Housing Specialist- ACT/FACT Pottstown

St. Luke’s University Health Network•Pottstown, PA

About The Position

St. Luke's is proud of the skills, experience and compassion of its employees. The employees of St. Luke's are our most valuable asset! Individually and together, our employees are dedicated to satisfying the mission of our organization which is an unwavering commitment to excellence as we care for the sick and injured; educate physicians, nurses and other health care providers; and improve access to care in the communities we serve, regardless of a patient's ability to pay for health care. The ACT/FACT Housing Specialist is a member of a multidisciplinary Assertive Community Treatment Team. The Housing Specialist provides supportive services—including outreach, monitoring, assessment and service planning, support network building, consultation to families, side-by-side skills training and instruction in the use of community resources, including referrals to community assistance, as needed. The Housing Specialist has personal experience as a recipient of mental health or co-occurring substance use services and is willing to partner with participants to facilitate their recovery and community integration.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree with major coursework in criminal justice, sociology, social work, psychology, counseling, or related field.
Must understand the principles of mental illness and ability to implement them, and behavioral best practice and crisis management planning.

Responsibilities

Meet with ACT participants—in their homes and other community venues—to provide in vivo services which improve the participants’ quality of life and maintain community tenure. Services include, but are not limited to: (a) Assisting with activities of daily living, (b) Budget planning and money management, (c) Maintenance of stable housing, (d) Accessing benefits and entitlements to increase financial independence, (e) Meal planning and grocery shopping, (f) Access to reliable transportation services, (g) Side-by-side coaching and training, (h) Transport and accompany clients to scheduled community activities or appointments.
Provide medication service—including delivery of medications and observation of ingestion—as directed by the team psychiatrist, nursing staff, and Team Leader.
In collaboration with other members of the ACT staff, provide service coordination for an assigned group of clients (a) Assume responsibility for developing, writing, implementing, evaluating, and revising treatment goals, (b) Provide individual and supportive counseling to assist with symptom management.
Provide on-call crisis services on a rotating schedule (including both primary on-call responsibilities and back-up on-call responsibilities)—as directed by the Team Leader—to cover program needs.
Complete documentation of all services in a timely manner, using the electronic health record, in accordance with program and Network standards.
Work weekend, evening, and holidays on a rotating schedule—as directed by the Team Leader—to cover program needs.
Cross-train with other ACT Specialties to provide other services (e.g., forensic support, vocational support, etc.) to the ACT participants.
The Housing Specialist builds and maintains relationships with landlords and housing-related stakeholders in the community—to build a network of housing resources for the ACT participants.
The Housing Specialist assists ACT participants with accessing and maintaining safe and affordable housing.
When available, the Housing Specialist assists with applications for and maintenance of housing-related funding (e.g., HUD subsidies, Section 8).
The Housing Specialist may provide educational and support groups to participants of the ACT Team—to address housing-related skills and needs.
The Housing Specialist provides primary support to ACT participants and provides cross-training to the other members of the ACT team—to assist with access to housing-related supports and resources—with the goal of promoting mental health stability and reducing forensic and hospital recidivism.
O ther duties may be assigned.