Job Seekers

POSITION SUMMARY: 

The early childhood mental health consultant position is responsible for providing direct services of mental health consultation onsite to teaching staff as well as caregivers and their children within Kidango’s infant toddler/preschool early care and learning settings. The position requires travel to assigned settings within Santa Clara, Alameda or Contra Contra counties. The consultant provides consultation and training to empower and build the capacity of staff and families to cultivate positive and inclusive environments, support the social-emotional health and development of all children in the classroom or home, and work effectively, responsively and collaboratively with children and families with mental health concerns, challenging behaviors and individual developmental differences. The consultant’s aim is to enhance all relationships involved in the care setting, create nurturing and emotionally responsive environments, strengthen staff effectiveness in interactions with young children and families, and build strong school/home alliances.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Implement all aspects of the delivery of the Kidango model of early childhood mental health consultation services to staff, children and families that includes system, program, center and child-level consultation.
• Conduct consistent and ongoing consultation meetings/conversations, observations, assessments and other consultative/therapeutic activities.
• Participate in individual and group reflective supervision that is marked by atmosphere of trust, respect reflection and collaboration.
• Participate in regular administrative supervision. Adhere to protocols, processes and timelines related to referrals, case assignments and documentation (NO MEDI-CAL billing, productivity or documentation).
• Establish and maintain strong collaborative and professional relationships with staff across departments.
• Support referral process for community-based services and resources, as needed.
• Develop and/or facilitate trainings on a range of early childhood mental health topics for consultation as part of consultation support.
• Provide interventions to assist with mental health or behavioral crisis as arise, including with situations related to mandated reporting and any suspected child abuse adhering to laws and regulations.
• Complete data collection procedures and provide data reporting as requested. Support the development and implementation of program evaluation and outcome measurement procedures.
• Attend supervision and other meetings as required for the program.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS/REQUIREMENTS:

• Clinical licensure as a LMFT, LCSW, LPCC or psychologist in California highly preferred (unlicensed professionals considered only with relevant experience, training, education and fit).
• Master’s degree or higher marriage and family therapy, psychology, social work or related behavioral science field required.
• At least 1 year previous experience working with young children 0-5 and their families in as a mental health clinician or other clinical role specializing in psychotherapeutic work with young children and their families.
• Knowledge of early development and work experience in group settings for children.
• Experience with assessment of young children’s social and emotional functioning.
• Experience with and/or knowledge of group dynamics and intervention with adults.
• Experience working within multi-cultural and under-resources communities
• Experience therapeutically supporting children and adults affected by poverty, trauma and the multitude of other stressful, adverse experiences.
• Endorsement as an infant/family early childhood mental health specialists/reflective practice facilitator or reflective mentor highly preferred although not required.
• Education or training in infant mental health, early childhood mental health and early childhood development including evidence-based, trauma-informed models (i.e. Child Parent Psychotherapy).
• Familiarity with school-based mental health consultation in early care and education settings such as
• Early Head Start, Head Start, and state-preschool programs.
• Practice from a bio-psycho-social clinical approach, inclusive of ecological, attachment, trauma, neuroscience and developmental theories and rooted in infant mental health philosophy and principles.
• Strongly seeking bilingual in Spanish/English (Other languages also considered include Vietnamese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Farsi, Tagalog)

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS/REQUIREMENTS:

• Demonstrate understanding of early childhood mental health consultation as building the mental health capacities of teachers, staff, families and others who care for young children and utilize the principles of the consultative stance in the oversight and implementation of the program.
• Demonstrate the value of self-reflection and practice the examining of one’s own values, beliefs, assumptions, biases and experiences and how these influence what you bring to the consultative work, relationships and interactions. Ability to assist others in self-reflection and perspective-taking.
• Ability to develop trusting and collaborative relationships with supervisees to support their professional growth and program quality.
• Show flexibility and comfort working in natural environments including early care/education classrooms, homes or other non-traditional clinical settings. Occasionally, work evenings and/or weekends.

• Ability to support the mental health of infants, young children and the adults who care for them.
• Understand and embrace the complexity, ambiguity and process-orientation of consultative work.
• Understand and embrace a multidisciplinary approach for working with young children, families and other caregivers and staff.
• Understand typical and atypical growth and development of young children. Understand cultural variations in development, teaching practices, childrearing practices and caregiver expectations.
• Respect diversity and embrace working with multicultural communities.
• Understand the influence of power, inequity and oppression as related to adult and child behavior and relationships.
• Communicate respectfully and maintain effective relationships with all staff, partnering agencies and other stakeholders.
• Ability to accept responsibility, set goals, work independently and in cooperation with others.
• Professional, self-motivated and self-directed.
• Effective and strong communicator. Ability to communicate clearly in English both verbally and in writing. Ability to write concise, informative written information in a timely manner as needed within the position.
• Ability to exercise good judgment clinically, legally and ethically and willing to consult with a supervisor as needed. Ability to make decisions and multi-task.
• Position requires travel to consultation assignments within Santa Clara, Alameda and/or Contra Costa counties. Have own reliable transportation given the position requires daily travel to various locations

About Kidango

At Kidango, we want every child to reach their full potential. That’s why we are so passionate about providing high-quality early learning services to the children who need them most. Both research and common sense tell us that a child’s early life experiences have a huge impact on their future well-being. But the high cost of preschool and child care leaves many families without a quality option. With many parents working multiple jobs with long commutes just to get by, the stress on Bay Area families has never been higher. Kidango is the place that 4,000 Bay Area families trust to take care of their youngest children. This trust is the foundation upon which we build a partnership with parents, one that will help prepare their children for success in school and life.

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