Social Worker II – Neutral Facilitator/Resiliency Coordinator

Buncombe County is a caring community in harmony with its environment where citizens succeed, thrive, and realize their potential. Our mission is to promote a healthy, safe, well-educated, and thriving community with a sustainable quality of life; to provide effective and efficient government our citizens can trust; and to deliver needed service through a responsive work force committed to excellence, integrity, and teamwork. This position shares both Neutral Facilitation and Resiliency Coordination support services for families and staff. As a Neutral Facilitator, the role supports Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings by holding structured, guided discussions with the family, their natural supports, and other team members about family strengths, needs, and problems and the impact they have on the safety, permanence, and well-being of the family’s child(ren) and youth. Resiliency Coordination supports the Organizational Care Model across the agency with a primary focus on social workers and supervisors. Purpose of the position: The primary purpose of this position is to provide social work practice program support with supervisors, staff, and families, to ensure implementation support of the identified practice model for the entire Social Work Division. Minimum Education, Training and/or Experience (required at time of hire): Bachelor's degree in social work (BSW) from an appropriately accredited institution; bachelor's degree in a human services field from an appropriately accredited institution and one (1) year of directly related experience; or bachelor's degree from an appropriately accredited institution and two (2) years of directly related experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Additional/Preferred Training and Experience:

• English/Spanish bi-lingual speakers
• Possess two years in specific role of Neutral Facilitator
•  Trained in Critical Incident Stress Management and Resilience Models (ex: Resource for Resiliency)
• Trained as Group Facilitator

Essential Functions of the position:

• CFTs are facilitated onsite at Health and Human Services, offsite, and virtually providing preparation, facilitation, and the documentation for all Child and Family Team meetings for which referrals are received from Child Welfare Social Workers.
• Implement Resiliency Coordination services which include: one – on – one peer support, facilitate peer conversations related to secondary trauma and resiliency, facilitate Critical Incident Stress Debriefings, and other programming supporting the organizational care of Social Workers and agency staff.
• Assess clients for any medical, educational, social, and placement needs as well as other services for eligible clients; link clients with Agency and community resources.
• Engage in case planning activities with the case assigned social worker; Complete required documentation in regard to cases.
• Attend and/or facilitate meetings for families being served as needed to maintain open communication between the family, assigned social worker, and other community supports/systems involved with the family unit.
• Provide training, individual and group support, and partnerships with community programs to meet tangible resource needs.
• Evaluate available information to determine the appropriateness for intervention and level of services required.
• Research information to assess risk, determine service needs, and establish case history and eligibility.
• Identify, explore, and utilize community resources for the purpose of coordinating unmet client needs.
• Maintain current knowledge of resources available from public and private agencies to assist clients with problems and work closely to facilitate connection to such services.
• Report any concerns of abuse or neglect to supervisor immediately.
• Gather information for the purpose of documenting unmet needs and advocate to address unmet service needs.
• Demonstrate a commitment to culturally competent practice.
• Perform other related duties as assigned for any of the following SW II roles: Intake SW, Prevention SW, Reunification Specialist, Licensing SW, Placement SW, Adoption Assistance SW, Neutral Facilitator, Kinship Support Specialist
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Knowledge and thorough understanding of System of Care protocol and operations.
• Knowledge of basic community systems including mental health, adult and juvenile justice, health, substance abuse, domestic violence, housing, education, and other applicable areas to facilitate understanding of roles of team members and building trust.
• Knowledge and understanding of child welfare practices and service delivery; to specifically include Child and Family Team Policy
• Ability to: Work in a team setting; be aware of individual and group dynamics; assist colleagues to work together more effectively; facilitate interpersonal communication, collaborative problem solving and planning, consensus building, and conflict resolution; assist a group in thinking deeply about its assumptions, beliefs, and values and about its systemic process and context.
• Ability to apply skills that strengthen trust among all team members and model the utilization of strengths to elicit parent and child engagement, ideas, and solutions.
• Ability to identify and address any unsafe or inappropriate behaviors of the parent, child, or other person present at the facilitated meeting immediately and redirecting when possible.
• Ability to understand what the job entails daily for employees, the impact their work has on their wellbeing and safety, and the impact of secondary stress and trauma.
• Ability to empathize with staff, hold space and confidentiality, and offer support by listening and/or problem solving. Possess group facilitation skills for peer support groups for staff.
• Ability to understanding the complexities of stress, trauma, secondary trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout, and to provide support, skills, and tools for staff to prevent and recover from them. Ability to advocate agency wide for a system of care for all staff
• Knowledge of social work principles, techniques and practices and their application; knowledge and understanding of laws, regulations, policies, and procedures that affect Protective Services.
• Thorough knowledge of agency and community resources.
• Ability to use highly specialized interviewing skills to assess risk and voluntarily engage client in a situation that is emotionally charged and stressful to all involved, the ability to ascertain facts and information without imposing or adding information during an interview.
• Knowledge of casework principles, crisis intervention, and impacts of family structure dynamics on individuals.
• Skill in working with other professionals from different disciplines who may view client/problems differently.
• Ability to meet a client where they are and work with them to achieve their goal and support a client’s right to self-determination.
• Ability to be flexible and maintain a calm exterior in the face of crisis, change and/or stress.
• Ability to orchestrate community services and to create resources where none are readily available.
• Ability to identify and prioritize problems under stress.
• Skill in crisis interviewing and counseling to allow worker to take charge, diffuse and manage the crisis.
• Ability to accurately observe human behavior and environmental condition, processing collected data in order to effectively recommend and implement a sound course of action in a minimal period of time, relying on self as a major resource, while operating in an isolated and stressful environment; and acting appropriately and effectively on the acquired information.

Department:Health and Human Services Location: Asheville, NC Job Posting End Date: July 20, 2022 Salary Range: $23.32 - $27.22 Buncombe County Government realizes the importance of a diverse professional workforce and the need to foster a responsive and innovative organizational culture, one that fully engages all of our employees, honoring and building on each employee's unique experiences, opinions, and perspective. It is the policy of Buncombe County to provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, age, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other legally protected class under federal or NC State law. In addition the Agency expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment or discrimination. Applicants for employment are invited to participate in the affirmative action program by reporting their status as a protected veteran or other minority. In extending this invitation, we advise you that: (a) workers (applicants) are under no obligation to respond but may do so in the future if they choose; (b) responses will remain confidential within the human resource department; and (c) responses will be used only for the necessary information to include in our affirmative action program. We are a company that values diversity. We actively encourage women, minorities, veterans and disabled employees to apply. Refusal to provide this information will have no bearing on your application and will not subject you to any adverse treatment.