Community Support Specialist

Job Description : Job Summary : The incumbent of this position is responsible for providing access to services in the community and community support services for individuals with mental illness and / or substance abuse problems onsite and / or within the community. Housing specialist will focus on case management of the homeless and chronically homeless clients in need of permanent supportive housing. Essential Job Functions :

• Implement and oversee landlord relationships and lease programs.
• Provide case management for those living in permanent supportive housing throughout the community.
• Assist clients in finding and retaining housing, plus identify sources for housing assistance, housing-based education, credit counseling and linkage to appropriate related community resources.
• Provide a holistic, person-centered care with emphasis on personal strengths, skill acquisition and harm reduction, while using stage-wise and motivational approaches that promote active participation by the individual in decision making and self-advocacy in all aspects of services and recovery / resiliency.
• Use interventions, based on individual strengths and needs, to develop interpersonal / social, family, community and independent living functional skills including adaptation to home, school, family and work environments when the natural acquisition of those skills is negatively impacted by the individual's mental illness and / or substance use disorder.
• Facilitate and support recovery / resiliency through activities including : defining recovery / resiliency concepts in order to develop and attain recovery / resiliency goals; identifying needs, strengths, skills, resources and supports and teaching how to use them; and identifying barriers to recovery / resiliency and finding ways to overcome them.
• Develop, implement, update, and revise as needed, a treatment plan that identifies specific, measurable and individualized interventions to reduce and manage symptoms, improve functioning and develop stability and independence. This plan is developed by a team consisting of the following as appropriate : the individual, family, community support specialist, community support supervisor, therapist, medication providers, schools, child welfare, courts and other supports.
• Provide services that result in positive outcomes including but not limited to the following areas : employment / education, housing, social connectedness, abstinence / harm reduction, decreased criminality / legal involvement, family involvement, decreased psychiatric hospitalizations, and improved physical health.
• Work collaboratively with the individual on treatment goals and service including the use of collaborative documentation as a tool to ensure that individuals are active in their treatment.
• Document services that clearly describes the need for the service, the intervention provided, the relationship to the treatment plan, the provider of the service, the date, actual time and setting of the service, and the individual's response to the service.
• Develop a discharge and aftercare / continuing recovery plan to include, if applicable, securing a successful transition to continued services.
• Contact individuals and / or referral sources following missed appointments in order to re-engage and promote recovery / resiliency efforts.
• Support individuals in crisis situations including locating and coordinating resources to resolve a crisis.
• Maintain contact with individuals who are hospitalized for medical or psychiatric reasons and participate in and facilitate discharge planning for psychiatric hospitalization and for medical hospitalization as appropriate.
• Provide information and education in order to learn about and manage mental illness / serious emotional disturbance and / or substance use disorders including symptoms, triggers, cravings and use of medications.
• Reinforce the importance of taking medications as prescribed and assist the individual to make medication concerns regarding side effects or lack of efficacy known to the prescriber.
• Build skills for effective illness self-management including psych education, behavioral tailoring for medication adherence, wellness / recovery planning, coping skills training, and social skills training.
• In conjunction with the individual, family, significant others and referral sources, identify risk factors related to relapse in mental illness and / or substance use disorders and develop a plan with strategies to support recovery and prevent relapse.
• Make efforts to ensure that individuals gain and maintain access to necessary rehabilitative services, general entitlement benefits, employment, housing, schools, legal services, wellness or other services by actively assisting individuals to apply and follow-up on applications; and to gain skills in independently accessing needed services.
• Ensure communication and coordination with and between other interested parties such as service providers, medical professionals, referral sources, employers, schools, child welfare, courts, probation / parole, landlords, and natural supports.
• Ensure follow through with recommended medical care, to include scheduling appointments, finding financial resources and arranging transportation when individuals are unable to perform these tasks independently.
• Develop and supporting wellness and recovery goals in collaboration with the individual, family and / or medical professionals, including healthy lifestyle changes such as healthy eating, physical activity and tobacco prevention and cessation; and coordination and monitoring of physical health and chronic disease management.
• Assist to develop natural supports including identification of existing and new natural supports in relevant life domains.
• In coordination with the treatment team, improving skills in communication, interpersonal relationships, problem solving, conflict resolution; stress management; and identifying risky social situations and triggers that could jeopardize recovery.
• Provide family education, training and support to develop the family as a positive support system to the individual. Such activities must be directed toward the primary well-being and benefit of the individual.
• Help individuals develop skills and resources to address symptoms that interfere with seeking or successfully maintaining a job, including but not limited to, communication, personal hygiene and dress, time management, capacity to follow directions, planning transportation, managing symptoms / cravings, learning appropriate work habits, and identifying behaviors that interfere with work performance.
• Build skills associated with obtaining and maintaining success in school such as communication with teachers, personal hygiene and dress, age appropriate time management, capacity to follow directions and carry out school assignments, appropriate study habits, and identification of behaviors that interfere with school performance.
• Build personal self-care and home management skills associated with achieving and maintaining housing in the least restrictive setting by addressing issues like nutrition, meal preparation; household maintenance including house cleaning and laundry; money management and budgeting; personal hygiene and grooming; identification and use of social and recreational skills; use of available transportation; and personal responsibility.
• Represent the agency in a professional manner.
• Demonstrates interest in long term and short-term goals and objectives of the company.
• Other duties as assigned by the Clinical Supervisor, Program Director, Vice President, or Executive Team member. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities :
• Knowledge of case management and rehabilitation methods, principles and techniques as they relate to mental health and / or substance use disorders.
• Knowledge of the problems encountered by persons with mental illness and / or substance abuse disorders and how to access the various community

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