Behavior Specialist of First Five

Directions for Living•Largo, FL

16d•Remote

About The Position

The First Five program will provide trauma-informed care to support children and families by strengthening and enhancing services in early learning centers. First Five has an overarching goal of helping early learning center teachers create a trauma-informed culture in their classrooms. Through classroom observation, First Five identifies children needing behavioral support. There are two pathways of service depending on the level of complexity and risk of expulsion that a child is experiencing. This is a professional position providing intensive Behavior management. This position works in a team approach to decrease the number of children entering into a higher level of care due to their behaviors or to reduce the number of children that are unsuccessful in a classroom setting creating an educational set back whether that be as a result of an out of home placement or family instability concern related to the child experiencing an educational delays due to a lack of resources or support by utilizing a solution-focused, family centered approach and evidenced based practices to assist families in meeting needs and goals while preventing further incidents of abuse, neglect and abandonment. The Behavior Specialist will work with the other members of the team to provide a supportive, empowering and respectful relationship with families to facilitate change and emphasize the need to take action by providing both concrete services and family interventions. The intensive Behavior Specialist will be an active participant at the Integrated Decision Team process and will provide face to face visits with the family according the frequency required in order to mitigate risk. This position is required to complete entries into the agency electronic health record. DFL prides itself on the fact that it is a trauma informed care services provider. This position requires a Behavioral Health Certification through the Florida Certification Board (FCB) within 6 months of hire. Hours are flexible, evening and weekend work is required. This position will work closely with members of the First Five team such as: Counselor, IDT facilitator, and Supervisor in collaboration with other community service providers externally to provide complete comprehensive services. Responsible to meet productivity requirements of 112 billable hours monthly. This is a field-based position. Directions for Living is an essential services provider. All Directions for Living Team Members must be willing and able to provide vital support and essential services to the people that we serve in the event of an emergency, pandemic or other disaster situation.

Requirements

Must hold at least a Bachelor’s Degree Social Work or related area of study from an accredited university; or a Master’s Degree in Social Work or related area of study
A minimum of 2 years of experience working with at-risk populations to include families experiencing substance misuse, domestic violence, mental health, and emotionally disturbed children.
Must have BCABA or RBT certification.
Must acquire knowledge of community resources.
Must be computer literate and be proficient in Outlook, Excel spreadsheets, and Microsoft Word.
Must be able to work proficiently in a Windows environment and be able to learn other software applications quickly.
Must be willing and able to provide vital support and essential services to the people that we serve in the event of an emergency, pandemic or other disaster situation.

Nice To Haves

Experience with child welfare, early childhood education or children’s mental health preferred.
Knowledge of child development, including physical, mental, emotional and cultural issues preferred.

Responsibilities

Assessing, linking, coordinating and monitoring services from mental health, social and educational aspects, and providing those services within the home or in the community.
Provide face to face visits with the family according the frequency required in order to mitigate risk.
Complete entries into the agency electronic health record.
Meet productivity requirements of 112 billable hours monthly.