SUMMARY
Housing for Health (HFH) is a program office within Health Services Administration, a division under the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS). HFH was created and put into implementation in support of the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative recommendations in response to and in support of the County’s effort to address and combat homelessness in the communities residing within Los Angeles County. Our organization follows a hybrid work structure where employees work both remotely and from the office, as needed.
The largest HFH program is the Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program that has housed close to 20,000 individuals since 2012. In addition to ensuring payment of rent, HFH contracts with community-based organizations (CBOs) to hire intensive case management services (ICMS) workers to work inside the client’s homes to provide wrap-around case management and tenancy support services to these clients. Recently, the Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Department of Public Health (DPH’s) Substance Abuse Prevention and Control (SAPC) program joined forces with HFH to contract CBOs to provide on-site mental health and substance use services as well. This joint program is called the Integrated Services Program (ISP) with the goal of providing field-based interdisciplinary care for individuals struggling with physical and behavioral health comorbidities and improve their health outcomes and optimize their function and quality of life.
The ISP workers include the DHS contracted ICMS providers, the DMH- contracted Housing Supported Services Program (HSSP) and Full-Service Partnership (FSP) mental health case managers, and the SAPC-contracted Client Engagement and Navigation Services (CENS) substance use counselors. Together, the ICMS, HSSP/FSP, and CENS workers provide interdisciplinary care management services to formerly homeless clients with co-occurring disorders who are now living in permanent supportive housing (PSH).
The Staff Development Specialist is an experienced trainer/technical advisor (TA) who is an expert in field-based complex care management and who has at least 5 years of experience in providing and leading interdisciplinary care to patients with co-occurring physical health, mental health, and addiction issues. This Staff Development Specialist will be responsible for facilitating 10-15 cross-agency case conferences per week, preparing and conducting bi-monthly case-based learning sessions and learning webinars for all ISP personnel, and providing daily curbside consultation to Integrated Services Program (ISP) workers across the 8 service planning areas (SPAs) in Los Angeles County.
The Staff Development Specialist will work under the direction of the Clinical Support Program Medical Director. Staff Development Specialist will work closely with the PSH Program ISP lead as well as with the PSH Clinical Support Program clinicians that include mid-level providers, nurses, and occupational therapists. The Staff Development Specialist will also coordinate with DMH and SAPC program managers who administer the HSSP/FSP and CENS programs as well as with CBO program managers and supervisors. Finally, the Staff Development Specialist will work with the Project Manager for the ISP Improvement initiative who is coordinating with consultants from the University of Southern California (USC) schools of social work and occupational therapy to develop best practices for the county-wide ISP initiative.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
- Prepare for weekly cross-agency clinical case conferences by soliciting challenging cases from ISP providers, conducting thorough chart reviews and informational interviews to better understand the clients, and identifying key learning points and training needs for the case conference sessions.
- Facilitate weekly cross-agency clinical case conferences and provide training and technical assistance support to ISP providers so they can improve their client care and care coordination activities and build knowledge and skills.
- Regularly evaluate the impact of case conferences on ISP provider knowledge, skills, and care coordination efforts and determine which CBOs or which individual ISP providers need more tailored training and technical assistance.
- Prepare and deliver a monthly learning webinar to all ISP providers that is offered on two different dates within the month to maximize participation. This learning webinar can cover a variety of topics, such as enhanced motivational interviewing, harm reduction counseling, interventions to reduce hoarding, behavioral de-escalation, or chronic disease management.
- Develop training topics most relevant to the ISP workers based on recurrent themes or knowledge/skill gaps identified in case conferences. Poll ISP supervisors and DHS/DMH/SAPC program managers to determine what training topics are most relevant.
- Work with the USC consulting team in determining what training and TA topics should be imparted to build toward ISP best practices.
- Prepare pre and post quizzes to assess the effectiveness of the training programs and in improving their quality.
- Provide curbside consultation on challenges cases as needed via phone or secure email to ISP providers, supervisors, and DHS/DMH/SAPC program managers.
JOB QUALIFICATIONS
A Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university in training, education, organizational development, communications, human resources or a closely related field and one year of staff experience in planning, developing, and conducting staff development training programs and related activities -OR- a Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university and two years of the required training experience.
One additional year of the required training experience may be accepted for each year of college up to a maximum of four years.
Education/Experience
- At least five years of experience as a complex care manager – preferably in field or community-based settings.
- At least three years of experience as a trainer or technical adviser – preferably in enhancing knowledge/skills of non-clinical staff doing community-based case management.
- Extensive knowledge in health promotion and harm reduction topics relevant to the care of people experiencing homelessness, including chronic disease management; care of clients with severe persistent mental illness, addiction, and cognitive deficits; and the application of a trauma-informed and patient-centered lens to all trainings and TA.
- Experience as a trainer with demonstrated expertise in preparation, delivery, and evaluation of high-quality health promotion/harm reduction trainings to clinical and non-clinical staff.
- Experience doing quality assurance work and engaging with non-clinicians to improve the effectiveness of inter-disciplinary care management services.
- Excellence in medical chart reviews and case investigations.
- Excellence in adult pedagogy and clinical case conference facilitation skills.
Certificates/Licenses/Clearances
- A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.
- Successful clearing through the Live Scan and the Health Clearance process with the County of Los Angeles.
Other Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to express technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Ability to learn quickly and adapt to shifting priorities.
- Comfort working with data systems and learning new data systems.
- Comfort with Word, Excel, Power-point, Vizio and other relevant project management tools.
- Skill in conducting interviews and facilitating group meetings.
- Strong listening, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills.
- Knowledge of LA County programs that are designed to serve the underserved.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
Stand: Frequently
Walk: Frequently
Sit: Frequently
Reach Outward: Occasionally
Reach Above Shoulder: Occasionally
Climb, Crawl, Kneel, Bend: Occasionally
Lift / Carry: Occasionally - Up to 50 lbs
Push/Pull: Occasionally - Up to 50 lbs
See: Constantly
Taste/ Smell: Not Applicable
Not Applicable = Not required for essential functions
Occasionally = (0 - 2 hrs/day)
Frequently = (2 - 5 hrs/day)
Constantly = (5+ hrs/day)
WORK ENVIRONMENT
General Office Setting, Indoors Temperature Controlled
EEOC STATEMENT
It is the policy of Heluna Health to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.