticipated was because they kept raising our pay  for the job that I already had found many ways to be less stressful. My coworkers were amazing , which was another reason to stay. 

What I hated (and what I kept observing) was the terrible upper  management. They would always side with the clients and not much with their employees. They would not allow the workers who worked the floor and knew what was happening to have control over taking decisions that were effective. Upper management always took those decisions and never got it right, and the end result was us getting affected by their mess. Upper management would also stop by the office with a negative vibe, as if they were annoyed at us. By the end of time there, they had hired a new PD and she and the APD came by our office. The new PD opened the door without acknowledging me, she only looked at the office. Out of respect for my APD (which was a very formal and professional person) I said Good morning and welcome. 

SWK will always be one of the few companies I could work for for that long. But during my stay, a lot of people also quit or were fired for small and insignificant reasons. They would also call your attention if you went one minute over time while the CEO was giving himself raises constantly. 

In the end, I loved SWK and my coworkers but I hated upper management because to them we were just pawn  on a chess board and when they did not need us anymore, they laid us off in a snap.

The company has a beautiful vision. It helps immigrant minors with their mental well-being and adaptation while they reunify with a family member inside the US. The company works hard in making the experience of the minors in care the most positive possible, despite the challenges they may confront. Most of it's employees go above and beyond expectations. However, the employees are under valued and not appreciated for their work, Many employees constantly put in overtime (even without extra pay). Employees are seen as an invaluable and replaceable asset. They are quickly blamed and punished for what goes wrong and not equally recognized for what they do right. The company has a very low retention rate. They are constantly hiring new employees because they normally do not have the staff they require to run a shelter smoothly. This comes from the high amount of employees that quit and also get fired. Management has serious challenges they must work upon so they can help employees moral go up and make this company worth working for. Most of the people in management positions are not selected because they have leadership skills, or care about the minors or employees or because they follow and live the vision of the company. They are selected because they cover the mistakes the company makes. They are willing to lie and do whatever is necessary to protect the interests of the company, above the interests of the minors in care and their mental and emotional well-being. The mistakes of the company were be greatly reduced just by selecting leaders and or helping those who have a supervisory role learn how to value people. A non profit company that works with minors is suppose to care about the minors and the employees that work there.  The positive aspect is that there are a lot of good people as employees, the minors are great (most of them have excellent behavior), the benefits, and the salary is not that bad (although considering the amount of overtime you have to do, you really don't get paid much).

As a training lead I am an expert in the my role as a teacher. I can demonstrate how the job should be performed. I develop training strategies and put together and distribute manuals. I use technology, such as computers and projectors, to assist them in their work.

I utilized my strong verbal and written communication skills and I am motivated, energetic, confident and highly organized.

I am responsible for creating and implementing training programs and overseeing the development of careers. Sets performance metrics, evaluates productivity, and helps workers create long-term career plans within the organization.

 Primary responsibilities

 Develop, implement, and monitor training programs within an      organization.
 Supervise technical training for staff.
 Conduct orientation sessions.
 Create brochures and training materials.
 Develop multimedia visual aids and presentations.
 Create testing and evaluation processes.
 Prepare and implement training budget.
 Evaluate needs of company and plan training programs accordingly.
 Conduct performance evaluations.
 Provide companies with classroom training, demonstrations, on-the-job training, meetings, conferences, and workshops.
 Manage staff of classroom facilitators.
 Provide performance feedback.
 Conduct continuing education training.
 Provide leadership development education.
 Build solid cross-functional relationships.
 Provide logistical support, course development, delivery, evaluation, process measurements, and cost management.
 Plan the implementation and facilitation of activities and events, budget spending, material production and distribution, and other resources to ensure that operations are managed within authorized budgets.
 Assist with the development of strategic plans.

The Great part of my job is watching the staff learn and grow.

