Independent Living Coach

Who We Are

Monroe Harding’s mission is to change young people’s lives. Our cause is to ensure that foster care youth and other vulnerable young people build a solid foundation of strengths that position them for success in adulthood. Our cause and mission are accomplished through trauma and resiliency informed programs and services in foster care, supportive housing, clinical emotional and mental health support services, and education, career development, and life skills support services.

What We Value

Optimism - We celebrate and encourage the good in each other. We create an environment in which people can have fun, express gratitude, feel uplifted, explore their passions and increase their resiliency.

Inclusion - Thru a lens of respect, we advocate for our families, our youth and each other by creating a sense of belonging, understanding and value for the uniqueness of each individual.

Curiosity - We are committed to creating a learning environment that seeks knowledge, looks to the future and goes beyond the status quo.

Collaboration - We believe that people who are committed to open communication, a willingness to help and working together as a team create a safe environment and a culture of excellence.

Personal Accountability - We empower one another to be our best selves. By showing up, listening and providing throughtful feedback we create a culture that allows for self-care.

Who We Are Looking For

The 6:00pm – 2:00am Full Time Independent Living Coach supervises and coordinates youth/cottage activities while ensuring the basic needs of each youth are met. More significantly, these staff members spend more time with each youth than any other staff at MH and, as such, have the opportunity and responsibility to encourage, motivate and support youth to work through the program successfully and transition back into the community. This requires the Coach to understand where each youth is developmentally and employ a plan of intervention based upon that individual’s needs.

Responsibilities of the Coach

• Intakes: Acclimate young adults to their new home by assisting the young adult in bringing in personal belongings, completion of intake documentation, providing information about the community, distributing bus passes listening for questions and concerns and facilitation of a meet and greet with housemates.
• Life Skills Talks: Engage in meaningful conversation with young adults individually or in groups to discuss weekly life skills topics. Creatively facilitate discussions and life skills activities that encourage conversation, ponder learning styles of each individual and promote implementation of the life skills presented.
• Community Service: Teach young adults to find ways to serve others through community service and guidance in securing service opportunities monthly. Engage in community service with young adults.
• Cooking Instruction/ Assistance: Seek to engage young adults in discovering meals or dishes that they may enjoy and/or may happen to stir up fond memories of people and places. Staff will guide young adults in meal planning, instruction and preparation. Challenge young adults to follow recipes and cook with staff’s involvement.
• Employment Support: In partnership with the Monroe Harding Employment Coordinator, Independent Living staff will assist young adults in gaining skills needed to obtain employment, define interests, interview, maintain employment, and give advice through tough employment dilemmas.
• Family Engagement: Recognizing that family is important to many people, young adults will have the choice to include family in their program, they will identify the family member of they are most comfortable with in participating and staff will advocate for young adults and assist in the building of relationships, motivation of positive behaviors and meaningful redirection when needed through the engagement of families.
• Grocery Shopping: Assist young adults with maximizing grocery shopping through healthy meal planning, budgeting, transportation and efficient grocery store navigation so that the shopping experience is efficient.
• Collection of Pay Check Stubs: Routinely teach young adults to turn pay check stubs as it is a requirement while using this as a teaching opportunity to review budgeting and how to understand the pay check stub.
• Room Prep/Cleaning: Prepare bedrooms for young adults entering the program making it welcoming which includes fully cleaning the bedroom, bathroom and closet, making the bed up, arranging the furniture, organize a welcome basket and stock the bathroom with cleaning supplies.

In addition this position requires:

