Early Childhood Attachment Therapist Job Summary and Job Description
Job Title: Early Childhood Attachment Therapist Department: Early Childhood Attachment Reports To: Early Childhood Attachment Supervisor Pay Range: $49,920.00- $55,250.00 Classification: Full Time Salaried- Exempt
D.A. Blodgett- St. John's D.A. Blodgett- St. John's provides a continuum of care with comprehensive services, including counseling, foster care, adoption, mentoring and residential care. These programs are built on our core belief, backed by research, that as long as children can be safe, they do best when they are with their families. D.A. Blodgett- St. John's primarily serves children, youth and families in the greater Grand Rapids area, and some programming throughout the State of Michigan. D.A. Blodgett- St. John's is dedicated to providing an inclusive and welcoming experience for all children, all families and all individuals. MISSION STATEMENT: To help children and empower families by providing safety, advocacy, and support. VISION: A safe, nurturing home for every child, a supportive community for every family. VALUES:
- Exceptional Service: Client-focused and teaming at the center of our work.
- Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion: All are welcomed, valued, and belong.
- Excellence: Ongoing commitment to learning and improvement.
- Integrity: Responsibility and ownership of our actions and results.
- Creativity: Imagination, innovation, and intelligent risk taking.
- Passion: Relentless positive energy toward our mission and vision.
SANCTUARY COMMITMENTS:
- Nonviolence: Maintaining safety for all members of the community.
- Emotional Intelligence: Managing emotions so we don't hurt ourselves or others.
- Social Learning: Together we accomplish more, we care for one another.
- Democracy: Everyone has a voice, not necessarily a vote.
- Open Communication: Respecting and sharing ideas of our team.
- Social Responsibility: Say what you mean, don't be mean when you say it.
- Growth & Change: Creating hope for ourselves and the people we serve.
POSITION SUMMARY Early Childhood Attachment Services is designed to provide home based parent/caregiver-infant support and clinical intervention (i.e. therapy) services to families where the parent/caregiver's condition and life circumstances, or the characteristics of the infant/toddler, threaten the parent/caregiver- infant/toddler attachment and consequent social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development of the infant/toddler. Includes utilizing the Infant Mental Health model (training provided) and providing consultation support to childcare centers. Services are designed to reduce the incidence and prevalence of abuse, neglect, developmental delays, behavioral issues, and emotional disturbances. ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Manage an average caseload of 18 families while meeting face-to-face client contact expectations typically over 2 to 3 visits a month. When a client goes between two or more homes or caregivers, the therapist will divide their time between those settings based on needs of the child and caregivers.
- Able to meet clients with their families in community-based settings, (i.e. client's home or
public place that can accommodate privacy) during hours that meet the family's needs.
- Provides direct service to include intake, assessment, individual/family therapy, and crisis interventions to families and on time objective documentation of these services in the electronic client record.
- Provides support and guidance to child care centers, in an effort to prevent expulsion.
- Utilize the Infant Mental Health model, provide parent-child psychotherapy and play therapy interventions that best fit the family's needs based on your level of training.
- Assess the needs of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families. Monitor child development using developmental assessments at intake and as needed to assess progress.
- Provide parent/caregivers with education, resources and training pertaining to child and family development.
- Provide services with cultural humility, respecting diverse family structures, traditions and parenting practices.
- Assist supervisor with child & parent/caregiver support group activities when needed.
- Participate in required case-related activities such as school/daycare meetings and occasional court hearings for case coordination and advocacy purposes when needed.
- Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with other programs in the agency and in the community for the purpose of care coordination.
- Assist families in scheduling evaluations and other services as needed while helping to identify and solve barriers to those services if applicable.
- Participate in monthly team meetings, monthly reflective supervision and at minimum monthly individual supervision if fully licensed and bi-weekly individual supervision if limited licensed with demonstrated ability to implement feedback from supervisor.
- Complete agency required expectations such as timesheets and mileage reimbursement by required deadlines. Additionally, therapist should keep Outlook calendar up to date with client appointments.
- Advocates for children and family needs at an organizational and program level
- Complete required intake forms, assessment, treatment plans (interim, pre-plan, individual plans of service and addendums), service plan reviews, and discharges by their due dates as stated in contract expectations and program procedures.
- Complete progress notes stating goal and progress updates within 7 days of service delivery.
- Coordinate with supervisor to provide data and documentation to meet Ready by 5 contract expectations.
- Acts as a cultural bridge between children, families and community groups from different backgrounds.
- Demonstrate sensitivity to cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences in all interactions.
