Bereavement Counselor (Per Diem)

Metropolitan Jewish Health System•New York, NY

1d•$43

About The Position

MJHS is a large not-for-profit health system in the Greater New York area, offering a range of health services including home care, hospice and palliative care for adults and children, rehabilitation and nursing care, and health plans for Medicare and dual-eligible individuals. The organization is committed to quality care, diversity, and a supportive culture that values employee autonomy, collaboration, and professional growth. MJHS provides comprehensive compensation and benefits, career development, and opportunities for work-life balance and advancement. The company is also a qualified employer under the Federal Government’s Paid Student Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF). The Bereavement Counselor at MJHS will work within groundbreaking hospice and palliative care programs, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the stages of grief and its various manifestations. This role involves utilizing professional training and clinical expertise to provide best practices in bereavement care for up to 13 months post-death to identified primary caregivers. Services include short-term individual, couple, and family counseling, support groups, annual memorial services, check-in calls, and guidance to referrals and resources. Familiarity with the hospice concept and its implementation is essential. Bereavement counselors also contribute to research initiatives, marketing efforts, agency-wide committees, quality improvement, staff grief support, community grief education, and clinical training and supervision of bereavement interns.

Requirements

Master’s Degree or PhD. in social work, psychology, mental health counseling, marriage or family counseling
Minimum of three to five years’ experience working in clinical social work, mental health clinic setting, hospice bereavement or senior case management and /or various health care settings
Familiarity with the hospice concept and its implementation is required.

Nice To Haves

Preferred experience working with adult with complex trauma histories and PTSD symptomology and/or familiar with PTSD system approaches and PCTI based practices

Responsibilities

Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the stages of grief and how it manifests in a variety of ways for the bereaved such as emotionally, physically, socially, physiologically and spiritually.
Utilize professional training and clinical expertise to ensure best practices in bereavement care post-death for up to 13 months to all identified primary caregivers.
Provide supportive therapeutic services including short-term individual, couple and family counseling, support groups specific to the type of loss experienced, annual memorial services, check in calls and guidance to referrals and resources as needed.
Provide support and guidance in research initiatives, marketing efforts, participates in agency wide committees, quality improvement initiatives, maintains a grief support role to hospice staff and offer professional grief education to the community at large.
Engage in clinical training and supervision of bereavement intern and will assist when asked to support department functions and goals.
Effectively triage bereavement referrals to ensure appropriate level of intervention will be provided and collaboratively work routinely with the IDT members to meet the grief and loss needs of patients, family members and staff.
Facilitate the provision of bereavement programming and/or events along with direct care services: i.e.: individual, couples, children, family and group counseling services specific to the loss experienced.
Engage in process improvement activities to enhance the needs of program and organization.