Child First Family Resource Partner

Coastal Horizons Center•Fayetteville, NC

About The Position

Family Resource Partner partners with a Mental Health and Developmental Clinician to support families referred to Child First. The Family Resource Partner works collaboratively with the family to connect the child and family with desired, community-based services and supports while maintaining Child Firsts reflective, relationship-based stance. The Family Resource Partner also enhances caregiver executive functioning skills (e.g., planning, organizing, managing time, focusing attention, regulating emotions, reflecting on progress) and engages the caregiver-child dyad in activities to strengthen the attachment relationship. Through their work with families, the Family Resource Partner both decreases the toxic stress in the home environment and enhances opportunities for optimal child development, thereby promoting healthy brain development for infants and young children. The Family Resource Partner utilizes therapeutic interventions focusing on helping the caregiver to reflect on the meaning and feelings motivating a childs behavior and providing psychoeducation regarding child development. The Family Resource Partner also utilizes Abecedarian techniques to promote healthy attachment and development of the child.

Requirements

Completion of Bachelors Degree, within Human Service field preferred.
Meets requirements under 10A NCAC 27G.0104 as a Qualified Professional for Mental Health
Experience working psychotherapeutically with culturally diverse children and families, including parent-child therapeutic work and play therapy with very young children (0-5 years), for a minimum of three years is highly valued.
Openness to learning, capacity for self-reflection, and eagerness to participate in reflective clinical supervision.
Knowledge of relationship-based, psychodynamic intervention and early child development; parent-child relationships and attachment theory; effects of trauma and environmental risks on early childhood brain development, especially violence exposure, maternal depression, and substance abuse; and community-level risk factors (e.g., poverty, homelessness).
Experience providing intervention within diverse home and community settings.
Able to work as part of a team.
Able to communicate well verbally and in writing.
Comfortable with computers and experienced with Word and Excel.
Reliable vehicle and appropriate insurance for home visits.
Must have a valid drivers license and be able to work in community settings.

Nice To Haves

Experience providing mental health assessment and consultation to early care and education sites.
Knowledge and experience working with adults with mental health, substance use, and cognitive challenges.
Ability to speak a second language (Spanish, Portuguese, Creole, other), highly valued.
Strong commitment to the vision, mission, and goals of Child First.
Highly organized, self-motivated, reliable, and flexible (including willingness to work non-traditional hours, including at least one evening).

Responsibilities

Provide community resource expertise to Child First team and families, including identifying and collaborating with community-based service providers and supports.
Engage with the Child First family and the Therapist in the collaborative family assessment process (i.e., use data from interviews, observations, interactions, and standardized measures to identify family strengths, needs, and challenges).
Promote family stabilization by working collaboratively with family to identify and support needs (both urgent and long-term), integrating service needs into the Child and Family Plan of Care, and addressing barriers to services as they arise.
Enhance caregiver executive functioning skills (e.g., planning, organizing, managing time, focusing attention, regulating emotions, reflecting on progress) as needed and in consultation with the Therapist and Coordinator.
Maintain a reflective stance when engaging with the caregiver to understand their motivation, needs, and possible barriers to new services and supports.
Use videotaping to enhance both therapeutic work with families and reflective supervision.
Utilize Abecedarian techniques to promote healthy attachment and development of the child.
Provide the family with interactive, growth-promoting play experiences.
Engage in weekly individual, team, and group reflective clinical supervision with Coordinator
Engage actively in all aspects of the Child First Learning Collaborative, including in-person or live-remote training, distance learning curriculum, and specialty training.
Track completion of all assessments and enter in the appropriate database.
Keep all appropriate documentation for clinical accountability and reimbursement.
Maintain schedule and complete tasks to achieve home visiting Benchmarks and meet Accreditation standards.
Provide mental health and developmental assessment and consultation within early care and education settings and to other early childhood providers.
Participate in other clinical and administrative activities as appropriate.