Child First Mental Health Clinician - Alexandria Region

Mental Health Clinician

Program Description

Child First is an intensive, early childhood, in-home visiting model that helps families build strong, nurturing relationships that heal and protect young children 0-5 years from the impact of trauma and chronic stress, with the goal of healing.

Summary of Position

The Mental Clinician partners with a Care Coordinator to support families referred to Child First. The Clinician uses Child Parent Psychotherapy, a relationship-based, dyadic, parent-child treatment model, which focuses on the primary attachment relationships of the young child. The Clinician engages with both the caregiver and child in a supportive, reflective, and exploratory manner which fosters a protective, nurturing, and responsive parent-child relationship. The Clinician’s therapeutic intervention focuses on helping caregivers understand typical developmental challenges and expectations, increasing caregivers’ ability to reflect on the meaning and feelings motivating a child’s behavior, supporting caregivers’ problem solving, and helping caregivers understand the psychodynamic relationship between parental feelings, history, and the caregiver response to the child. The Clinician also provides consultation to teachers in early care and education settings, as needed. The best candidate for this position is highly organized, self-motivated, reliable, and flexible with an openness to learning, capacity for self-reflection, eagerness to participate in reflective clinical supervision.

*Includes occasional travel to other regions and in-office travel to Monroe once a month*

Key Responsibilities

• Commitment to the CHILD FIRST® model
• Licensed or Provisionally Licensed
• Experience working psychotherapeutically with culturally diverse children and families, including parent-child therapeutic work and play therapy.
• Experience with Trauma-Informed Therapy & Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) highly valued
• Knowledge of relationship-based, psychodynamic intervention and early child development; parent-child relationships and attachment theory
• Experience providing mental health assessment and consultation to early care and education sites preferred.
• Knowledge and experience working with adults with mental health, substance use, and cognitive challenges preferred.
• Ability to exercise discretion and maintain client confidentiality.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Valid driver’s license and vehicle in good working condition.
• Valid Louisiana registration & certification.
• First aid and CPR certification.
• Microsoft Office Suite, email and Internet.
• Approved to meet the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services criteria.

Qualifications

• Licensed or license-eligible master’s or doctoral level mental health provider (e.g., LMSW, P-LPC, LCSW, LMFT, LPC,, clinical psychologist, other)
• Experience working psychotherapeutically with culturally diverse children and families, including parent-child therapeutic work and play therapy with very young children (0-5 years), for a minimum of three years preferred.
• Knowledge and experience working with adults with mental health, substance use, and cognitive challenges preferred.
• Experience providing intervention within diverse home-community setting, and driving to clients homes throughout an assigned region.
• Reliable vehicle and appropriate insurance.

Benefits:

• 401 (k)
• Flexible schedule
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance

Work Location: On the road

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $62,000.00 - $64,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Flexible schedule
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance

Work Location: On the road

Salary : $62,000 - $64,000