OBH Family Support Coordinator (Closes 8/24)

Summary 

This is a professional position within Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Office of Behavioral Health (OBH). The Family Support Coordinator (FSC) promotes family member/caregiver interests and perspective across OBH/Department of Human Services (DHS) activities and programs. The incumbent provides consultation to community-based service providers, such as Allegheny Family Network, with a primary responsibility for coordinating family-focused activities and linkages between the Community of Practice System of Care initiative, which is designed to improve access to behavioral health services for youth and families involved with the child welfare system. Incumbent also works with the Community Wellness Team on recovery and peer-led activities.

Incumbent must have: 1) personal lived experience raising a child/ren or youth with behavioral health issues and/or experience with one or more of the human service systems, e.g., child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, drug & alcohol, homeless services or a combination of these, and 2) the willingness to positively and appropriately self-disclose regarding that experience. Local and distant travel as required.

If hired for this position, you would be an employee of our partner agency, Community Family Advocates working onsite at Allegheny County DHS.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provides expertise and technical assistance to Bureaus and Offices across the Office of Behavioral

Health and the DHS to ensure that family/caregiver interests are identified and included in the County, DHS and OBH planning, program activities, evaluation activities, integration initiatives, transition age youth activities, and through contracted service delivery.

• Assists with organizing family/caregiver involvement and coaching family members/caregivers in planning, program development and other grant and DHS related activities.
• Provides family member perspective on the content, format and wording of documents.
• Attends meetings on behalf of the County OBH and in support of family members/caregivers, as needed.
• Assists the Department of Human Services Office of Analytics, Technology and Planning (ATP) and other DHS teams in the quality improvement process by participating in case reviews and reviewing and interpreting system level data reports and trends from a family member perspective, as needed.
• Provides family voice in the development of policies and procedures, as required.
• Provides family perspective on training curricula and co-presents at trainings, as needed.
• Ensures products of the grant; marketing, training and policy materials, are developed with consideration of family perspective and are family friendly (i.e., pamphlets, brochures, web documents, etc.), as required.
• Establishes and maintains collaborative relationships with federal and state level family organizations and ensures that additional family members/caregivers are involved when appropriate.
• Provides technical assistance (consultation, training and assistance) to agencies and organizations which are part of the DHS Community of Practice on issues of family engagement and involvement.
• Participates on local committees for organizations such as, but not limited to, Community Care, Allegheny County Coalition for Recovery, and Multicultural Outreach and Education, to enhance family voice in inclusion of family member participation and to assist in increasing family involvement in activities, as needed.
• Provides outreach to help engage hard to reach family members/caregivers, such as underserved families, youth and children, including those who are members of the LBGTQ community, immigrants, incarcerated and co-Occurring, with behavioral health services and other natural supports.
• Participates, as assigned, on various internal or external working groups as the OBH representative.
• Attends 1-2 conferences per year, as required.
• Shares personal life experiences according to the Diversified Care Management Employee Self Disclosure Guidance.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This job has no supervisory responsibilities.

Additional Responsibilities

From time to time the employee will be required to perform additional tasks and duties as required by the employer.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to document program outcomes and develop other reports, as needed.
• Familiarity with community locations and access to community resources.
• Ability to effectively negotiate or deal with conflicts and issues.
• Ability to work independently, but also as part of a team.
• Ability to communicate and interact professionally with others.
• Ability to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds in a culturally competent manner.
• Ability to use basic office equipment (i.e., computer, phone, fax).
• Proficiency with Microsoft products (Outlook, Word) and the willingness to learn other programs such as Excel, etc.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions, consistent with applicable law.

Education/Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a human service-related field, plus a minimum of 3 years of experience.
• Four to seven years of experience in the human services field.
• Any equivalent combination of education and experience that meets the required knowledge, skills and abilities.
• Candidate must have personal lived experience raising a child/ren with behavioral health issues and/or experience with one or more of the human service systems; child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, drug & alcohol, homeless services or a combination of these.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations

(List Act 33, 34 and/or FBI clearances required, depending on Job Description.)

Why DHS?

DHS is diverse, but we strive to be even more inclusive. This includes equity in hiring and advancement, as well as in unleashing the creativity and ideas of staff at every level of DHS. It has strong, assertive leaders. We do not hire yes-people.

You can make a big impact here. We stand out as one of the best human services organizations in the country. But we need problem-solvers, innovators, and terrific leaders to make sure we are smart in how we use our funding so that we reach the people who most need our help to make their lives better.

“DHS strives to be the kind of place where a diverse mix of talented people want to come to grow and do their best work.”

-From the organization’s statement on Equity and Inclusion

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER -M/F/V/D