Housing Access Case Manager

Days Off: Friday, Saturday

Shift: Day (8am - 4pm)

Insurance Benefits: Dental, Life, Long-term Disability, Medical (no premiums/payroll deductions for employee coverage)

Other Benefits: Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), ORCA card subsidy, Paid Time Off (34 days per year), Retirement Plan

About DESC:

DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center) is a nonprofit organization working to help people with the complex needs of homelessness, substance use disorders, and serious mental illness achieve their highest potential for health and well-being through comprehensive services, treatment, and housing. Our vision is a community where no person is abandoned, ignored, or experiencing homelessness.

As the region's leading provider of services to multiply disabled adults who have experienced chronic homelessness, DESC serves almost 2,000 people each day. Our integrated service model is designed to help people secure and maintain appropriate, safe and affordable housing. DESC is recognized nationally and regionally as an innovator in developing solutions to homelessness.

JOB DEFINITION:

DESC's Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) team works in a highly collaborative manner to provide services to participants for whom traditional treatment settings have not been successful. Our participants have experienced chronic or multiple episodes of severe mental illness, co-occurring substance use disorders and homelessness. A high degree of collaboration is critical for the team to successfully eliminate participants’ barriers to service. Services are provided in participants' home or community at least 75% of the time.

Studies have shown that the highly collaborative PACT model is more effective than traditional treatment for people experiencing mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and can significantly reduce hospitalizations. Unlike traditional models where case managers are individually responsible for a group of clients, all members of the PACT team (including nursing and psychiatric staff) are responsible for every participant. The team has daily meetings to review the status of every participant, and make a daily schedule of services in accordance to each participant’s current wants and needs.

Team scheduling requirements reflect this commitment to provide participants with intensive wrap-around services. The PACT Office is open 12 hours/day M-F, and 8 hours/day on weekends & holidays. All staff work at least one weekend day in their weekly schedule and rotate holiday shifts. Team members also participate in on-call rotation to provide 24-hour crisis coverage. Two staff will be on-call at any given time to ensure back-up coverage and safety while doing crisis work.

This position is intended to utilize specialized knowledge about Coordinated Entry and other supportive housing resources to assist PACT participants who are experiencing homelessness to access permanent housing which matches their service needs. This position will be a CEA Community-Based Assessor and VAT assessor and conduct housing triage and assessments in a variety of community settings including shelters, streets, jail, hospital, and healthcare settings.

MAJOR JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide Case Management services with a primary focus on housing navigation tasks (i.e. obtaining ID, completing paperwork/applications)
• Maintain a database of all unhoused PACT participants to track action steps, preferences, etc.
• Complete training in housing assessment tools such as the Vulnerability Assessment Tool (VAT) and Coordinated Entry/HMIS, and complete these assessments directly with all unhoused PACT participants
• Enter data into HMIS to support prioritization and service matching through Coordinated Entry
• Attend CEA Single Adult Case Conferencing as needed and nominate PACT participants for appropriate housing resources
• Manage communications with housing providers and individuals’ care teams to accomplish acquisition of housing and move-in
• Coordinate internally with DESC leadership to ensure full utilization of PACT “Set-Aside” units in PSH buildings, as well as assist with advocacy efforts for additional units

OTHER JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Participate in daily team meetings, psychiatric consultations, clinical supervision, program meetings and in-service trainings; participate in clinical reviews and case conferences.
• Comply with the agency's clinical accountability policies and procedures; maintain current, timely and complete clinical records; participate in quality assurance reviews when assigned.
• Comply with applicable program research and evaluation procedures.
• Other duties as assigned.

Living Conditions:

Participate in the planning, organizing and facilitating of unit mitigations for clients on your caseload. Unit mitigations are coordinated efforts to support clients with maintaining healthy living conditions. This can include but is not limited to attending care conferences related to unit mitigation, outreaching and supporting clients in their residential units with tools and skills to maintain their units, coordinating with Housing staff to ensure proper work orders are filed in a timely manner, participating in cleaning out clients’ units, and documenting barriers to unit mitigation. *More specific details will be found in your program manual*

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Ability to meet Washington Department of Health requirements for registration as a Registered Agency Affiliated Counselor (AAC) or any other superseding credential
• Relevant Bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, or related behavioral science, OR
• A combination of 1 year of relevant paid work experience and demonstration of the ability to perform required job duties.
• Ability to drive an agency or personal vehicle to conduct agency related business. A current Washington State driver's license and insurable driving record are required.
• The ability to meet PACT scheduling requirements:
• A regular schedule of either Tue-Sat or Sun-Thu with a mix of 8am-4pm and 12-8pm shifts (including holidays).
• Participation in regular on-call rotation (paid) to provide 24-hour crisis coverage (both on the phone & in person) for mental health issues for PACT clients.
• Interest in working with clients who are difficult to engage and maintain in traditional mental health/substance use disorder programs.
• Ability to communicate and work effectively with participants and staff from various backgrounds.
• Must have a strong commitment to the right and ability of each person with a severe and persistent mental illness to live in normal community residences; work in market jobs; and have access to helpful, adequate, competent, and continuous supports and services.
• Able to prioritize multiple responsibilities, work independently and exercise professional judgment.
• Basic computer skills: email, data entry, file creation, correspondence.
• Skills and competence to establish supportive trusting relationships with persons with severe and persistent mental illnesses. Respect for participant rights and personal preferences in treatment are essential. Clear understanding and respect for the importance of maintaining participant confidentiality.
• Subscribe to the philosophy of cooperation and continuity across DESC and other outside agency programs and of consideration and respect for participants. DESC expects a high degree of cooperation and collaboration among its staff, programs, and community agencies. The specific duties and responsibilities of each position necessarily requires flexibility cooperation to achieve the organization's and programs goals.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree in social work, psychology or other relevant behavioral science or Bachelor of Nursing degree with specialty in mental health.
• Bi-lingual in Spanish & English

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee will be required sit for long periods of time, communicate with other persons by talking and hearing, required to lift and carry items weighing up to 25 pounds and to operate computer hardware systems. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER:

DESC is committed to diversity in the workplace, and promotes equal employment opportunities for all staff members and applicants. The Agency will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, caste, marital status, or the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability in any employment practice, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification. Minorities and veterans are encouraged to apply.