Bilingual Counselor

Bilingual Counselor

Supervised by: Counseling and Support Services Manager
Supervises: N/A
Classification: Full-Time, Exempt (Salaried position)
Anticipated Start Date: Immediately

ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY
Between Friends envisions a community without domestic violence where equality, safety, and justice exist for all. Between Friends provides a safe, supportive and empowering environment for individuals and families in crisis. Between Friends' counselors and advocates empower individuals to make their own decisions and choices, rather than making choices for them. To address domestic violence as a community issue, Between Friends offers comprehensive prevention programs to educate youth and adults about the dynamics of healthy and unhealthy relationships and how to prevent domestic violence before it begins. To learn about our programs, go to www.betweenfriendschicago.org

POSITION SUMMARY
The Bilingual Counselor position is responsible for providing trauma-informed individual, family, and group counseling services for adults, youth, and children in English and Spanish. This position is also responsible for promoting the program’s counseling services to the community and building & solidifying partnerships with other social services agencies for effective collaborations to best serve clients.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Clinical/Programmatic (70%)
- Provides individual, group and family counseling, case management, and crisis intervention services as determined by client and agency needs, in English and Spanish
- Provides individual economic counseling to adults, which includes completing an assessment and collaborating with a survivor to establish, review, and complete goals on an economic stability plan
- Answers the crisis hotline as needed
- Provides up to 64 hours of direct contact hours per month, which includes counseling and case management services
- Helps victims of domestic violence understand their rights and the legal remedies available to them under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act
- Assists clients in obtaining a referral to file Victim’s Compensation
- Works with Counseling and Support Services Manager and the Resource, Information, and Service Advocate (RISA) to provide outreach and build or solidify partnerships with local organizations in the community to meet the diverse needs of clients
-  Provides case management services and leads case coordination with other providers as needed
Leads the clinical meeting once/month and actively participate in case presentations and program-related discussions at the weekly clinical meeting
- Facilitates applicable sessions of the 40-hour training classes

Administrative (25%)
- Ensures case documentation is up-to-date and reflective of the services provided and submits necessary information to the Counseling and Support Services Manager for reporting
- Participates in individual and group clinical supervision coordinated by Counseling and Support Services Manager
- Completes all required reports
- Follows all Counseling & Support Services Program policies and procedures to ensure compliance with agency, funder, and contract standards/requirements
- Enters data into the InfoNet database

General (5%)
- Participates in a variety of coalitions and committees to form collaborative responses to domestic violence
- Participates in program and agency events as needed
- Provides services as determined by Board of Director’s policies
- Completes other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS
Education – Masters’ degree in social work or related field; 40-hour domestic violence training required
upon hire.

Licenses/Certification – Professional license (LSW/LCSW or LPC/LCPC) preferred.

Languages – Bilingual - Spanish. Fluent in oral and written Spanish required.

Experience and Skills– At least two years of experience providing counseling services to individuals, families and/or groups preferred; experience in the field of domestic violence preferred.

Computer and software knowledge – PC literate with experience in word processing.

Must be committed to Between Friends mission and values, practicing intersectional equity in all facets of the work, and ending all forms of abuse in relationships.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:
- This position operates primarily in a professional office environment that is not fully accessible
- This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, scanners, filing cabinets, and fax machines
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear
- Workplace is a smoke- and drug-free environment
- Equal Opportunity Employer. Decisions and criteria governing the employment relationship with all employees are made in a non-discriminatory manner, without regard to race, ethnicity, creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, military service and/or marital status, order of protection status, handicap, disability, or any other factor determined to be unlawful by federal, state, or local statutes

BENEFITS:
- Comprehensive benefits package (with some employee contributions) includes medical, dental and vision insurance.
- Full-time employees are eligible for a 20 paid day sabbatical after completion of five years employment.
24 days of paid time off accrued during the first year, and 11 paid holidays.