MOUD Care Navigator - CID

Evergreen Treatment Services • Seattle, WA

9d • Onsite

About The Position

The MOUD Care Navigator role of the REACH Linkage to Care Program advances ETS’ mission by providing street-based care coordination, and light touch case management to individuals with opioid use disorder, connecting patients identified in emergency settings and street to MOUD care, harm reduction services, and ongoing support to improve treatment retention. This position will be deployed in neighborhoods experiencing heightened community concerns related to unsheltered homelessness, public safety, street-level substance use, and underground economies. Success in this role requires exceptional stakeholder engagement, communication, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to navigate complex and politically sensitive environments, build consensus among diverse partners, and effectively represent evidence-based approaches with healthcare providers, public safety agencies, government leaders, businesses, residents, and community stakeholders. Through embedded care navigation and strong cross-system collaboration, the program strengthens the continuum of care by facilitating warm handoffs, reducing barriers to treatment access, and supporting patient engagement, retention, and re-engagement in MOUD services.

Requirements

• High School Diploma or GED required; additional education preferred.
• Academic training in social services, substance use disorder, and mental health treatment desired.
• Lived experience is highly desirable and may substitute for some educational requirements if relevant project management and/or effective team-building experience is demonstrated and reflected in work history.
• Minimum of three years of experience in social work, outreach programs, or a related field.
• Knowledge of the medications used to treat opioid use disorder (e.g. methadone, buprenorphine, etc.) and ability to offer options counseling related to this service adapted to an individual’s stage of change.
• Experience providing services from a harm reduction perspective to individuals experiencing behavioral health challenges is highly desirable.
• Have an understanding of racial justice and social equity and a commitment to helping create an equitable environment for all ETS clients and patients as well as fellow staff.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation communication skills, with the ability to translate complex behavioral health, homelessness, and substance use issues into compelling, data-informed narratives that influence cross-system decision-making, policy development, and community support.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with clients, patients, and staff from a wide variety of ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds.
• Ability to prioritize workload and daily activities and complete tasks in a timely and efficient manner.
• Ability to set boundaries, resolve conflict and de-escalate issues.
• Must be able to pass a Washington State Patrol criminal background check.
• Strong interpersonal skills and verbal/ written communication skills.
• Flexible team player, with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and use discretion when handling highly sensitive information.
• Computer literate, with basic knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (or equivalent suites such as Google Workspace), as well as a high level of initiative in keeping current with technological changes.
• Skills needed include basic functions such as utilizing MS Outlook email and calendaring programs (or equivalent) and sending attachments, using MS Teams or equivalent chat, call, and videoconference features, and navigating search engines such as Edge or Google and carrying out browser searches and website benchmarking steps.
• The employee may be exposed to illicit drug residues and fumes or other bio-hazardous materials when carrying out job functions. There is also potential for exposure to bloodborne pathogens.
• ETS will provide employees with appropriate training to limit the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. Policies and procedures are in place addressing each item specifically.
• The employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms and talk or hear; frequently required to stand, walk, and kneel; occasionally to climb balance, or stoop; rarely to crouch or crawl.
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close, color, and peripheral vision and the ability to adjust focus.
• The noise level in the work environment is moderate.
• Must be comfortable working within outside agency locations, such as hospitals, community centers, shelters, clinics, and/or other partner organizations.
• Computer, photocopier, fax machine, phone, and appropriate equipment in hospital setting.
• Possible use of a program vehicle, for which a valid Driver’s License and acceptable driving would be required.
• Note that a driving record background check will occur initially and at periodic intervals.
• All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.
• Note that a Washington State Patrol criminal background check will be conducted periodically as a condition of ongoing employment, and candidates with prior criminal convictions will be invited to provide additional context as needed.
• ETS will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability so that they can perform the essential functions of a job unless doing so causes a direct threat to these individuals or others in the workplace and the threat cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation, or if the accommodation creates an undue hardship for ETS.
• We also seek to provide reasonable accommodation for the interview process.

Nice To Haves

• Additional education preferred.
• Lived experience is highly desirable and may substitute for some educational requirements if relevant project management and/or effective team-building experience is demonstrated and reflected in work history.
• Experience providing services from a harm reduction perspective to individuals experiencing behavioral health challenges is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Help ETS succeed in carrying out our mission through working together with other staff to transform systems of harm and inequity to create different approaches to improving community health and safety through addressing substance use and homelessness.
• Assist with the organization-wide initiative to reimagine our interconnectedness within our community to overcome the aspects of our society and organizational culture shaped by white supremacy and settler colonialism.
• Provide intensive outreach and accompaniment services throughout Seattle's Chinatown International District, utilizing a stages-of-change approach to engage individuals with opioid use disorder and tailor support to their readiness for change.
• Build trusting relationships through persistent, person-centered engagement and coordinate warm handoffs, direct accompaniment, transportation support, and linkage to MOUD and other behavioral health services.
• Provide intensive follow-up and re-engagement support to promote treatment retention, particularly for individuals receiving MOUD, while responding to referrals from REACH teams, community partners, healthcare systems, crisis responders, and other aligned programs.
• Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with businesses, residents, law enforcement, crisis responders, healthcare providers, social service agencies, and other neighborhood stakeholders in the Chinatown International District.
• Coordinate client-centered care plans across systems to improve treatment engagement, retention, and continuity of care for individuals with opioid use disorder.
• Partner with MOUD providers, outreach teams, housing programs, and community-based organizations to reduce service gaps and strengthen care coordination.
• Provide focused, short-term case management to address immediate barriers to MOUD engagement (e.g., transportation, housing instability, communication, insurance, co-occurring needs).
• Deliver harm reduction education and survival supplies, support understanding of MOUD options, and proactively re-engage participants to promote retention in care.
• Document outreach, engagement, and care coordination activities in required systems and support program reporting requirements.
• Identify and elevate systemic barriers impacting MOUD access and retention to inform program and system-level improvements.
• Local travel on behalf of the Agency is a job requirement.
• Additional duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Medical and Dental benefits, as well as voluntary Vision benefits.
• 403b Retirement Plan with employer match starting at 2% at 1 year, and Roth IRA.
• Basic Life/ADD/FSA tax saving accounts for health and dependent care.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP), voluntary long-term disability coverage.
• Vacation (2 weeks/year, access at 6 months), Sick leave (24 days/year, access at 30 days).
• Mental health leave (12 days/year, access at 30 days).
• Holidays (12 days/year) and one Floating Holiday per year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: High school or GED