Social Services Specialist for MSS

Sea Mar Community Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) founded in 1978, is a community-based organization committed to providing quality, comprehensive health, human, housing, educational and cultural services to diverse communities, specializing in service to Latinos in Washington State. Sea Mar proudly serves all persons without regard to race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, or sexual orientation, and regardless of ability to pay for services. Sea Mar's network of services includes more than 90 medical, dental, and behavioral health clinics and a wide variety of nutritional, social, and educational services. We are recruiting for the following position:

Sea Mar is a mandatory COVID-19 and flu vaccine organization

Social Services Specialist for MSS – Posting # 25119

Hourly Rate: $26.12 

Position Summary:

Part-time or Full-time Social Services Specialist position available for our Maternity Support Services Program located at our Des Moines Medical Clinic. If you choose the Part-time job, you must work a minimum of three days per week. Part-time positions do not offer healthcare benefits.

The role of the Social Service Specialist is to conduct an initial screening and provide a comprehensive integrated clinical psychosocial assessment; develop intervention plans based on that assessment; provide brief treatment toward the care plan; provide transition services for long term counseling/treatment and Infant Case Management; and consult with the interdisciplinary Maternity Support Services team on the needs of clients served. The productivity expectation for this position is 20 or more client encounters per week for full-time work.

Qualifications:

• The Social Service Specialist must be able to perform each essential duty as outlined above 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.

• The Social Service Specialist demonstrates knowledge of the principles of growth and development throughout the life span, and is able to identify and categorize each patient’s age specific grouping of needs, such as those for infants, adolescents, or geriatric patients. Additionally, the Social Service Specialist must demonstrate knowledge and skill necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patient served.
• The person in this position must be of good character and able to maintain the understanding, physical health, emotional stability and personality suited to meet the physical, mental, emotional, and social needs of the population served.
• The person in this position shall have no history or evidence of alcohol or other drug misuse for a period of three (3) years prior to the date of employment at the facility, and no misuse of alcohol or other drugs while employed at this facility.
• This individual cannot be a person who has been convicted of a felony within the last seven years or ever been convicted of child abuse and / or any crime involving physical harm to another person nor be a perpetrator of substantiated child abuse.
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
• The Social Service Specialist has:
• Knowledge of the Patient Centered Health Home Model of care.
• The ability to work with an inter-disciplinary care team. Members of the team may include medical providers, nursing staff, care coordinators, behavioral health, preventive health and other support staff.
• Knowledge of evidence-based screening tools (PHQ 9, GAD 7, AUDIT, DAST, etc.) and the ability to use these tools as part of a framework to make appropriate level of care interventions and referrals for patients as needed.
• The ability to maintain effective relationships and professional rapport with patients and members of the multidisciplinary team.
• The skills and ability to actively engage patients in therapeutic alliances.
• Strong listening, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of medical terminology.
• Good working knowledge and skills in using electronic health record platforms, external registries, as well as the Microsoft suite of programs in order to document patient services, develop and run reports, etc.  

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Bilingual English/Spanish preferred.  Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.  Have the ability to write routine reports and correspondence.  Have the ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization.

COMPUTER SKILLS

Must have typing proficiency of at least 35 wpm.  Basic knowledge of computers and programs such as Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and electronic health care records. Possess the ability to learn new programs as they may pertain to use of electronic health records.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS

Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Have the ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.

REASONING ABILITY

Have the ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

Education, Certificates, Licenses, Registrations, and Medical Screening

EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university and current Certified Counselor through the State of Washington Department of Health or Chemical Dependency Counselor. Sea Mar does not provide clinical supervision for licensure purposes.
• Experience working with underserved populations such as, but not limited to, those who have limited English speaking skills, are homeless, and migrant and seasonal workers. If the patient requires services beyond brief intervention, the Social Service Specialist is responsible for coordinating the timely referral to behavioral health services.
• Experience working with patients who have substance use disorders, chronic mental illness, and those who require crisis intervention.
• Experience working with safety-net providers within the community and broad knowledge of community resources to facilitate whole person care.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS

• Washington State driver's license required. 
• This person must receive a background check from Washington State Patrol TB test annually.
• This position must obtain Basic Life Support (BLS) CPR within 90 days of hire date and is required to maintain current BLS CPR throughout employment.

Additional Requirements

• Pre-hire and annual employee health screening required
• Annual influenza vaccine required.  Only exception is for employees with a medical or religious exemption approved by Administration.  Employees with an approved medical or religious exemption must wear a mask at all time during the flu season.

What We Offer:

Sea Mar offers talented and motivated people the opportunity to work in a dynamic and growing community health organization. Working at Sea Mar Community Health Centers is more than just a job, it’s a fulfilling career with opportunity for advancement. The fringe benefits surpass most companies. For example, Full-time employees working 30 hours or more, receive an excellent benefit package of:

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Prescription coverage
• Life Insurance
• Long Term Disability
• EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
• Paid-time-off starting at 24 days per year + 10 paid Holidays.

We also offer 401(k)/Retirement options and an exciting opportunity to work in a culturally diverse environment. 

How to Apply:

To apply for this position complete the online application and click SUBMIT or APPLY NOW. If you have any questions regarding the position, email Paola Jimenez, MSS Program Manager at PaolaJimenez@seamarchc.org 

Sea Mar is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Posted 05/23/2023

External candidates may apply after 05/26/2023

This position is represented by Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).

Please visit our website to learn more about us at www.seamar.org. You may also apply thru our Career page at

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