Director of Mental Health Central Valley

Description

ABOUT ASPIRE

Aspire Public Schools operates a network of highperforming college preparatory charter schools serving TK12 scholars in communities across California. Founded in 1998in an effort to transform the inequitable racial social and gender outcomes that our communities persist throughAspire is one of the largest and most forwardthinking openenrollment public charter school systems in the nation.

Our purpose is to prepare our scholars for success in college career and life. At Aspire we set a foundation for our scholars to gain knowledge skills and power to access and make choices for their families and postsecondary lives. Every day our community of students families teachers and staff comes together to learn work and play in an environment grounded in our values of Bienestar (WellBeing) Culture of Belonging Community Partnership Agency & SelfDetermination and Joy.

JOB SUMMARY

The Director of Mental Health Services will lead Aspire Central Valleys strategic vision for a comprehensive mental health and wellness framework that supports students and staff. This role is responsible for assessing refining and enhancing existing mental health programs with an emphasis on evidencebased practices crisis intervention and ongoing support. The Director will oversee initiatives that ensure equitable accessible mental health resources including the development of crisis response protocols preventive education direct services and professional development. Through this work the Director will foster a supportive environment that prioritizes emotional wellbeing resilience and effective crisis management across the Aspire community.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Provide strategic vision and leadership for Aspires mental health programming including developing best practices and evaluating initiatives relative to industry standards.
• Lead crossdepartmental collaboration to align mental health initiatives with organizational goals and improve service delivery.

• Partner with communitybased organizations and engage strategic partners to increase access to mental health services and build supportive environments.
• Collaborate with SEL Program Leaders to ensure integration with SocialEmotional Learning (SEL) for a holistic approach to student wellness.
• Design and lead engagement strategies to support mental health awareness and involvement among parents/caregivers and the broader community.

• Oversee and supervise mental health team members including supervision and collaboration of MHT3 and/or lead MHTs) ensuring licensure compliance and supporting professional growth.
• Develop and implement professional development opportunities for staff school administrators and stakeholders.
• Develop Tier 1 2 and 3 mental health best practices using an MTSS framework
• Establish and lead crisis based training program in the region (i.e. CSTAG and PREPaRE etc.

• Ensure compliance with mental health laws CA Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) policies and licensure requirements.
• Ensuring and monitoring Aspires regulations reflect best practices for schoolbased mental health programs.
• Ensure all mental health team members maintain active and valid licensure in alignment with California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) requirements.
• Monitor budgets lead and coordinate efforts on grant writing and management and oversee financial aspects related to mental health programming.

• Use data analysis to monitor program outcomes guide decisionmaking and address inequities in mental health service access and impact across sites.
• Collect analyze and interpret mental health data from school sites and regional departments to identify trends assess program effectiveness and set targeted goals.
• Establish datadriven benchmarks for mental health initiatives ensuring alignment with regional and equityfocused objectives.
• Support school and regional leaders in data literacy helping them understand and utilize mental health data to inform sitebased practices and interventions.

• Other duties as assigned.

• Knowledge of key concepts related to MTSS structures.
• Knowledge of current legal philosophical and ethical topics related to mental health delivery
• Familiarity with California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) policies and practices related to licensure.
• Cultural competence regarding equity racial justice and LGBTQ inclusion.
• Experience leading and forging productive collaborations across disciplines and levels of hierarchy.
• Exceptional writing verbal and interpersonal skills including public speaking.
• Keen analytical skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to think big picture as well as to translate ideas into realistic actionable plans.
• Ability to handle and respond to multiple competing priorities.
• Ability to collaborate with other Aspire Public School departments with a high level of personal investment in contributing to the priorities of the organization as a whole.
• Ability to synthesize and apply information for different audiences.
• Experience and adeptness in meeting facilitation.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision.

• Bachelors degree from an accredited college or university required.
• Masters degree required in Psychology Counseling Social Work Public Health or a related field.
• Active and in good standing licensure with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences in one of the following areas: Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) Licensed Educational Psychologist (LEP) or Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC).

• Minimum of 57 years of professional experience in mental health services including clinical experience in a school community or healthcare setting.
• Demonstrated experience in crisis intervention and management including developing and implementing crisis response protocols (i.e. CSTAG PREPaRE or other crisis response protocols)
• Proven track record in designing and implementing mental health programs with a focus on student wellness.
• Experience in supervision and training of mental health staff including clinicians counselors and support personnel.
• Strong background in collaborating with diverse communities and supporting equitable mental health practices.
• Knowledge of current best practices and legal regulations related to student mental health services in a school or educational setting.

Compensation:
Aspire Public Schools is dedicated to our teammates wellbeing! In addition to a competitive base salary that is benchmarked against local districts and charter schools we offer employees exceptional benefits including paid time off 100 core health benefits coverage on select plans life insurance/longterm disability participation in a CA state retirement plan tuition reimbursement plan and adoption assistance program.

Our salary schedule based on years of experience for this position type is reflected here:

Aspire Public Schools Director of Mental Health Services

Aspire Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race color gender religion age sexual orientation national or ethnic origin disability marital status veteran status or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria. Aspire promotes affirmative action for minorities women disabled persons and veterans.