Behavioral Health Support Specialist/Family Support Specialist
Full Time | Hourly – 10 months/year
The Behavioral Health Support Specialist/Family Support Specialist (BHSS/FSS) is a core member of La Clinica’s school-based health center behavioral health team. In partnership with Behavioral Health Clinicians, the BHSS/FSS provides skills training, teaching, and mentoring to children and youth. This role also works in partnership with the parents/caregivers/legal guardians of youth in services to provide individualized peer support, education, and advocacy for families. This position facilitates and coordinates access to needed services and supports within the community.
Specific to the role of a Family Peer Support Specialist, an FSS is a trained peer professional who provides individualized, strengths-based, one-on-one support to families navigating mental health, behavioral health, or child-serving system challenges. The role aims at drawing upon the specialist’s own lived experience to offer empathy, guidance, and advocacy to those families they serve.
An FSS must meet the qualification criteria adopted under ORS 414.665 and may be either a peer support specialist or a peer wellness specialist who, based on similar life experiences, provides support services to and has experience parenting a child who:(a) is/was a current or former consumer of mental health or addiction treatment; or (b) is facing or has faced difficulties in accessing education, health, and wellness services due to mental health or behavioral health barriers. If an applicant meets these criteria but has not been certified as an FSS, training and certification must happen within 90 days of employment.
Accountabilities Include:
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Maintaining regular, consistent, and predictable punctuality and attendance, including being available, accessible, and able to complete all required essential functions and assigned job tasks onsite as directed during regularly assigned schedule or assigned site’s(s’) normal business hours.
Essential Job Duties
1. Care Coordination
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Helps formulate and carry out individual treatment plans while working in partnership with other team members including Behavioral Health Clinicians, Primary care Providers, Nursing Staff, school personnel, and community partners as indicated.
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Documents patient care in EPIC and is responsible for following workflows that result in capturing activities to meet client/family engagement standards as outlined in the APCM program.
2. Coaching and Goal Setting:
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Supports client/family in identifying self-management goals and developing customized plans with the behavioral health clinician, including goals and plan of action.
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Provides ongoingfollow-upsupport in-person or by telephone to support client-identified goals and assists client/family with accessing services and support to address additional treatment needs, medical needs, educational needs, etc.
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Collaborate with the child, family, behavioral health clinician, and school staff to provide support and increase knowledge and understanding around issues and behaviors that are impacting the child.
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Help the caregiver(s) and child practice skills to decrease specific behaviors in and increase child social skills and improve the caregiver-child relationship.
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Utilize motivational interviewing to assess client/family’s readiness to change and actively engage the client/family in the client’s care using trauma informed practices.
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Assists clients/familiesin identifying small steps toward goals (behavior change action plan.)
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Supports client/family and team in identifying and advocating for referral to additional services (internal or external). Coordinates and communicates care needs effectively with client/family, service delivery partners, and primary care team members to ensure a holistic plan of care. Acts as an advocate or support with the family when requested in navigating systems.
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Engages in biweekly supervision with Behavioral Health Clinician and/or BH Clinical Lead.
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Ensures clear concise documentation within scope of practice and in alignment with organizational policies.
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Screens and provides intervention for a variety of health screenings (i.e. PHQ, SBIRT, SDOH, etc.)
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Screens and provides intervention to a person at risk for suicideor domestic violence, creates safety plans, consults and collaborates with BHCs on interventions and referrals to appropriate services.
3. Feedback Informed Treatment:
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Facilitate the administration of standardized Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT) tools (e.g., ORS and SRS) with clients at the beginning and end of every clinical session.
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Proactively analyze real-time outcome data to identify "at-risk" cases (clients not meeting expected treatment trajectories) and adjust clinical interventions accordingly.
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Use session feedback to identify and repair ruptures in the therapeutic alliance, ensuring the treatment approach aligns with the client’s stated goals and preferences.
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Incorporate FIT data and client feedback into progress notes to provide a clear, objective narrative of the client’s improvement or lack thereof.