• Establish positive norms and routines that respect young adults, admonishes the rights of every young adult and encourage a community of understanding.
• Redirect youth in ways that teach lessons and allow for natural consequences to reveal the need for change.
• Practice handle with care techniques that proactively encourages tension reduction, decreases additional trauma, encourages acknowledgement of ones owns feelings and offers genuine support.
• Provide encouragement through listening, understanding, acceptance of differences, focusing on young adult issues that matter to them and offering advice.
• Enforcement of program structure and expectations without being threatening but directing in a way that guides, provides limit setting that is intellectually clear and not demeaning and finds ways to reward compliance and progress.
• Seek and identify when young adults are upset, disappointed or frustrated and offer emotional support.
• Creating and maintaining a positive environment by demonstrating a positive disposition
• Interact in a Trauma Informed manner with all youth at Monroe Harding, viewing each youth through the lens of, “What happened to them” (instead of labeling them as good or bad). Seek to be curious and interested in youth experiences before expecting compliance, promoting youth self-reflection and learning, and modeling healthy social and emotional regulation skills, and providing constructive behavioral feedback to youth from a TRIC perspective.
• Participate as part of a cross functional “treatment team” to support each youth as they move through the program. Assist in youth setting goals, and provide daily feedback on youth progress.
• Assist in arranging and/or transporting youth (as needed) to off campus appointments/activities.
• Orient youth to the Monroe Harding program expectations and Youth Handbook, explaining the “why” behind each program requirement. Achieve youth behavioral compliance using Trauma Informed behavioral management skills, focusing on “influence” as a key motivator of compliance, rather than consequences. Issue all room inventory items to new youth.
• Responsible for overall well-being of each youth, ensuring basic physical/safety, and emotional needs are met.
• Professionally document any serious behavioral incidents, enlisting the aid of “on call” personnel when behavioral incidents take place.
• Read Comm. Log entries and new emails at the start of every shift, before engaging with youth.
• Complete daily electronic documentation in a timely fashion.
• Clock in and out each day leaving a message for Director of Independent Living when the server is down or experiencing clock in issues.
• Secure, administer and log medication in accordance with physician’s instructions, ensuring the state required forms are updated and accurate, as required.
• Assist youth in requesting medical appointments with their Independent Living Specialist, when needed.
• Identify and promptly submit safety/maintenance issues electronically.
• Procure/store all supplies securely in the cottage ensuring ongoing organization and cleanliness of staff office and supply closet.
• Observe COA, DOH, and DCS Licensing Standards
• Maintaining a safe environment for all youth and staff and ensuring staff office is locked at all times and doors and windows are secure when leaving the houses. Also ensuring the thermostat stays at 71 Degrees.
• Ensure young adults maintain cleanly and organized appearance to cottage and surrounding area.
• Maintain and properly use Monroe Harding issued work items: i.e. cell phone, Cottage Keys, Computers, etc.
• Check on every property, bedroom and house perimeters.
• Maintaining knowledge of activities of every IL property through unpredictable but frequent check
• Engage in activities with youth while modeling exemplary leadership, sportsmanship and teamwork.
• By end of shift, the following should be completed daily: office desk clear of excess papers, staff bathrooms clean, trash cans have new liners, toilet paper in each bathroom on spool, paper towels are available, hand soap is in every bathroom, kitchen in all property orderly, ovens off, exsess lights off, televisions in common areas off, the staff offices is cleaned, reflecting a professional workspace, and the office and cottage doors are locked.

What we expect in a Coach at Monroe Harding

Education and Experience

High School Diploma or equivalent and one year experience in a residential setting preferred.

Qualifications Required

• Optimistic, hopeful personality encourages youth engagement.
• Someone who refuses to “label” youth negatively, and instead, views behaviors through a trauma lens, asking, “What has he been through,” as a means to better understand the “why.”
• Has fun with youth while maintaining healthy and safe boundaries.
• Interested and curious in youth’s experiences and forms trusting, dependable relationships which result in authentic sharing of thoughts/feelings.
• Balances providing “understanding” to the youth with an expectation of “doing better.” Can communicate in a sincere, compassionate, and hopeful manner. Able to be firm without being harsh.
• Adept at influencing change using positive interventions like praise/rewards, validation, distraction/redirection or extinction. Celebrates small successes. Views and deals with mistakes or misbehavior as opportunities to learn and grow. Limits use of consequences as way to control behavior.
• Never gives up on the youth.
• Models self-awareness and emotional regulation: notices when getting “triggered” and handles in an appropriate manner. Learns from own experiences.
• Builds effective relationships with youth and staff. Takes accountability, notices impact on others, and apologizes or attempts to restore relationships after negative incidents.
• Seeks to provide youth feedback in a non-confrontational, developmental manner.
• Effective de-escalator of emotional situations.
• Basic understanding of healthy brain development, the impact of chronic stress/trauma on development and how positive experiences can be restorative to brain development.
• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to make effective decisions during crisis situations
• Ability to function effectively as part of a treatment team, demonstrating ethical/good judgment.
• Flexible with regard to work schedules in order to get the job done.
• Able to communicate effectively with others, utilizing verbal, written skills, and electronic documentation/computer skills.
• Possesses a strong set of organizational and leadership skills.
• Able to hold self to the same rules and expectations as the youth and act as an appropriate role model for them.
• Relates in a positive manner to youth and adults regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin

Applicants must pass thorough background check and drug screen. Must have valid Tennessee driver’s license.

Additionally, The Diana Screen® is administered to all potential applicants to help ensure that ethical boundaries between children and adults are maintained. At Monroe Harding, the safety and protection of the youth who have been entrusted to us is our #1 priority.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance available
• Life Insurance
• Long Term Disability
• Generous paid time off package
• 401k (Monroe Harding will match up to 4%)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Professional development and training

Monroe Harding is an Equal Opportunity Employer.