Safehouse Senior Bilingual Case Manager

Job Title: Safehouse Senior Bilingual Case Manager

Classification: Full-time, exempt

Work Location: Arlington, VA

Doorways for Women and Families (Doorways) is an Arlington-based nonprofit agency helping individuals and families create pathways out of homelessness, domestic violence, and sexual assault leading to safe, stable, and empowered lives. At Doorways, we embrace Empathy, Integrity, Inclusivity, Collaboration, Empowerment, and Respect. These values are the foundation to our approach.

Our Approach:

There is no single cause of family or youth homelessness, and no single way that interpersonal violence affects people. While most of our clients are impacted by all of these traumas, Doorways’ services are available to all who are impacted by these hardships to ensure people have the right help to move forward. Knowing that the traumas of these life experiences often impact many aspects of family functioning, our services reach broadly and comprehensively to best support adults, youth, and children as they build on their unique strengths to create a brighter future.

Position Summary:

Reporting to the Director of Domestic and Sexual Violence Programs, the Safehouse Senior Bilingual Case Manager works directly with survivors of domestic violence and their children who are in Doorways’ Safehouse program/shelter. The position provides crisis intervention, safety planning, goal planning, and supportive counseling to shelter residents; coordinates in-house support groups; provides leadership and back up supervision to other shelter staff and volunteers. The Safehouse Senior Bilingual Case Manager provides ongoing assessment, referrals, and supportive services to Doorways clients enrolled in Doorways Safehouse shelter with the goal of accomplishing stated program objectives with survivors. The Safehouse Senior Bilingual Case Manager supervises the Bilingual Children’s Counselor and the Financial Counselor. 

The position is full-time and requires flexible working hours including evenings and occasional weekends and holidays. The position requires on-call availability; including: evenings, weekends, and holidays in conjunction with other staff. This position also requires reliable personal transportation.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Carry a caseload of clients providing supportive counseling and case management services to DV survivor clients in a shelter setting.
• Help survivors in shelter establish and fulfill goal plans that enable them to heal from trauma, establish safety, find housing stability, and move towards self-sufficiency.
• Serve as clients’ primary in-shelter source of mental health and therapeutic case management support; leads collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of providers, including a Housing Locator and Advocate, Financial Counselors, Children’s Services Counselors, and Shelter Home Coordinators.
• Ensure regular on-going sessions are conducted with survivors; educate survivors on the dynamics of domestic violence and sexual assault; facilitate individual and group meetings with survivors; assist survivors in understanding of the natural responses to trauma and of healthy coping skills; assist survivors in adapting to a communal living environment focusing on a culture of inclusion and respect; provide conflict resolution and crisis intervention to survivors when necessary.
• Refers clients to other community programs for additional services (such as legal assistance, medical care, and treatment for serious mental illness and substance abuse) and collaborates with community partners to ensure client needs are met.
• Provide regular, direct, and reflective supervision to two full-time employees.
• Ensure the Safehouse shelter program is providing quality client services that are survivor-centered, trauma-informed and compliant with program requirements.
• Promotes sound and best practices through supervision; including case consultations, case file reviews, and employee performance appraisals.
• Develops and maintains a resource network for referrals as related to the needs of the DV survivors being served in the Safehouse.
• Coordinates admissions, and discharge processes. Acts as a liaison with agencies responsible for referring survivors in imminent danger.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in social work, counseling, or related field.
• 3+ years of professional experience working in the domestic violence services field. Shelter experience is required.
• Bilingual Spanish language abilities.
• Basic computer skills including Microsoft suite.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• Possess a high level of interpersonal relationship skills.
• Must be comfortable working in an environment where it is necessary to process the past and present trauma endured by survivors.
• Ability to educate and empower victims of domestic violence and/or sexual assault who are from diverse backgrounds and who face additional barriers such as: PTSD, substance abuse, poverty, mental illness, unemployment and physical disabilities.
• Must demonstrate an acceptance and respect for cultural diversity in all its forms, including ethnicity, sexual orientation, abilities, and religious backgrounds and an ability to work collaboratively in an ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in social work or counseling.
• Previous experience supervising full and part-time staff.
• 5+ years homeless surviving and/or shelter management experience

Additional Requirements:

• Completion of a CPS/Criminal Background Check
• Access to a reliable vehicle, valid driver’s license and proof of automobile insurance.

Compensation:

• $55,000-$60,000 commensurate with experience.
• Excellent benefits – health/dental/vision, life, LTD, 403(b), etc.

Doorways for Women and Families is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

People of color, women, LGBTQ candidates, and people of diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. Doorways is committed to a diverse workplace and to supporting our staff with ongoing career development opportunities.

See www.doorwaysva.org for more info

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.