If you are looking for a non-profit org. to work for, this is the place. Your days consist with dealing with underage kids who came from different countries trying to get reunified with their loved ones.  It doesn't matter if you are a youth care worker, clinician, or case manager, your job will consist with dealing with these clients. Depending on what center and position you are placed into work, your work schedule may vary among three different shifts. (Yes weekends are included too).  Environment wise is that that it can be friendly as it gets, you get to enjoy learning about new cultures and struggles people go through to get a better life, more of an eye opener. Everyone can be helpful and can help you learn as you go. But yet again, every story has it a plot twist, which is its cons. Working on a nonprofit org can be amazing and a beautiful thing but yet again, you never know when your job is on the line. Recently, SWK made two waves back to back in laying off people, unfortunately, I was one of those amongst the wave. The reason they told us was that there is a new  "presidency and its administration". This lead to cutting off funding and laying off people who were recent hires within the last 6 months or so. No matter of your experience towards the job you aren't guaranteed a secure job and once they finished using you, they, without hesitation will let you go. The problem is this issue affects every worker who works in the company. Workers are simply more like pawns, and scapegoats while those higher ups save themselves from the chopping block. They can shady( not my previous center, but other centers can be) and won't tell you when is your last day. One day you can be working like nothing is happening, and the next they will walk to your office and tell you "hey can we talk to you for five minutes and boom you are laid off"

I was a Youth Care Worker at 7th Ave & Buckeye location in Phoenix in 2015.  I worked approx 7 am to 3 pm.  High hourly wage, but with no benefits.  Lots of turnover.  Most of the youth clients were great.  Unsupportive management.  Kids brought in lots of germs from Central America, Mexico, INS.  I was sick with a cold or flu ALL THE TIME.  I got a new cold/flu on Wednesday, felt sick Thursday to Saturday, felt ok on Monday and Tues, sick again with a new cold/flue on Wednesday.  This happened every week I was there.  My immune system could not keep up.  

YOUTH CARE WORKER  We worked 8 hours a day, standing all the time without a break.  When the kids went to lunch, we went to the cafeteria with them.  We were given the same food to eat, usually tacos, beans, rice, kool aid.  We had to stand at counter-height tables, and keep watching the kids, while they ate lunch.  The only time I got to sit down was when I went to the bathroom.  They were often short-staffed, and when I asked for a bathroom break, some days I got a break, some days I did not.    

WEEKENDS.  It was common for SWK to be short staffed on the weekends.  On week-ends, the youth would be in the classrooms, telling us they needed to use the bathroom. The managers told us to wait because there were not enough YCWs to give breaks.  The kids just needed to go use the bathroom for 2 minutes, and they had to wait hours to do that.  Kids who felt sick and wanted to just lay down in bed were told to stay in the classroom and deal with it.   YCWs who tried to stick up for the kids and get them bathroom breaks and send them to see the nurses were seen as trouble makers.  

CASE MANAGERS were completely overloaded.  Too much paperwork, and a totally inefficient computer system.  LOTS OF TURNOVER in YCWs and CMs.

If you take a job at SWK as a YCW or CM, do yourself a favor, and don't expect to stay at SWK for more than 3 months.  While you are working at SWK, keep looking for another job.

Overall this was an enjoyable place to work (the corporate office, anyway).  Most of the staff is young and vigorous but there are entirely too many "idea" people and not enough "doers" for an organization that small.  Mid-level managers are not well-trained or experienced but that is mainly because the executive level is pretty micro-managerial and only is interested in results.  Not necessarily a bad thing, just the way things are.

The foundation of SWKey is great.  Helping youths overcome barriers to succeed in life.  Their charter school is most definitely a prime example of what el Presidente and "la famila" are trying to accomplish.  This organization is always looking to try new things sometimes without completing the last thing they started and has a bad habit of not speaking to the people that will be most directly charged with its success or failure.  But this happens out of exuberance, not out of malice.  Very few interdepartmental rivalries or issues that I can recall.  Overall it was a fun place to work so long as you can make your job "yours".

My only issue (and this is entirely personal) was that only a core number of people shared in any input with el Presidente.  There was an appearance of a structured and layered input process but these layers or committees were always made up the same people.  Really nothing different than occurs in any other large corporation except that this is not a large corporation.

I enjoyed working at SWKey and would advise working there to most people but they have a strong idea of which departments are or are not important.  They also strongly favor education over experience which most times is not a wise choice.  But hey!!  They have a slide!!  INSIDE the office!!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Social worker 6 salaries reported	$60,827 per year
Youth worker 11 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Case manager 7 salaries reported	$23.41 per hour
Clinician 11 salaries reported	$76,500 per year
Medical coordinator 3 salaries reported	$20.21 per hour

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