Crisis Counselor

Day to Day: An employer is looking for a highly skilled Online / Digital Crisis Chat Specialist to join a growing team for a hybrid opportunity in Columbia, Maryland. This role requires 5 weeks of onsite training at their Columbia, Maryland facility. You must live in Columbia, MD to be eligible for this role. After the initial training, you are required to go on site 2x/month for in-person feedback and quality assurance coaching sessions. In this role you will be responsible for providing online emotional support to individuals utilizing Crisis Chat and Text services includes providing emotional support and resources to all contacts. This also includes online communication via email and chat, no phone work is required in this role. You will receive approximately 48 hours of training related to active listening skills, suicide prevention practices, and utilization of agency resources to match texters with needed information. You will receive 5 weeks total of in person training during the same shift that you’ll be working. This is an on-site position. A high emphasis is placed on quality assurance for this role. The shift for this role is 8 pm – 4 am with a 30-minute lunch break and two additional 15-minute breaks throughout your shift.

Responsibilities:

-Provide online crisis support to individuals in emotional distress through Crisis Chat and Text.

-Complete an assessment of each chat/text visitor to determine the appropriate means of assistance.

-Complete risk assessment, safety planning, de-escalation, and follow-up with chat visitors.

-Establish good rapport with a wide range of chat/text visitors.

-Supporting suicidal chat/text visitors including making an assessment and taking appropriate action, as well as tracing IP addresses and coordinating with emergency responders when active rescue is required.

-Familiarity with resources and ability to provide information and referrals to visitors as appropriate.

-Complete thorough documentation for all crisis chat/text. Documentation must be completed in real time.

-Completes 1.5 chats/texts per hour.

-The program will provide daily ongoing monitoring of chats and texts to ensure quality. The expectation is for counselors to score a minimum of 75% on the quality evaluation.

-Complete weekly quality evaluation process.

-Attend weekly supervision.

-Ability to work independently with confidence, as well as work as an integral part of a team of professionals.