Career Opportunities

Becoming part of the Sweetser family means you can make a difference in the lives of Maine children, adults, and families every day. As a nationally recognized and accredited leader, we offer competitive salaries, a wide range of benefits and the opportunity to join a passionate team of more than 700 employees. 

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Hourly Rate: $18.00-$20.00 dependent upon experience 

$2,500 Sign-On Bonus!

The Family Support Specialist will work within the Behavioral Health Home team, consisting of the Clinical Supervisor, Nurse Care Manager, Health Home Coordinator and the Family Support Specialist, to support families in the community with the management of physical and behavioral health needs.  The Family Support Specialist is an individual who has a family member who is receiving or has received services and supports related to the diagnosis of a mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, and/or developmental delay, and self-identifies on this basis with Behavioral Health Home members. 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Willingness to share their own experience to build trusting and caring relationship with families.
• Demonstrate full inclusion and respectful partnerships by engaging in respectful conversations with the Behavioral Health Home team, (Clinical Supervisor, Nurse Care Manager, Health Home Coordinator).
• Facilitate youth and family engagement within the program.
• Navigate educational and community service supports for children and families.
• Support the team to be guided by the family voice/choice, acting as a bridge-builder between the family and the team.
• Participate in crisis intervention, resolution, and follow up services.
• Identify, with families, opportunities and methods to develop new supportive relationships in their community as youth transition from out-of-home placement back into the community.
• Facilitate satisfaction of shelter, food, clothing, affiliation, and other basic needs.
• Identify with family's methods they can use for the storage of documentation and schedules that supports services for their children, for the family to track and attend scheduled appointments.
• Support guardian, youth, and other natural supports by assisting in identifying methods for discovering, developing, and strengthening natural supports in their lives by searching for and participating in classes, support groups or other types of services, and resources to the help the person served to learn more about their condition(s) and/or maintain health.
• Facilitate transportation to medical appointments and other community integration activities. This may involve occasional transportation in employee’s vehicle and/or coaching and/or modeling the use of public transportation.
• Comply with all requirements for appropriate documentation.
• Family Support Specialist complies with all documentation requirements.

CLINICAL PRODUCTIVITY:

The team is expected to work with each family for a minimum of one hour monthly and the work of the Family Support Specialist contributes to the expected attestation.

EDUCATION:

• High School Graduate/GED Required; College preferred.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS REQUIRED:

• Maintain adequate personal vehicle insurance.
• Valid state driver’s license.

EXPERIENCE:

• Lived experience as a caregiver for a child with severe emotional disturbance and/or developmental delay required.
• Experience in behavioral healthcare preferred.
• Customer service and/or other business experience preferred. · Experience with electronic health records preferred.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• Communicate ideas and opinions in a clear and constructive manner both verbally and in writing.
• Able to work both as part of a team and independently.
• Ability to organize and prioritize.
• Demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills: patience, active listening and curiosity. Skill with and training in Motivational Interviewing preferred.
• Knowledge in the following areas preferred: Child development, adverse childhood events, family systems, special education, mental health, developmental delays, juvenile justice system.