Clinician, FFT

CLIFFORD BEERS COMMUNITY CARE CENTER•New Haven, CT

3d•$55,000 - $70,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Clifford Beers is a mental health clinic serving children and families. Our mission is to provide integrated services addressing mental, physical, and social determinants in order to improve health, resiliency and quality of life for children, families and communities. The implementation site uses the Functional Family Therapy (FFT) modality with (target population(s) – (each) with its own referral and reporting requirements. This program operates under the direction of the director FFT. The therapist will provide, at a minimum, weekly one hour, home-based family therapy sessions to clients. Therapists will utilize the FFT model with families who have adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18. Therapists will be required to carry a caseload of 10 to 15 families, providing services anywhere from eight to 26 weeks. This position requires flexibility in hours to meet families when they are available.

Requirements

A Master's degree in Social Work (MSW), Mental Health Counseling, Psychology, or a closely related field.
Licensure: Often requires an active, license-eligible status (e.g., LMSW, LCSW, LMFT-A, LMFT LPC-A, LPC, or equivalent).
Ability and willingness to work with families in their own homes
Flexibility: The ability to schedule evening or weekend sessions to accommodate the families' availability.
Ability to work independently, as well as contribute to a team
Very good interpersonal/communication skills
Strong clinical skills
Ability to internalize and work within the FFT philosophy and model
Ability to work with adolescents
Ability to work with respect for cultural diversity
Ability to engage families who may not want the service
Ability to adapt and individualize program interventions to utilize family strengths and skills
Commitment to empowering families to solve their own problems
Belief in the capacity of people to grow and change
Ability to establish a mutually respectful relationship, in which the family is a full partner, empowered to solve their own problems
Ability to intervene decisively, when necessary, to protect family members
Ability to set appropriate boundaries and limits for best practice

Nice To Haves

Experience working with adolescents, complex family systems, or the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.

Responsibilities

Implement the FFT model with youth and their families to reduce conflict, improve communication, and change problem behaviors.
Meet with families in their own homes, communities, or occasionally in an office setting.
Assess dynamics & plan treatment through assessment of patterns, family system, assess safety and risk, and develop targeted behavioral goals.
Manage acute behavioral flare-ups and help families build emergency safety and coping plans.
Track treatment progress, submit detailed session notes, and input data into specialized clinical databases in a timely manner as required.
Collaborate closely with child welfare agencies (like DCF/ACS), the juvenile justice system, schools, and other involved professionals.
Ensure to maintain model fidelity to the specific FFT treatment phases (Engagement, Motivation, Relational Change, and Behavior Change).
Ability to engage respectfully with families from diverse backgrounds.
A non-judgmental approach that empowers the family to identify their own dynamics and drive their own change.
Perform other duties as requested by direct supervisor and agency leadership.
Responds in a positive and respectful manner to diversity around the agency’s services, client and family population and staff.