- Staff will be accessible, maintaining flexible hours, seven days a week. If staff is unavailable, he/she/they will arrange for a team member or supervisor to be available for clients.
- It is expected that therapists will work at least 40 hours per week.
- Will complete a minimum of 24 child and family focused training hours per calendar year along with any agency required trainings.
- Other responsibilities shall include those set forth in Agency personnel policies as amended
Supervision Received: General Direction - Plans and arranges own work. Uses a wide range of procedures to accomplish assigned objectives. Supervisory Responsibilities: No supervisory responsibilities. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Education requirements are a Master's degree in Social Work, Counseling, Psychology, or Marriage & Family Therapy.
- Licensed to practice mental health therapy in the state of Michigan (LLMSW/LMSW, LLP, LLC/LPC, LLMFT, LMFT). If temporary or limited licensed, must be completing steps towards full license.
- Candidates should have or be willing to work toward a level II MI-AIMH Endorsement by starting on an IMH Waiver.
- Acceptance of supervision to improve assessment, psychoeducation, and treatment skills.
- Must possess a strong knowledge of early child development and the common diagnoses and treatments for children. Knowledge of clinical issues related to foster and adopted children and families is preferred.
- Candidate must demonstrate competencies in the following areas: observation of parent/child interaction, developmental assessment, child management, attachment and understanding of the parallel process in therapeutic work.
- Training and the ability to provide effective individual, family, and group therapy skills.
- The ability to assess and implement crisis intervention skills and safety plan. Possess a knowledge of community resources and support for young children and families, and the skills necessary to facilitate and encourage positive change towards treatment goals.
- Valid driver's license, good driving record and adequate insurance with a car available always.
- Basic computer skills with knowledge of Microsoft Outlook and other software programs.
- The ability to articulate ideas and prepare written reports and correspondence that are of a high professional standard, are grammatically correct and are timely.
- Ability to collaborate with daycare, school, Department of Health & Human service, behavioral health and medical health personnel.
- Experience working with children from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds preferred.
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Working Under Pressure: Ability to maintain composure and effectiveness when exposed to stressful or emotionally charged situations, while supporting families with empathy and professionalism.
- Communication: Ability to effectively receive and express ideas, both written and verbal; using clear and concise vocabulary and active listening skills. Ability to communicate with small and large groups and ability to communicate with a wide variety of audiences.
- Integrity: Ability to adhere to organization policies and procedures, acting in a fair and just manner while maintaining confidentiality.
- Decision Making: Ability to select and commit to an effective course of action by understanding issues, comparing solutions, and drawing conclusions to resolve problems.
- Cultural Responsiveness: Ability to recognize, respect and adapt to cultural differences, promote equity and inclusion in all aspects of care.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS 5+ hours per day
- Work in stationary position
- Use hands/fingers to handle or feel
- Communicate with various parties
- Visual acuity
- Read and understand written word
- Operate computer and general office machines
Less than 2 hours per day
- Move about work area
- Drive/travel
- Ascend/descend (Stairs/ladder/ect)
None
- Reach with hands and arms
- Bend, stoop, kneel, crouch. Or crawl
- Detect flavors or smells
- Operate machines or material handling equipment
Environmental Conditions: 5+ hours per day
- Office Environment: No exposure to extreme heat, cold, noise, chemicals or hazardous equipment
2-5 hours per day
- Client home environments: may include pets, smoking, differing levels of cleanliness and potential allergens.
None:
- Manufacturing Environment: exposure to dust, oil, various chemicals, solvents or fumes
- Medical Environment: Exposure to body fluids, radiation, medical equipment, solvents or chemicals
- Noise: Exposure to constant or intermittent extreme sounds
- Temperature: Exposure to extreme heat or cold either indoors or outside.
DABSJ strives to be a fully inclusive organization as we support a diverse group of children and families. We are building a diverse team that represents our customers and our community and recognize that each of us brings a unique perspective to the organization. We welcome differing thoughts, faiths, beliefs, groups, and lived experiences. The diversity and differences of each team member, foster parent, adoptive parent, child, and family make us #DABSJstrongertogether for children and families. DABSJ is an equal opportunity, at-will employer, and will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment. DABSJ does not discriminate on the basis of race, including but not limited to hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists; culture, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, height, weight, marital status, veteran status, socio-economic status, disability, or other legally-protected characteristics as required by law.
This job description does not list all duties of the job. Employees may be asked by management to perform other duties as needed. The Company reserves the right to revise this job description at any time. This job description is not a contract for employment and does not infringe upon the Company's at will employment status.
|
D.A. Blodgett
49920.00 To 55250.00 (USD) Annually
mileage reimbursement
Dec 05, 2025