St Joseph Center Position

Venice Chronic Homeless Project

Assertive Case Management Team-

Mental Health Case Manager

Homeless Service Center

Full Time: Non-Exempt

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The County of Los Angeles through the Department of Mental Health has awarded St. Joseph Center a contract to provide intensive case management efforts to individuals involved in the Venice Service Registry. The purpose of the Venice Chronic Homeless Assertive Case Management Team is to move chronically homeless individuals living on the streets in the Venice community into permanent, supportive housing.
Under the supervision of the Project Manager the Case Manager will be part of a three-person case management team that will conduct assertive mobile outreach to chronically homeless individuals on the streets in the Venice Community, and provide them with intensive services intended to engage them in the service continuum and ensure their linkage services that enable them to become housing ready. Once housing ready, the case manger will help clients apply for subsidized housing and link clients to available housing resources by locating suitable units and helping clients to obtain and move into permanent housing. Once clients are housed, the case manger will be responsible for providing ongoing services that will assist them to retain their housing and be good tenants and neighbors. The overall case load for this team will be 40 individuals. Each member will be assigned 10-15 clients depending on other responsibilities.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Develop close working relationships with outreach workers, case managers, police and paramedics, the Los Angeles Housing Authority, and collaborative agencies.
2. Locate and focus efforts on specific chronically homeless persons from the Venice Registry that are the considered to be most vulnerable.
3. Conduct initial mental health/substance abuse screenings and housing needs assessments.
4. Present findings to the Department of Mental Health and other collaborative agencies in order to develop a service plan of action that will expedite housing opportunities and housing stability;
5. Implement case management service plan goals emphasizing coordinated strategies for addressing mental health/substance abuse issues, relapse prevention, medication management and any other risk factors that could impede permanent housing.
6. Provide ongoing assessment of client progress in attaining goal plans.
7. Utilize a harm reduction model when working with clients.

8. Provide therapy to stabilize and connect them with ongoing mental health resources so that they will be able to maintain housing.
9. Provide ongoing case management services that will ensure successful permanent housing, decrease social isolation and prevent relapse risks; advocacy to deter evictions; and linkage and brokerage to any needed services such as medical/dental, mental health, substance abuse, life skills training, self-help, money management, meaningful community activities, volunteer services, job placement, etc.
10. Ensure a smooth transition into permanent housing by assisting clients with benefits and housing application processes and life skills such as budgeting, cooking, accessing community resources, and other skills as needed.
11. Provide crisis management, case management, and other related substance abuse/mental health services to clients on the streets, in service venues, in housing placements, or other locations as appropriate.
12. Respond to urgent requests for assistance from clients or landlords as needed.
13. Participate in all meetings with collaborative agencies and other community meetings as directed.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Candidates should possess a Masters degree in psychology, counseling or social work. BBSE licensure or current intern registration required. Two years’ experience providing mental health services to homeless individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders is necessary. Experience and understanding of Department of Mental Health policy, procedures, and billing requirements is also necessary. Candidates must also demonstrate experience in performing crisis intervention and the ability to provide mental health assessments using diagnostic criteria from the DSM IV.
The position requires an ability to work flexible hours including some early mornings, evenings. A bilingual/bicultural background is a plus.



Interested applicants should submit their application via www.smartrecruiters.com/STJOSEPHCENTER.


Arlene A. Ramos-Hoadrea
Human Resources Manager
ST. JOSEPH CENTER, Planting Hope & Growing Lives
If you are interested in joining our team, please visit www.smartrecruiters.com/STJOSEPHCENTER for our open positions.