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Participate in individual and group supervision that utilizes FIT data to identify personal clinical blind spots and develop specific skills to improve overall effectiveness.
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Maintain an open, non-defensive stance when reviewing client feedback that indicates dissatisfaction or lack of progress, using it as a primary tool for clinical growth.
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Monitor personal "Effectiveness Benchmarks" (e.g., average effect size, dropout rates) compared to agency standards to ensure high-quality care delivery.
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Maintain high data integrity by accurately entering feedback scores into the agency’s outcome management system (OpenFIT) immediately following each session.
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Actively contribute to a "Culture of Feedback" within the team, sharing successes and challenges derived from FIT data during clinical staff meetings.
Additional Essential Job Duties:
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Completes required training designated on orientation checklist within 6 months of hire (i.e., motivational interviewing, trauma informed care, mental health first aid etc.)
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Completes annually mandatory and role-based competencies.
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Participates in care team huddles, discipline-specific team meetings, and monthly case consultation meetings.
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Registers and maintains active certification with the Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board (MHACBO) for a qualified mental health associate (QMHA) certification.
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When indicated, register as a certified alcohol & drug counselor (CADC) through MHACBO or as a family support specialist (FFS) through the OHA Traditional Health Worker Registry. Ensure required CEs to maintain certifications are completed as required.
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Actively seeks real-time feedback from clients and families about effectiveness of services (utilizing ORS/SRS models, FIT, and/or other feedback tools).Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to work independently and as part of a team performing each essential duty satisfactorily. The individual must be able to interact with a variety of individuals at various levels under stressful circumstances while exercising sound judgement, tact, and diplomacy, communicate with clarity, both verbally and in writing to groups and individuals, be an exceptional listener, and be flexible and adaptable within a fast-paced primary care or dental care setting.
Education and/or Experience:
Required:
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Minimum: High School Diploma
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Three to five years of experience in social services field
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Registers or is working towards a Qualified Mental Health Associate (QMHA) certification (QMHA-R) within 30 days of employment and maintains certification while employed.
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Certification as a Family Support Specialist (FSS) is required at time of hire or within 90 days of employment.
Preferred:
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Certification in health coaching, alcohol and drug counseling, family support, and/or other health/behavioral health care related certification.
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Excellent interpersonal communication and problem-solving skills
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Skills to intervene and promote reconciliation, compromise and positive outcomes in difficult interactions.
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Skilled at using electronic health records as applicable to area of work (EPIC, Wisdom)
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Bachelor’s degree in health education, health promotion, psychology, or social work.
Language Skills:
Must have the ability to communicate with clarity, both verbally and in writing; read, analyze, and interpret complex documents, regulations, policies, and procedure manuals; and create professional business documents. Preferred bilingual English/Spanish.
Reasoning Ability:
Must have the ability to:
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Understand confidential document security from a legal perspective
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Effectively deal with a variety of abstract and concrete variables
Work Environment:
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those a Behavioral Health Support Specialist encounters while performing the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable those with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
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Behavioral Health Support Specialists are located in school-based clinics with other behavioral and medical team members. Environment may be fast-paced and can be moderately loud.
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BHSSs are assigned to multiple school sites and must have reliable transportation to move between the sites as necessary.
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School-based BHSSs may work with students in other areas of the school or school grounds, including classrooms, lunchrooms, playgrounds, etc.
Other:
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Must have accessible phone service and maintain reliable transportation.
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All La Clinica workforce members are required to follow current La Clinica policies regarding masking and mandatory immunization.
Equity Statement:
At La Clinica, we commit to engage everyone in a welcoming, respectful, and loving way and to maintain the dignity and value of all people above everything else. These standards align with our organization’s vision of absolute excellence, open-hearted community, and well-being for all.
For more information, please visit our website at: https://laclinicahealth.org/patients/approach/
Applications will be reviewed by the appropriate Department for interview; those selected must be able to provide proof of legal right to work in this country. La Clinica is a drug free work environment and Equal Opportunity Employer. La Clinica complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you consider yourself disabled and desire assistance in the application process, please contact the Human Resources Department.
