Licensed Yeshiva-Based Support Specialist

PURPOSE: Jewish Community Services (JCS) takes a population health approach to supporting the mental health and well-being of New York Citys Jewish community. JCS works to reduce stigma prioritize prevention strengthen resiliency and create clear pathways to care for individuals families schools and role supports yeshiva day school communities through a flexible school-based wellness model building trusted relationships providing early mental health assessment brief stabilization clinical consultation psychoeducation and strengthening pathways to care. As the model grows the Specialist will also offer training and consultation to additional schools beyond the two anchor OVERVIEW: The Licensed Yeshiva-based Support Specialist will be embedded in two anchor yeshiva day schools with the majority of weekly hours devoted to direct school-based support. This includes clinical consultation with school staff short-term assessment and brief intervention with students workshops and psychoeducation programming for parents and teachers. The goal is not to replicate a therapy caseload but to offer trusted culturally responsive and accessible mental health support and clear pathways to JCS and the Center for Jewish Mental Health when more intensive care is remaining hours each week are structured for program development community outreach and expanding JCSs reach to additional yeshiva schools. This includes participating in planning meetings attending introductory conversations with prospective partner schools providing occasional trainings or consultations beyond the two anchor sites and contributing to the development of program materials and workflows. Training material development is supported by the JCS program team; community connections are supported by the Assistant Director of Community is a new role built to replace the prior Yeshiva Services Program with a more flexible population healthoriented model. It requires someone who is clinically grounded culturally attuned to Orthodox Jewish and yeshiva communities comfortable working in an evolving environment and motivated to help build something ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:Anchor School SupportProvide clinical consultation to school staff regarding student mental health concerns behavioral and emotional challenges and appropriate next brief student assessments and short-term intervention including brief stabilization safety assessment and crisis de-escalation as needed with a focus on early identification and connection to care not an ongoing therapy classroom-based wellness workshops and student-facing programming focused on resilience coping emotional awareness and psychoeducation trainings for teachers and parents on key topics including adolescent development anxiety and stress grief trauma-informed support and referral regular consultation windows or open availability within each school with flexibility to respond to emerging warm handoffs and active linkage to the Center for Jewish Mental Health JCS programs and other community resources as school communities during critical incidents and periods of heightened stress including staff support consultation with school leadership and coordination of follow-up care in close collaboration with JCS leadership and clinical Development and Community OutreachParticipate in program planning meetings supervision and team consultation to ensure clinical quality and alignment with JCSs population health school-based observations and insights to help shape training content programming priorities and model refinement with material development supported by the JCS program introductory meetings and relationship-building conversations with prospective partner schools supported by the Assistant Director of Community occasional trainings workshops or consultations to schools beyond the two anchor sites as the program JCS and the Center for Jewish Mental Health in community settings and support broader outreach to yeshiva activities consultations workshops referrals and emerging trends to support program evaluation and funder refine workflows communication practices and referral pathways as the yeshiva wellness model COMPETENCIES for the position include:Strong clinical knowledge of child and adolescent mental health including comfort with brief assessment triage short-term support and consultation without functioning as a primary cultural competence and understanding of Orthodox Jewish communities yeshiva day school culture religious norms family systems and sensitivities related to mental health stigma and to build trust and credibility with school leadership teachers parents and students while representing JCS with professionalism and facilitation and public speaking skills including comfort presenting to diverse school and self-directed with the ability to manage two school relationships and a varied portfolio of responsibilities within a developing program and relational working style; ability to partner across JCS programs the Center for Jewish Mental Health and school communities including experience working within multidisciplinary teams alongside educators clinicians and community working in an evolving environment and helping to create structure where systems are still being written and verbal communication REQUIRED:New York State LMSW or experience in child and adolescent mental health in trauma-informed practice crisis intervention school-based mental health or community mental health REQUIRED/LANGUAGE PREFERENCE:Experience working with children adolescents families or school-based settings required; internship or field placement experience is to provide brief clinical assessment short-term support consultation and referral with appropriate supervision cultural competence and demonstrated understanding of Orthodox Jewish religious spiritual cultural and communal life required; experience in yeshiva day schools or Jewish communal settings language skills SKILLS REQUIRED: Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word Excel) and comfort with documentation systems and virtual communication AND MANUAL DEXIERITY:The candidate should be able to read paper and electronic documents and perform significant data entry into various computer programsWORK ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL EFFORTAbility to travel within New York City to yeshiva day schools and community locations; initial focus on Brooklyn with potential expansion to other to attend occasional evening programs parent workshops or school to work remotely when schools are closed during school breaks or as appropriate based on program needs and supervisor approval.