Train and Earn Mental Health Counselor - Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, Inc.

Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT) exists to break the cycle of poverty and inequity through education, job training, and employment. Our vision is to strengthen the workforce by serving as a bridge to economic and educational opportunity for individuals in underserved communities. Through our skills-based training, educational services, and direct job placement efforts, we build upward economic mobility for out-of-school and unemployed youth and adults and provide the skills necessary to gain a competitive edge in the job market. Finally, OBT maintains a commitment to fostering and maintaininga work environment where diversity, equity, and inclusion are woven into our organizational DNA.  Position Summary
The Train & Earn (T&E) Program is a career pathways program for youth and young adults ages 16-24 that provides work readiness support, occupational skills training, and employment services, along with supportive services such as High School Equivalency (HSE) classes, paid internships, comprehensive case management, and access to post-secondary education and sector-based credential training.
As a member of the direct service teams, the Mental Health Counselor will complete contractually required enrollment steps, as well as a comprehensive assessment and corresponding service planning.  This work will be done in collaboration with each youth participant to elevate their experiences, their strengths, their interests, and their voice.  The Mental Health Counselor will build their caseload with those students presenting the most significant barriers, meeting with their participants regularly to work on barriers to program persistence and success, including the provision and follow through with referrals to other service providers.  The Mental Health Counselor will also complete all necessary data entry related to this work and support the larger team with other program activities, such as outreach and recruitment, workshops, post-exit placements, etc.  The Mental Health Counselor will serve as the immediate supervisor to the Case Managers and Retention Specialist and serve in a leadership role within the larger organization’s Case Management Team.
Essential Job Functions and Responsibilities

• Assess each applicant for program fit and match with contractual enrollment criteria.
• Complete a thorough assessment and design a corresponding service plan in collaboration with each qualifying applicant.  Complete necessary enrollment paperwork.
• Meet with program participants regularly to discuss barriers to program persistence and persistence in a post-exit outcome.  Make referrals to other service providers as necessary and ensure participants follow through with all referrals.
• Offer crisis counseling and group work when appropriate.
• Assure quality, timely data entry into both funder-mandated databases and the agency’s Salesforce instance.
• Complete exit steps at the end of each cohort and assist with the placement into positive outcomes for all youth. 
• Support a culture of professionalism designed to teach and cultivate a real-world working experience for the youth and young adults served. 
• Assist in identifying and developing services and programs not currently being offered. 
• Collaborate with balance of program team to fulfill all program functions and services that may need additional support. 
• Provide leadership to agency’s Case Management Team and provide direct supervision weekly to Case Managers and Retention Specialist.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Experience working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• A passionate commitment to OBT’s mission and vision.
• A track record in providing comprehensive case management services to young adults. Familiarity with the public and nonprofit social service systems and entities that target this population.
• Demonstrated experience developing programmatic systems to enhance program outcomes.
• The ability to establish strong working relationships with team members, colleagues, participants, and external stakeholders.
• The ability to consistently develop and refine the program model and processes to create successful outcomes for participants and staff.
• Experience working on multiple projects and balancing competing priorities.
• Strong skill set in data management and data tracking; demonstrated experience managing data collection, analysis, and reporting.

Education and Experience/Training

• A master’s degree in social work or related degree required, license preferrable.
• A minimum of 3 years’ experience in a social worker or comparable role.
• Experience providing individual supervision to staff fulfilling a case management role preferred.

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