Wellness Counselor (Senior Academic Counselor), Wellness & Accessibility Services

North Shore Community College•Lynn, MA

14h•Onsite

About The Position

North Shore Community College is a diverse, caring, and inclusive community dedicated to inspiring students to achieve their personal, academic, and career goals. We offer accessible, affordable, and rigorous educational opportunities aligned with regional workforce needs. As one of 15 Massachusetts community colleges, NSCC serves the area north of Boston with campuses in Lynn and Danvers. Since 1965, we have grown significantly and served nearly 50,000 graduates. The college is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).

Requirements

Master's degree in Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, Social Work, or a closely related field
Ten years of experience that includes internships, psychological counseling, psychotherapy services, crisis intervention, social work, and or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience, consistent with the MCCC Senior Academic Counselor classification specification.
Demonstrated experience responding to individuals experiencing emotional distress, behavioral health concerns, or crisis situations.
Demonstrated knowledge of crisis intervention, de-escalation, risk assessment, safety planning, and appropriate referral practices.
Experience providing brief, solution-focused, strengths-based, trauma-informed, or comparable supportive interventions.
Ability to recognize when a student's needs exceed the scope of short-term College-based support and to facilitate referral to appropriate behavioral health, emergency, healthcare, or community-based services.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds using an equity-minded and culturally responsive approach.
Strong interpersonal, communication, consultation, documentation, and collaboration skills.
Ability to maintain confidentiality, appropriate professional boundaries, and accurate student records.
Ability to work effectively as part of multidisciplinary student-support and crisis-response teams.
Candidates will be required to pass a CORI/SORI and/or National background check as a condition of employment.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in higher education, community colleges, college wellness, student affairs, behavioral health, or a comparable setting.
Experience serving on a behavioral intervention, CARE, student-of-concern, threat-assessment, or multidisciplinary student-support team.
Training or experience in crisis intervention, suicide prevention, de-escalation, trauma-informed practice, Mental Health First Aid, or related areas.
Experience developing and delivering psychoeducational wellness programming or professional development for students, faculty, or staff.
Experience working with community behavioral health, crisis-response, healthcare, or social-service providers to coordinate referrals and student support.
Experience using electronic case-management, student-information, or related documentation systems.

Responsibilities

Provides brief, solution-focused, trauma-informed wellness support to students experiencing personal, emotional, behavioral, academic, or situational concerns that may impact their well-being or academic success.
Conducts assessment and triage of student wellness concerns, including the use of appropriate screening or risk-assessment tools, to determine immediate needs, level of concern, and appropriate intervention or referral.
Responds to students experiencing significant emotional distress or behavioral health crises; provides crisis intervention, de-escalation, safety planning, and connection to emergency or community-based resources as appropriate.
Provides short-term supportive check-ins and follow-up while facilitating referrals and warm handoffs to TELUS Health, behavioral health providers, healthcare practitioners, social service organizations, and other community resources for ongoing or specialized care.
Serves as an active member of College behavioral intervention, care, and student-support teams, including BEACON, and/or SOS; contributes to assessment, intervention planning, outreach, referral, and follow-up for students of concern.
Collaborates and consults with faculty, staff, NSCC Police, Accessibility Services, Student and Academic Success, community providers, and other partners to coordinate appropriate student support.
Designs and delivers psychoeducational programming, outreach, and prevention initiatives addressing student wellness, stress management, resilience, help-seeking, behavioral health, substance-use awareness, and other emerging student needs.
Provides consultation, training, and resources to faculty and staff regarding recognizing and responding to students in distress, de-escalation, referral practices, and available student-support resources.
Develops and maintains relationships with behavioral health, crisis-response, healthcare, and community organizations and maintains current knowledge of resources available to students.
Connects students experiencing basic-needs challenges, including food or housing insecurity, with appropriate College and community resources.
Maintains timely, accurate, and confidential documentation of student contacts, assessments, interventions, referrals, safety planning, and follow-up within designated College systems.
Tracks and analyzes aggregate data related to student needs, service utilization, referrals, and programming; assists with assessment, reporting, and continuous improvement of wellness services.
Assists in developing and maintaining departmental procedures, crisis-response and referral protocols, wellness resources, and practices that promote effective and coordinated student support.
Maintains current professional knowledge of college student mental health and wellness, crisis intervention, behavioral intervention, trauma-informed practice, relevant laws and professional standards, and performs other related duties as assigned.