Mental Health Specialist

Mental Health Specialist is a trained mental health professional who works with assigned schools in the district to address students' social, emotional, and behavioral needs, as well as the needs of their families and school staff. They act as a bridge between the schools, home, and community, providing resources and support to help students succeed academically and socially. They provide individual, group, and family therapy to address a range of issues, including bullying, grief, family crises, and behavioral concerns.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

Coach School Leaders/Teams in Multi-Tiered Systems of Social & Emotional Support:

• Work closely with school administrators and school counselors to support effective leadership at the intersection of social, emotional, academic, and equity pedagogical work
• Collaborate with school teams ILT Teams and other appropriate support staff and assist with strategic planning to ensure better student outcomes
• Connect schools to SEL-related community partners, resources, tools, professional development, etc. Ability to refer students to the proper professional for additional help when needed.
  
  
  

SEL Integration:

• Integrate social-emotional learning (SEL) and behavioral intervention strategies in-network and school professional development, PLC activities, assessments, etc.
• Ensure integration of SEL and positive behavior supports with district priorities.
• Collaborate with our Administrators and Teachers in charge of, Physical and Health Education, English/Language Arts, and Social Studies to ensure integration of SEL in the subject areas where appropriate.
• Strong data tracking and documenting in providing feedback on SEL-related goals and action items within and progress monitoring of those efforts
• Ensure integration of SEL and climate supports with district priorities, particularly Framework for Teaching and Common Core implementation
• Facilitate parent, teacher, administrator, and community meetings to build knowledge around school SEL supports
  
  
  

Lead Effective Professional Learning:

• In partnership with the central office, coordinate initial professional development, and ongoing professional learning communities across network schools to support the implementation of evidence-based SEL and behavioral supports.
• Support in the development and implementation of school-level professional learning plans on topics aligned to supportive school indicators.
• Provide and/or connect schools to on-site staff PD in schools identified by need and/or commitment
• Support and lead district-wide SEL-related professional learning.
  
  
  

Consult on Behavior Incident Responses and Crisis:

• Regularly review and problem-solve around disaggregated discipline data
• When individual student social, emotional, and/or behavior issues arise, consult with school staff on prevention, de-escalation, and intervention strategies, and identify opportunities for minimizing or addressing behavior issues in the future.
• Understand the principles and the regulations around restraints and seclusion.
• Develop schedules, collect data, analyze the data from the district SEL Platform and develop the action plan for the students' rating areas such as emerging and or at-risk.
• Advise schools during emergencies and crises and facilitate communication and collaboration with the Counselors, Child Study Team Staff, and or Mental Health Practitioners.
• An urban education system with a focus on social, emotional, and behavioral support is strongly preferred
  
  
  

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Deep knowledge of evidence-based and promising equity-focused, trauma-engaged practices for developing students' social and emotional competencies, building relationships between school stakeholders, and increasing student engagement.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including External Partners, Administrators, Counselors, Child Study Team Members, and Mental
• Health Practitioners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support schools and students
• Expertise in guiding the analysis of data and data-based inquiry to ensure improvement in professional practice
• Experience using data to drive critical conversations and continuous improvement among peer and non-peer colleague groups
• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps
• Experience providing consultation and technical assistance to peer and non-peer audiences
• Experience coordinating and delivering professional development for a variety of internal and external stakeholders
• Skilled multi-tasker and excellent time manager; ability to effectively achieve multiple goals and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Any other duties assigned
  
  
  

Qualifications

• Master's degree from an accredited college or university in Education, Social Work Psychology, School Counseling, Social, Emotional and Behavioral Wellness or a related field is preferred.
• Three (3) years of experience in providing psychological or social work, and/or emotional support or counseling services to students who have experienced trauma, adverse childhood experiences.
• Experience working with students with behavior-related issues
• Current in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention training
• Experience in administering SEL Screening and understanding the interpretation of the screening results and developing individual SEL Plan for the students.
• Comprehensive knowledge, understanding of, and commitment to social and emotional learning (SEL).
• Must be a Louisiana Resident and Authorized to work in the US without sponsorship
• Successfully pass required criminal history background check
  
  
  

WORK ENVIRONMENT characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• This is an onsite, in-person position. Usual school/office environment
• May be noisy during high traffic times.
• Length of work day varies from school schedule to extended days due to evening activities and emergencies.
• May require work on weekends and/or holidays and scheduled breaks
  
  
  

Physical/Mental Demands

• Constantly communicating with others to exchange information accurately, loudly, softly, or quickly.
• Occasional walking, climbing stairs, bending kneeling, pushing and pulling, reaching and lifting up to 25lbs.
• Physical restraint of another person or persons as needed.
• Sitting and/or standing for long periods of time.
• Ability to provide personal transportation to school(s), work locations, meeting sites
• Vision abilities required include close vision, depth perception, peripheral and ability to adjust focus.
• Exposure to varying climates throughout the day.
• Ability to hear, understand and distinguish speech and/or other sounds.
• Ability to understand and interpret written and verbal instructions from their supervisor.
• Must be cognizant of policy and procedures related to the position and the implementation of said policies and procedures.
• Must demonstrate sensitivity/understanding in interpersonal relations with persons of diverse cultures/backgrounds.
  
  
  

The above job is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their supervisor. All employment is “at-will” as governed by the law of the state where the employee works. It is further understood that the “at-will” nature of employment is one aspect of employment that cannot be changed except in writing and signed by an authorized officer.

CSAL, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and a Drug-Free Workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected Veteran status age, or genetics, or any other characteristic protected by law.