WISe Parent Peer-WRAP - Sound Health formally Sound Mental Health

WISe Parent Peer-WRAP

Full Time position with Full Time benefits (Tukwila or Bellevue). The Parent Partner will provide direct advocacy, day to day support and team involvement to parents/caregivers. Promote development of self-determination, independence, skill building, self-empowerment, and self-advocacy in parent/caregivers. Educate and assist parents/caregivers in navigating systems such as IEP’s, juvenile justice, DDD, DSHS and other community resources.  Provide resources, referrals and linkages that will enable strength building.  Attend meetings as requested by families. Attend national, state and local forums, workgroups, and events to connect with other systems and enhance understanding of best practices.  Actively participate in supervision, staff meetings, and training.  This position will include providing mobile service throughout King County, as well as flexible work hours, including some nights and weekends.  The Parent Partner will understand, support, and accommodate the diverse perspectives and needs of different cultures and communities in the county.

Essential Functions:

·        Actively engage parents/caregivers with support, education and empowerment which will include direct contact with parents/caregivers from intake through case closure.  Function as liaison between the treatment teams and families on the team.

·        Encourage parents/caregivers of youth to engage with members of the team in ways that develop mutual understanding and positive exchange.

·        Help identify natural and informal supports for clients and families.

·        Assist in the development of the individualized goals based on the strengths of the family.

·        Empower and support self-advocacy, ensuring that parent voice and choice is paramount in all services provided and at all WISe WDT meetings;

·        Strategize with treatment teams on how to engage parents/caregivers in a solution-driven, non-adversarial way.

·        Mentor parents/caregivers and act as a bridge between the family and the treatment teams in the best interests of the child/youth/consumers.

·        Educate, empower and connect parents/caregivers to formal and informal resources and supports at agency, local, statewide, and national levels.

·        Model family and professional partnership skills of effective communication and collaboration at team meetings in a strengths-based and family-centered way.

·        Support consumer families to engage with the treatment teams by strengthening the families’ voice at the team meetings when needed, or facilitating appropriate problem solving resolutions when the team has difficulties navigating the gaps between the needs of the family and the therapeutic interest of the child/youth consumers.

·        Actively participate in appropriately identified treatment teams, providing support to the parents/caregivers and families and consultation to all team members.

·        Refer and link families to formal and informal resources and supports.

·        Support selected parents/caregivers to further understand and negotiate systems and system’s resources.

·        Support parent/caregiver requests for mentorship for their own growth as Parent Partners and Advocates.

·        Advocate within multi-system settings, on behalf of Children/Youth and Families, from the parent perspective.

·        Attend meetings as requested by parents/caregivers.

·        Ensure that resources to address cultural and language barriers are provided.

·        Help to organize a means by which parents/caregivers can exchange information, create resources, receive support, tell their own stories, collect ideas, and develop natural supports. This is to include the development of any action plans pursuant to the needs and wishes of any formal or informal parents group.

·        Work jointly with the Family Resource and Support Team and representatives and other child/youth/family serving agencies to include, but not limited to, DSHS, DJR, MH, DASA, PH, EDUC.

·        Submit appropriate documentation in a timely manner.

·        Maintain client confidentiality as set forth in the Oath of Confidentiality.

·        Participate in supervision.

·        Attend national, state and local forums, workgroups, and events to connect with other systems and enhance understanding of best practices.

·        Attend Family Resource and Support Team events, including retreats and picnics.

·        Assist with continual process improvement.

·        Practice and model non-adversarial advocacy skills, including how to advocate for policy changes at the county and state level.

·        Provide direct advocacy, day to day support and team involvement to parents/caregivers.

·        Attend national, state and local forums, workgroups, and events to connect with other   systems and enhance understanding of best practices

·        Connect other families to opportunities for local, state and national legislative action/advocacy efforts.

·        Understand recovery concepts in behavioral health.

·        Apply recovery concepts, as appropriate to my work at SMH.

·        Synthesize and demonstrate recovery concepts in my work at SMH.

·        Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills:

·        Desire to empower others to be self-sufficient.

·        Create autonomy through collaboration and building of natural supports.

·        Ability to assist others in recognizing their own strengths and help them develop in their areas of expertise.  Ability to deal effectively with staff and clients essential.

·        Able to deal effectively with staff and clients.

·        Must demonstrate a commitment to service and professionalism through appropriate conduct and demeanor.  Willingness to diligently and accurately report time and expenses.

Qualifications:

·        GED or high school equivalent required, or actively pursuing.

·        Experience with system advocacy for own family or others, and willingness to partner.

·        Must be a parent or caregiver of a child/youth who is or has been involved in the systems of care.

·        Must have experience with severely emotionally disturbed children/youth.

·        Must have a parent’s perspective and the intimate knowledge of the expectations and range of experiences of parents and caregivers of children with serious emotional and behavioral disorders.

·        Washington State Peer Counselor Certification or the ability/availability to begin the certification process within the first year of employment.  Must be able to obtain a WA State Agency Affiliated Counselor credential within the first 30 days of hire.

·        Must have WA state driver’s license and insurable driving record as well as reliable transportation.

Salary = DOQ.

Send letter of interest, resume and salary history to: Sound Mental Health, Attn: Alexis Owens, Job #17-214, 6400 Southcenter Blvd, Tukwila, WA 98188, or fax to (206) 302-2210, or e-mail to AlexisO@smh.org