What are the responsibilities and job description for the Youth Services Specialist II - Grand Mesa YSC - Grand Junction position at Colorado Department of Human Services?
Department Information
Please note: This recruitment may be used to fill multiple vacancies (Including both part and full time positions).
Most State of Colorado employees are eligible for a great benefit package! Please see the Supplemental Information section below for details!
Physical Job location:
Grand Mesa Youth Service Center
360 28 Road
Grand Junction, CO 81501
About the Division of Youth Services:
We invite you to explore the DYS website and learn about the services provided to youth, families, and local communities in the State of Colorado
at: https://www.colorado.gov/cdhs/dys
We are committed to increasing the diversity of our staff and providing culturally responsive programs and services. Therefore, we encourage responses from people of diverse backgrounds and abilities.
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Description of Job
Description of Job:
- You have a passion for youth and a desire to improve your community
- You love learning new skills and teaching them to others
- You know how to lead others in maintaining a physically, socially, psychologically, and morally safe culture
- You thrive on developing healthy relationships, professionalism, and teamwork
About Division of Youth Services
This work unit exists to provide for the direct care, safety, and security of pre-adjudicated or adjudicated youth in the Division of Youth Services custody using a trauma-responsive approach. The unit exists to provide 24- hour, seven-day-a-week care and supervision of youth in a secure residential setting covering work assignments ranging from Admissions and Control, school and day programming, and detention, assessment, and commitment (long-term treatment) living units. The Division of Youth Services (DYS) is committed to hiring individuals who are professionals, team players, and passionate about their desire to help youth. DYS values candidates who have demonstrated perseverance as a special attribute that can help the youth in our care.
Safety/Security. Work involves providing direct care, safety, security, and supervision of adjudicated and/or pre-adjudicated youth in a secure setting. Monitor, participate, support, and enforce behavioral management plans for individual youth as directed (e.g. Behavioral Contracts, Individual Growth and Change Plans). Duties include supervision of youth or group of youth, supervision of daily activities, youth orientation, intervention in crisis situations, non-escalation, de-escalation, use of physical response/restraint in emergency situations, debriefing of all incidents, and conducting searches. The Work Leader's duties include staff accountability for quality and quantity of work, shift supervision, training, coaching and mentoring of YSS I employees, establishing work standards, performing quality assurance functions, and providing input for performance evaluations.
Youth Center Programming. Actively and with positive engagement, implement and follow the Youth Center’s behavioral management program, teach, coach, and redirect youth within the program. Support DYS initiatives and strategies as they relate to youth programming and crisis intervention. Facilitating milieu and skill groups for youth.
Documentation/Recording and Reporting. Document observations of youth behavior and response to program(s) and document all unit activities and required information in appropriate logs and records systems. Document all youth group activities in appropriate database systems.
Organizational Accountability. Through all communications and behaviors demonstrate, support, and contribute to a healthy, positive, and respectful cultural climate throughout the Youth Center by adhering to our organizational values of Nonviolence, Open Communication, Social Responsibility, Growth and Change, Social Learning, Democracy, and Emotional Intelligence. Requirement to adhere to the CDHS Code of Conduct, DYS Compliance Review Standards, and CDHS and DYS policies. Success will come through the development of healthy, positive relationships supported by creating a trauma responsive environment.
Training. Complete DYS Pre-Service training academy, Youth Center training, and orientation process as a new employee. Some travel may be required. Complete all assigned online training, and maintain and support the Division’s prevailing behavior management and intervention strategies. Training will help you learn problem-solving, the development of relationships with youth grounded in solid boundaries, how to teach skills to youth to decrease further risk and need, and a better understanding of trauma, behavioral health, and high- risk behavior.
Other Duties as Assigned
Minimum Qualifications, Substitutions, Conditions of Employment & Appeal Rights
*** Please read the entire job announcement and follow all of the instructions prior to completing the application. You must provide documentation to be given credit for it. There will be no exceptions on timelines to provide documentation. All documentation must be uploaded- this is the first evaluation in the selection process***
Note: Applications will be reviewed to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for the position. If it is determined that you meet the minimum qualifications, your application will also be used as part of the examination process. You should ensure that your application specifically addresses the requirements as listed in the minimum and preferred qualifications, as well as the job duties and the highly desired competencies. Take the time to adequately address your specialized experience, work products, and accomplishments as they relate to the position.
Minimum Qualification
Work Experience
One (1) year of full-time professional corrections-related* experience working in a correctional or trauma-informed facility.
