Equal Opportunity Employer
The mission of the Health Federation of Philadelphia is to promote health equity for marginalized communities by advancing access to high-quality, integrated, and comprehensive health and human services. Health equity is at the heart of all our work. We believe in and are firmly committed to equal employment opportunity for employees and applicants. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, religion, disability, sex or gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, military or veteran status. This commitment applies to all aspects of the Health Federation of Philadelphia’s employment practices, including recruiting, hiring, training, and promotion.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The MOM-PAT (Parents as Teachers) Program is a home visiting program providing services to pregnant women and parents with young children (0-5) who live in Philadelphia. The goal is to work with parents to build skills to become ‘the best teacher their child could have’. Services are provided to engage, maintain, and elicit self-determination in parenting among mothers, their partners, and other family members or caregivers. Home visiting is provided to families minimally two times a month by Parent Educators. The program relies on building relationships that will provide opportunities for individualized teaching strategies and for observing and coaching the parent or caregiver on the child’s developmental milestones. In addition, families are connected with resources that they may need to meet their family goals. Home visits are accomplished in home, community or virtually, depending on specific COVID-19 safety protocols and the judgement of both family members and home visitors.
The Behavioral Health/Mental Health Specialist will offer clients health assessment and screening; consultation; capacity building among the program’s home visitors; in-home behavioral health treatment until connected with community supports; and connection to ongoing community behavioral and mental health resources. Given the high risk of perinatal mood disorders, the behavioral health consultant will proactively offer all pregnant clients a minimum of two visits, once during pregnancy and once postpartum. If a behavioral health need is identified during those visits, the specialist will offer short-term in-home therapy, and connections to community mental health resources if ongoing support is needed. Additionally, any client who screens at risk for depression, has a behavioral health diagnosis, including substance use disorder history, or who requests help, will be referred to the behavioral health specialist for in-home assessment and therapy as indicated.
The behavioral/mental health specialist will offer education and training to parent educators on various topics such as perinatal depression and anxiety disorders, the use of psychotropic medications and other areas related to the mental health of participants. When hiring the behavioral/mental health specialist, we will seek to hire someone with training in trauma-informed care and cultural humility who will be able to offer culturally competent care.
SPECIFIC DUTIES
Supplement the Parents as Teachers model to Philadelphia residents enrolled in the MOM Program:
- Provide behavioral health assessments and screening services to all newly enrolled clients.
- Provide brief in-home behavioral health/mental health treatment and connection to ongoing community behavioral health resources.
- Consult with parent educators and build capacity in client care and management.
- Maintain and submit timely family documentation of each encounter, including assessments, screenings, and resource referrals.
- Participate in staff meetings and continuous quality improvement projects held twice monthly.
- Provide direct participant group meetings education focusing on mental health subjects.
- Offer education and training to parent educators on various topics such as perinatal depression and anxiety disorders, the use of psychotropic medications and other areas related to the health of participants.
- Meet with the supervisor for a minimum of two hours monthly for reflective supervision. Additionally, discuss procedures, protocol, and other administrative processes to ensure quality provision of services for families, record keeping, and data entry.
Qualifications
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Education
- This position requires a minimum of a master's degree. This position is offered to licensed professional counselor or licensed clinical social worker
- Demonstrated ability to work with parents and their children.
Skills/Experience
- Demonstrate strong interpersonal skills that reflect ethics, empathy, conscientiousness, independence, openness to diversity and commitment to learning and education.
- Must be willing to visit low-income and diverse families in their homes. Must be comfortable with delivering educational services in a non-judgmental, strengths-based manner to provide professional parent instruction to families, supplementing the Parents as Teachers curriculum and the family's parent educator. Visits may be virtual at this time.
- Demonstrate strong written and verbal communication skills that reflect patience, cultural humility, and honesty. Dual linguistic capability in Spanish is requested.
- Able to travel throughout Philadelphia. If driving, the behavioral health specialist must have a reliable car, driver’s license, and current insurance.
Salary: $68,000 to $71,000 /year, depending on experience.
Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination must be produced upon hire.
Salary and Benefits
Our employees are our most valuable resource, so we offer a competitive and comprehensive benefits package, which can include:
• Medical with vision benefits
• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending accounts
• Life, AD&D and long-term care insurance
• Short- and long-term disability insurance
• 403(b) Retirement Plan, with a company contribution
• Paid time off including vacation, sick, personal and holiday
• Employee Assistance Program
Eligibility and participation is handled consistent with the plan documents and HFP policy.
DISCLAIMER
The Health Federation reserves the right to modify, interpret, or apply this job description in any way the Company desires. The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by an employee assigned to this position. This job description in no way implies that these are the only duties, including essential duties, responsibilities and/or skills to be performed by the employee occupying this position. This job description is not an employment contract, implied, or otherwise. The employment relationship remains “at will.” The aforementioned job requirements are subject to change to reasonably accommodate qualified disabled individuals.