Emotional Well-Being Coordinator - New Haven, CT

Summary

Emotional Well-Being Coordinator Job Description 

Friends Center is an early childhood education center providing year-round, full-time care for children ages 3 months to 5 years. We offer a child-centered, hands-on learning experience in a safe and nurturing environment. At the Center, children learn through creative play and a wide range of developmentally appropriate activities. We are a non-sectarian organization whose value-based curriculum is guided and enhanced by its foundations in the Quaker principles of community, equality, peace, simplicity, truth, and stewardship. As a cooperative organization, parents and teachers at the Center work together to create a diverse and supportive community. Our mission is: educate children, empower families, inspire teachers, engage community, embrace diversity, embody equity. 

An Emotional Wellbeing Program is a set of attitudes and practices that support optimal personal and interpersonal functioning at the Friends Center. We are attentive to how trauma can interrupt natural physical, mental, and emotional growth processes. Our aim is to recognize the effects of adverse childhood experiences on children and to counterbalance those effects. Likewise, we recognize the residual effects of individual and cultural trauma on the adults in our community. We impart possible pathways to healing and life-long learning, leaning into partnerships with other community services. An emotional well-being program reflects the goal of the Friends Center to provide tangible, interpersonal, inspirational, and spiritual support to all members of the Friends Center community.

Position Summary: Friends Center for Children is looking for a mental health/human services professional who will partner with families to enhance their child’s physical, social, emotional, and educational development. The Emotional Well-being Coordinator will support families in building positive, caregiving relationships with their children while honoring each family’s home culture, language, and self-identified needs. A Friends Center Emotional Well-being Coordinator will provide direct service educational and support services to enrolled families and Staff members with the support of the Administrative and Management Teams.

Duties

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: To promote the mission of Friends Center by providing professional mental health support to children, families, and staff members, with outreach to the community.

• Operate within an Emotional Well-being Team structure with EWB Program Director and colleagues
• Participate in 1 hour of supervision weekly
• Participate in 5 hours of team meetings weekly
• Support children and families
• Identify needs and resources
• Provide 1-1 support to children
• Counsel families seeking parenting skills, employment, education, housing, food security, transportation, awareness of trauma, stressors & resources
• Collaborate to build school-family connections; make home visits
• Organize opportunities for family education
• Support classroom teachers and milieu
• Consult with teachers to individualize the program to accommodate children’s needs
• Guide trauma-informed assessments of behavior and the choice of interventions
• Support developmentally appropriate expectations and structure in the classroom
• Model interpersonal skill-building and emotional regulation techniques
• Collaborate re: methods of supporting emotional intelligence and social skills
• Provide well-being information, short-term counseling, and referrals for staff members
• Support Professional Growth Plans in the area of Emotional Well-being.
• Oversee Staff Support Program
• Outreach to the community
• Develop wrap-around referrals for children, families, and staff
• Support the development of new resources as needed
• Supervise social work and human service interns
• Promote balancing the well-being of the individuals and the institution
• Provide human service outlook regarding policies and procedures
• Contribute to staff development and community messages re: cultural oppression, bias, peaceful play, safety protocols, staff cooperation and climate, ethics, relationship building/repairing, team-building, emotional intelligence, diversity, Quaker foundations, and practices.
• Foster safety awareness and practices

Requirements

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and ABILITIES: to perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily and must possess the following minimum qualifications:

Qualifications:

• Master's in Social Work or Human Services preferred, Bachelor's in Social Work, Human Services, or related field required
• 3 years of post-master's experience preferred
• Fluency in English and Spanish strongly preferred
• Knowledge of child development, parenting, and family systems
• Clinical experience with children/families
• Supervisory experience
• Practice in an educational milieu preferred

Skills and Abilities:

• Strong interpersonal skills and excellent organizational and time management skills
• Demonstrate an understanding of team approach and communication
• Contribute to a positive atmosphere and demonstrate positive interactions with patients/families and colleagues
• Develop and utilize community resources
• Develop content for staff training/professional development
• Track behavior, develop individual plans, and document observations
• Link with clinicians for wrap-around care
• Provide parenting education opportunities
• Supervise interns
• Support classroom by modeling, 1-1 care for children in need
• 2 Gen work: supports families with housing, transportation, food insecurity, services, etc.
• Counsel families and staff
• Foster social-emotional learning (RULER)

Physical Requirements:

• Vision and hearing within normal range so as to be able to provide sight and sound supervision
• Ability to lift and carry 40 lbs.
• Traveling up/down a flight of stairs, standing and sitting for long durations, typing for continuous hours on a computer keyboard, and reading information on a computer

Nice To Haves

Preferred Qualifications:

• 3 years of post-masters experience preferred 
• Fluency in English and Spanish preferred 
• Practice in an educational milieu preferred 

Benefits

Paid Time Off: Over 30 days of paid time off which include: 11 federal holidays, Winter Recess, Spring Recess, and 10 days of paid personal time

Employee Child Tuition Discount: Up to $22,000 for children enrolled at FCfC

Health Insurance: 80% of total cost

Paid Professional Development: Up to $500 per year

Tuition Reimbursement for ECE coursework: Up to 4,000 per year

Emotional Hardship Program: free emotional Well-being support