Lead Alcohol and Drug Counselor

Reports To: Residential Program Specialist

Our mission is to break the cycle of addiction and trauma for women, children and families.

Seventy years ago, Wayside Recovery, formerly The Wayside House, Inc., began with a mission to improve the quality of women’s lives.

Since then, Wayside has become an expert in delivering gender-specific and trauma-informed substance use treatment and mental health services for women and their families.

Wayside Recovery provides a holistic array of substance use treatment for adult women, including outpatient and residential substance use treatment, recovery support services, adult and children’s mental health therapy, long-term supportive housing, and family support services.

Our vision is that all women, children, and families achieve healing and hope for their future free from the effects of addiction and trauma.

The Lead Counselor provides clinical and operational support to ensure consistent, high-quality programming and client care. This role serves as a resource to the clinical team, steps in to facilitate groups when coverage gaps occur, and supports day-to-day communication and coordination at the site level. The Lead Counselor promotes adherence to program expectations, supports staff development, and helps maintain a safe, therapeutic environment.

A counselor at Wayside provides individual and group counseling services as well as assessment services for women at Wayside’s co-occurring treatment programs in accordance with 245G guidelines.

Primary Responsibilities – Clinical & Program Support

• Carry a small caseload of 34 clients.
• Facilitate psychoeducational and therapeutic groups in alignment with program curriculum.
• Serve as a clinical resource and consultant to team members regarding client care concerns when the Site Specialist is unavailable.
• Assist in problemsolving client behavioral or engagement concerns in real time.
• Responsible for completing comprehensive biopsychosocial assessments for individuals entering the program. Ensuring that all intake documentation, clinical screenings, and risk assessments are completed accurately and in compliance with regulatory, licensing, and organizational standards. Collaborating with clinical, medical, and operations teams to ensure a smooth transition into care and that each client receives an appropriate level of treatment based on assessed needs.
Quality & Compliance
• Reinforce program policies, procedures, and best practices.
• Maintain confidentiality and HIPAA compliance at all times.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Must know and understand the legal and operational implications of Chapter 245G and related maltreatment and vulnerable adult statutes (including sections 245A.65, 626.557, 626.5572, and chapter 260E).
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Effectively manage a case load of women with cooccurring disorders.
• Provide direct services to clients including interviewing clients, intake, assessment, treatment/aftercare planning, individual and group counseling, and monitoring/evaluating client progress.
• Facilitate counseling groups; educational groups; conduct family meetings when possible.
• Maintain accurate, timely and complete records, including but not limited to documenting client assessments, treatment plans, progress notes, continuing care plans and discharge summaries.
• Complete direct access assessments and updates as needed.
• Maintain ongoing communication with referral sources, including written progress reports and phone communication.
• Role model behavior, which is consistent with and supportive to people in recovery from substance use disorders. Such behavior will include upholding ethical standards, reliable attendance and adhering to the mission of Wayside Recovery Center.
• Attend commencements and client events as scheduled.
• Identify available resources and refer clients to appropriate community services.
• Facilitate client access to community resources.
• Serve as a liaison to and/or provide inservices to substance use disorder and other related community service agencies as directed.
• Assist with the training and development of interns as directed.
• Participate in inservices, workshops, coursework, and other continuing education relative to quality client care.
• Provide crisis intervention/evaluation as needed.
• Participate in weekly multidisciplinary staff meetings.
• Participate in onsite clinical supervision.
• Work and collaborate with all teams.
• Follow all 245G guidelines.
• Maintain client confidentiality in accordance with state guidelines and HIPAA requirements, in addition to a working understanding of CRF42.
• This position may require work at alternative Wayside sites should staffing patterns require it.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS:
• Master’s degree preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership or senior staff experience preferred.
• Experience facilitating therapeutic groups required.
• ADCT or LADC with license in good standing or dual licensed with mental health licensure or prelicensure (LAMFT/LMFT, LGSW/LICSW, LPC/LPCC). Preference will be given to candidate with experience with mental health and traumainformed care.
• Three to five years clinical experience desirable.
• Strong clinical judgment and problemsolving skills.
• Ability to lead teams and provide realtime coaching.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills.
• Ability to remain calm and effective in crisis situations.
• Experience with mental health and trauma informed care.
• Must be able to pass DHS background study.
• Demonstrated ability to time manage and work effectively with women of diverse economic and cultural backgrounds.
• Organizational and excellent computer skills essential.
• Strong attention to detail with problem solving skills.
• Well organized and selfdirected who is also a team player.
• Microsoft Outlook/Office experience required.
• Reliable transportation.
• Must be able to demonstrate an ability to be responsive in an effective manner, while maintaining a warm and supportive atmosphere.
• Understanding of HIPPA and Mandated Reporting laws.
• Must be 18 years or older.
• Must be able to climb stairs.
• Must be able to lift 25 lbs.
LADC Qualifications:

The Minnesota Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy sets the qualifications for LADC licensure. The standard method requires:

• A bachelor's degree.
• 18semester credits (or 270 clock hours) of alcohol and drug counseling coursework.
• An 880hour alcohol and drug counseling practicum.
• Passing a written comprehensive exam or both a written and an oral exam.
License/Certification:
• LADC license (Required)
Shift availability:
• Day Shift (Required)

Work Location: This is an in-person position. Hybrid/remote work is not offered for this role.

A staff member with direct contact must be free from problematic substance use for at least 1 year immediately preceding employment as a condition of employment.

This is a legal requirement for employment in licensed substance abuse treatment programs in Minnesota.

Benefits:

Stipends for on call counselor rotation

Retirement plan- Employees who are 18 years old and work at least 20 hours per week are eligible to participate upon hire and eligible for the 4% match after 1 year of employment and must be 21 years old and work 1000 hours in the calendar year

• 403(b)
• 403(b) matching employer match (4% match eligible after 1 year of employment and 21 years old and work at least 1000 hours in the calendar year)

Benefits- Full-time employees working 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll

• Health insurance a portion of the premium is paid by the employer
• Dental insurancepaid 100% by the employee
• Vision insurancepaid 100% by the employee
• Life insurance 50K Paid by Wayside for all full time employees
• Disability insurance, STD and LTD Paid by Wayside for all full time employees

Voluntary Life, Hospital, Accident and Critical illness- paid 100% by the employee

PTO
• Paid time off for full time employees starting at 120 hours accrued annually
• Paid training
• Student loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program
• CEU and License renewal fee reimbursement