- Corrections-related experience is defined as the custody and control of a detained or adjudicated population and/or experience as a POST Certified Officer, or Military Law Enforcement.
Note: Anything less than 40 hours per week is considered part-time experience. Credit is given for part-time work but is calculated by prorating the qualifying experience.
AND
Educational Requirements
High school diploma or General Education Diploma, (GED).
Substitution: College with course work in social or behavioral sciences, criminal justice, human services, physical education/recreational studies or closely related field will substitute for the required experience on a year-for-year basis.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience working with adjudicated and/or detained youth within a secure facility
- Self-motivated
- Positive role model
- Attention to Detail
- Problem Solving
- Teamwork
- Effective Communication
- Adaptability
- Trainer certification in staff development
- Supervisory, management, and/or leadership experience
- Critical Thinking and Decision Making skills
- Google Suite: Docs, Sheets, Slides
- College degree in social or behavioral sciences, criminal justice, human services, physical education/recreational studies or closely related field
- Relevant years of state service experience.
Conditions of Employment
- Full Background. CDHS employees (all Direct contact with vulnerable persons): CBI name check and fingerprint check, ICON Colorado court database, Medicare fraud database, Reference Checks, Professional License verification (licensure requirements), Drug Screen, PREA (Division of Youth Services), Trails check (direct contact with children), CAPS (direct contact with adults – Mental Health Institutes, Regional Centers, Veterans Community Living Centers).
- Be a minimum of 21 years of age, with no felony convictions or history of domestic violence.
- Must possess a valid, unrestricted U.S. Driver's License
- Shift Work - subject to assigned Shift
- Travel- Transportation of youth in state vehicles travel to assigned training and/or alternate work sites.
- Continued employment is contingent upon successful completion of the DYS Pre-service Training Academy, Field Training Program (FTO), and mandatory annual training in all subject areas.
- Former State employees who were disciplinarily terminated or resigned in lieu of termination must (1) disclose that information on the application (2) provide an explanation why the prior termination or resignation should not disqualify the applicant from the current position, (3) provide the employee number from the applicant’s prior State employment. Absent extraordinary circumstances, prior disciplinary termination or resignation in lieu of termination and failure to provide this information will disqualify the applicant from future State employment with CDHS.
- The Diana Screen®, a sexual risk screening tool, is administered to all applicants to the Division of Youth Services (DYS) seeking positions of trust with children and teens to help ensure that ethical boundaries between children and adults are maintained. At the DYS, the safety and protection of the youth who have been entrusted to us is our #1 priority.
Appeal Rights:
Supplemental Information
For additional recruiting questions, please contact brennon.watts@state.co.us
About Us:
- Strong, secure, yet flexible retirement benefits including a PERA Defined Benefit Plan or PERA Defined Contribution Plan www.copera.org plus 401(k) and 457 plans
- Medical and dental health plans
- Employer supplemented Health Savings Account
- Paid life insurance
- Short- and long-term disability coverage
- 11 paid holidays per year plus vacation and sick leave
- BenefitHub state employee discount program
- Employee Wellness program MotivateMe
- Excellent work-life programs, such as flexible schedules, training and more
Remote work arrangements for eligible positions
Some positions may qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. For more
Our Values:
We believe in a people-first approach: To serve the people of Colorado, we develop a culture and work environment that creates an energized, inspired, and healthy team capable of giving their best to Coloradans.
Balance creates quality of life: We want our team to be resilient through a supportive workplace that values flexibility, health and wellness, and employee engagement.
We hold ourselves accountable: We take responsibility through our actions, programs, and results for the state of health and human services in Colorado.
Transparency matters: We are open and honest with employees, our partners, the Coloradans we serve, and the public.
We are ethical: We abide by what is best for those we serve by doing what is right, not what is easy.
Collaboration helps us rise together: We work together with all partners, employees, and clients to achieve the best outcomes for Coloradans.
We are committed to increasing the diversity of our staff and providing culturally responsive programs and services. Therefore, we encourage responses from people of diverse backgrounds and abilities.
ADA Accommodations: CDHS is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, our agency will assist individuals who have a disability with any reasonable accommodation requests related to employment, including completing the application process, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, participating in the employee selection process, and/or to perform essential job functions where the requested accommodation does not impose an undue hardship. If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodation to ensure you have a positive experience applying or interviewing for this position, please direct your inquiries to our ADAA Coordinator, Nancy Schmelzer, at cdhs_ada@state.co.us or call 1-800-929-0791.
~THE STATE OF COLORADO IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER~