Relief Residential Counselor

SCHEDULE: On call, multiple shifts: day 645AM-315PM, evening 245PM-1115PM, or overnight 1045PM-715AM, including weekends, holidays, and weather or other emergencies. This position is essential in the event of an emergency.

Pays $16.00 per hour

JOB DESCRIPTION:

The Relief Counselor is responsible for the overall safety of the participants in the programs at 414 Harrison Avenue, 28 Rockwell Street, and 8 Church Street. The Relief Counselor will assist participants in obtaining their lunch meal and performing other activities of daily living (ADL) skills. The incumbent will also work with other staff to engage participants in leisure time activities. This program will follow the models of Housing First/Safe Haven. The Relief Counselor will create and maintain a respectful atmosphere that empowers very chronic, mentally ill participants to reach their highest level of functioning. Due to emergency or unforeseen program needs, staff may be temporarily or permanently reassigned to another Safe Haven program at any given time.

REQUIREMENTS:

• High School Diploma or GED
• Some basic prior human services trainings
• Minimum of six (6) months experience working in a shelter setting, community residence or in an inpatient setting
• Experience maintaining a safe environment for clients in a program setting
• Experience as a human services team member
• Familiarity with the concepts of rehabilitation and consumer empowerment
• Experience with dually diagnosed individuals, experience assisting people with ADL skills, comfort level working with participants with untreated psychiatric conditions, comfort with a harm reduction approach to substance abuse, effective writing and verbal skills
• Ability to respond to individuals in crisis
• Ability to climb multiple sets of stairs quickly and frequently
• Ability to assist certain individuals with ADL skills
• Ability to attend to multiple tasks
• Ability to tolerate stress and practice patience
• Ability to resolve conflicts diplomatically, supportiveness and nurturance
• Ability to set limits when needed, and observance of appropriate boundaries
• Ability to be open minded about exploring creative new ways to help clients maintain housing stability
• Willingness to use continuing education as a tool to gain ideas for improving client outcomes

PREFERRED:

• Advanced training in human services work
• Training in Motivational Interviewing and Trauma-Informed Care
• Previous experience working with a Housing First/Safe Haven model
• Experience with the homeless populationEssential Functions Include But Are Not Limited To:
• Comply with all Pine Street Inn policies, including compliance with all occupational health and illness prevention policies as applied to all PSI staff and to Safe Haven programming
• Be responsible for the safety and security of participants in various areas of the building.
• Supervise meal operations and cleanup.
• Work with other staff to help prepare occasional meals and holiday celebrations.
• Confer regularly with other program staff.
• Touch base regularly with each individual participant to see how each seems to be doing.
• Communicate any observed issues or problems via the log and verbal reports.
• Maintain positive relationships with other employees around the Inn and in other departments such as Food Services, Men’s Inn, Outreach, and Housekeeping.
• Participate in keeping the outside of the building secure.
• Set a tone of respect and support for all clients of the program.
• Work with participants to reinforce good ADL skills, including personal hygiene and leisure time activities.
• Assist participants in cooking, laundry and other activities of daily living as needed or requested.
• Provide peer support for other staff at the 414 Harrison Ave and 8 Church St. program when assigned to those sites.
• Guide chronically mentally ill clients in an intentional progression towards increased autonomy, improved life skills, and enhanced quality of life.
• Involve participants in milieu to enhance connectedness with life satisfactions and responsibilities.
• Introduce participants to hobbies, pastimes and movies on site. Apprise them of happenings of interest in the Boston Area.
• Meet for regular supervision with the Program Manager.
• Work together with other staff to assist clients with improving their overall quality of life.
• Maintain necessary records in a timely fashion.
• Encourage participants to be responsible neighbors.
• Be able to cover shifts at all Safe Haven locations
• Participate and help with the Foster Dog Program (when in effect) at Stapleton House/414 Harrison Ave., and/or the Therapy Dog Program at 8 Church Street by: giving food and water to the dog twice a shift at minimum, exercising the dog, encouraging interested participants to interact with the dog, informing the supervisor of any injury or illness the dog may exhibit and providing a clean living space for the dog.
• Perform other additional assignments or projects as requested/directed by supervisor.