Family Support Partner
Job Announcement

Part-time positions in Fairfax and Loudoun

Have you learned something about navigating services for youth and families through your personal experience?  Want to learn even more while helping to support others families as part of a team?  Become a Family Support Partner!  Positions are part-time and require travel in Northern Virginia.

Using personal past experiences, Family Support Partners provide peer support to youth and families receiving Intensive Care Coordination (ICC) and other youth-family team services.  Family Support Partners assist families by supporting their engagement in the team process, helping youth and families identify strengths, and furthering development of family-advocacy, resiliency and self-care skills.

Family Support Partners serve families with children through age 18 with one or more of the following:  emotional, behavioral, mental health and/or substance use challenges, contact with the social services system or juvenile justice or court system, or who require emergency services or long term community mental health and other supports.

Job Title:  Family Support Partner
Job type:  Part-time
Hourly rate:  $18.00
Locations:  Counties of Fairfax and Loudoun; Cities of Fairfax and Falls Church
Employer: NAMI Northern Virginia

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serve as a peer partner/coach to families navigating behavioral health systems and other formal and informal community resources, ensuring families have the information they need to successfully engage in the team process and understand service options.

• Work collaboratively with team coordinators/facilitators, including Intensive Care Coordinators (ICC) to provide High Fidelity Wraparound care or other team-based care for identified clients.

• Become an active member of the Youth and Family Team in order to support youth and families as they identify and engage with formal services and informal supports. Attend all Youth and Family Team meetings and assist the youth, family and coordinator/facilitator in meeting preparation.

• Support the voice and choice of the youth and family through modeling the effective presentation of ideas and suggestions during team meetings.

• Assist the youth and family, wraparound facilitator and team in the strengths and needs discovery, and promote and reinforce strength-based strategies. Mentor and coach families to act on strengths and use setbacks to increase resiliency.

• Build trust with parents/caregivers by engaging in a confidential, respectful, non-judgmental, and supportive relationship. Listen to and validate each family member's perspective, feelings and values, allowing everyone to be heard.

• Help families understand their child's needs and services. Help families discern and manage information received related to diagnosis, treatment, and services.

• Teach, coach, and empower families to communicate more effectively by role modeling appropriate interpersonal, win-win conflict resolution, problem-solving, meeting facilitation and shared decision-making techniques.

• Support parents/caregivers and encourage them to continue to have hope and effectively use family and community support and learn skills to parent children so they become empowered and effective adults.

• Coach parents/caregivers and family members on how to advocate for themselves.

• Participate in connecting family with a variety of support services for parents/caregivers such as support groups, family activities, etc.

• Use or face-to-face meetings, email, social media, and telephone calls to engage families and provide them guidance, information, support and resources.
  
• Successfully complete training in Systems of Care, High Fidelity Wraparound, team-based planning, the Family Support Partner role and resources available in the community.
  
• Participate in evaluation, monitoring and other evaluation processes, including but not limited to Wraparound Fidelity Monitoring, as appropriate.
  

QUALIFICATIONS
This position requires an individual to have excellent communication and interpersonal skills.  To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
Required:

• Must be the current or former biological or adoptive parent or person in the parent role who has been the primary caregiver of a child with emotional, behavioral or mental health and/or substance use challenges.
• Must have experience navigating Virginia behavioral health systems with their child.
• High school diploma or GED

Preferred, but not required:

• Participation in wraparound intervention or in family partnership meeting as a parent/caregiver of a child with emotional, behavioral or mental health and/or substance use challenges.
• Bi-lingual (Spanish) speaking
• College degree
  
  

PERSONAL SKILLS, QUALITIES, APTITUDES, AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to articulate the experience and appropriate perspective of a parent/caregiver of a child with complex needs and provide support to other families with similar challenges.
• Ability to engage and collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds, maintaining a non-judgmental attitude towards youth, families and professionals.
• Ability to accept supervision and work as part of a team.
• Ability to be flexible and adapt to change, as well as respond to crises.
• Ability to follow the norms and policies of NAMI Northern Virginia and client agencies.
  
  

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS REQUIREMENTS

• Current valid driver's license with acceptable driving record and proof of auto insurance coverage.
• Must be able to pass criminal and Child Protective Services background checks.
• Must attend and pass required trainings and maintain certifications, including Family Support Partner and related trainings and First Aid/CPR certification.
  
  

HOW TO APPLY
Please send resume or CV, along with cover letter that includes a summary of your direct experience as a parent/caregiver, to info@nami-nova.org with the subject line:  Family Support Partner application.