Early Childhood Attachment Intern

D A Blodgett-St Johns•Grand Rapids, MI

3d•Remote

About The Position

Early Childhood Attachment Services is designed to provide home based parent-infant support and clinical intervention services to families and pregnant mothers where the parent’s condition and life circumstances, or the characteristics of the infant, threaten the parent-infant attachment and consequent social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development of the infant. Services are designed to reduce the incidence and prevalence of abuse, neglect, developmental delays, behavioral issues, and emotional disturbances.

Requirements

Candidates must be enrolled in a master’s social work, counseling, or marriage and family therapy program at a university.
Candidates should have or be willing to work toward a level II MI-AIMH Endorsement by starting on an IMH Waiver.
Acceptance of supervision in order to improve assessment, psychoeducation and treatment skills.
Must possess a knowledge of early child development and the common diagnoses and treatments for children. Knowledge of clinical issues related to foster and adopted children and families is preferred.
Candidate must demonstrate competencies in the following areas: observation of parent/child interaction, developmental assessment, child management and understanding of the parallel process in therapeutic work.
The ability to provide effective individual & family therapy skills and possess a knowledge of community resources and supports for young children and families, and the skills necessary to facilitate and encourage positive change towards treatment goals.
The ability to assess, implement crisis intervention skills and safety plan.
Valid driver's license, good driving record and adequate insurance with a car available at all times.
Basic computer skills with knowledge of Microsoft Outlook and other software programs.
The ability to articulate ideas and prepare written reports and correspondence that are of a high professional standard, are grammatically correct and are timely according to program procedures.
Ability to collaborate with daycare, school, Department of Health & Human Services, behavioral health and medical health personnel.
Become familiar with and follow the code of ethics for your profession and agree to abide by the related agency policies.
Ability to be self-directed and autonomous while also operating as an interdisciplinary team.
Ability to work in a high stress and unpredictable environment.
The ability to work with a variety of clients, families and staff of differing socio- economic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds.
Personal qualities of warmth, sensitivity, and ability to establish meaningful therapeutic relationships.
Personal qualities of organizational skills, assertiveness, good judgment, conscientiousness, attention to detail, and timeliness.
A personal commitment to the Agency’s mission and values as demonstrated in service delivery

Responsibilities

Coordinate with other ECA therapists and ECA supervisor to observe family sessions to help facilitate their own development.
Manage small caseload of families, based on future license expectations and ability, while meeting face-to-face client contact expectations typically over 2 to 3 visits a month. When a client goes between two or more homes or caregivers, the intern will divide their time between those settings based on needs of the child and caregivers
Able to meet clients with their families in non-traditional settings, (i.e. client's home or public place that can accommodate privacy) during hours that meet the family's needs.
Provides direct service to include intake, assessment, individual/family therapy, and crisis interventions to families and on time objective documentation of these services in the client record in the electronic record system.
Utilize the Infant Mental Health model, provide parent-child psychotherapy and play therapy interventions that best fit the family’s needs based on your level of training.
Assess the needs of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families. Monitor child development using developmental assessments at intake and as needed to assess progress.
Provide parents with education, resources and training pertaining to child and family development.
Participate in monthly team meetings, monthly reflective supervision and at minimum bi-weekly individual supervision with demonstrated ability to implement feedback from supervisor.
Complete agency required expectations such as mileage reimbursement by required deadlines. Additionally, therapist should keep Outlook calendar up to date with client appointments.
Complete progress notes within 7 days of service delivery.
Coordinate with supervisor to provide data and documentation to meet Ready by 5 contract expectations.
Staff will be accessible, maintaining flexible hours, at least 3 days a week. If staff is unavailable, he/she will arrange for a team member or supervisor to be available for clients.
It is expected that interns will work at least 16 hours per week.
Will complete a minimum of 24 child and family focused training hours per calendar year along with any agency required trainings.
Other responsibilities shall include those set forth in Agency personnel policies as amended.