Mission Statement: Hope House Colorado (HHC) empowers parenting teenage moms to achieve personal and economic self-sufficiency and to understand their significance in God’s sight, resulting in a healthy future for them and for their children.  

Position Title: Mental Health Therapist 

Exemption Status: Salaried Non-Exempt

Reports To: Empower Program Manager 

Salary Range: $60,000 - $68,000

Department: Program 

Benefits Eligibility: Eligible 

Work Environment: This role is expected to work 40 hours/week on the HHC campus, except when offsite for HHC work-related purposes. The existing schedule is 8 hours per day Monday - Friday, to include one evening shift each week.

Position Summary: The Mental Health Therapist (MHT) is responsible for assisting teen moms with growth along the Personal Self-Sufficiency continuum. To help teen moms reach their mental health goals the MHT will counsel individual moms and groups to promote optimum mental health. The MHT will help moms deal with domestic violence, thoughts of suicide, addictions and substance abuse, family, parenting, relationship problems, stress management, problems with self-esteem, and issues associated with mental and emotional health. The MHT will also partner with Personal Growth Educators to provide classes and organize activities focused on mental health, personal growth and healthy relationships. The MHT will conduct Connections Meetings & Individual Growth Plan (IGP) meetings with teen moms. 

Essential Duties/Responsibilities:

• Work collaboratively with the Empower Program Manager to develop organizational goals for the annual operating plan in the areas of personal self-sufficiency. 
• Counsel individual moms to promote optimum mental health. Support moms dealing with domestic violence, thoughts of suicide, experiences of trauma, addictions and substance abuse, family, parenting, relationship problems, stress management, problems with self-esteem, and issues associated with mental and emotional health. 
• Counsel moms, individually and in group sessions, to assist in overcoming barriers, adjusting to life, and making changes.
• Guides moms in the development of skills and strategies to deal with their problems. Encourages moms to express their feelings and discuss what is happening in their lives and helps them develop insight into themselves and their relationships.
• Evaluates mom’s mental health based on review of their information. Develops and implements supports based on experience and knowledge. Supports moms to resolve emergency problems in crisis situations.
• Lead support groups for teen moms with the help of Personal Growth Educators.
• Provide mental health classes for moms 
• Effectively manage and supervise a team of counseling partners, including scheduling use of HHC Reflection Room during HHC business hours 
• Create new partnerships that can provide counseling for teen moms
• Oversee counseling interns as appropriate 
• Provide training for staff on QPR assessment 
• Educate moms and staff on stress and trauma coping mechanisms
• Provide financial assistance recommendations for individual teen moms to the Self-Sufficiency Program Manager
• Coach to support PAIRIN and spiritual growth when opportunities arise  
• Oversee partnership with Anschutz for virtual reality headsets 

Data Collection:  

• Conduct HHC Connections Meetings with teen moms as assigned by the Admissions & Activities Coordinator within 1-3 weeks of enrollment. 
• Conduct teen mom IGP meetings as requested and score IGPs each week 
• Collect, input, and report data appropriately into software platforms utilized by HHC (Apricot and KPI Dashboard). 

Other Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Promote the values of HHC throughout the organization and external relationships.
• Attend team and organizational meetings, activities, and events. 
• Collaborate with HHC staff and perform job duties to advance the organization’s mission and vision. 
• Demonstrate ability to work independently and within a team, seeking guidance as appropriate. 
• Comply with all organizational policies and procedures. 
• This position is expected to work all shifts in the office. 
• Potentially assist with knowledge transfer to support HHC expansion goals. 

Competencies:

1. Decision Making: Makes timely, informed decisions that take into account the facts, goals, constraints, and risks.
2. Problem Solving: Partners with staff to identify and resolve complex or sensitive issues; resolve difficult or complicated challenges.
3. Influencing Others: Influences teen moms to be excited and committed to furthering their goals. 
4. Listening: Understands and learns from teen moms 
5. Ethics & Integrity: Earns others’ trust and respect through consistent honesty and professionalism in all interactions.
6. Results Focus & Initiative: Focuses on results and desired outcomes and how best to achieve them. Gets the job done.
7. Stress Tolerance: Maintains composure in highly stressful or adverse situations.
8. Tact: Diplomatically handles challenging or tense interpersonal situations.
9. Relationship Building: Builds constructive working relationships characterized by a high level of acceptance, cooperation, and mutual respect.
10. Values Diversity: Helps create an environment that embraces and appreciates diversity.
11. Mediation: Helps others resolve complex or sensitive issues, disagreements or conflicts in their life. 
12. Coaching & Mentoring: Enables teen moms to grow and succeed through feedback, instruction, and encouragement.

Supervisory Duties: 

• Interns as available and appropriate 
• Supervision for counseling partners as appropriate

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, stand, and walk as well as bend, squat, and climb stairs. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Note: This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with this position. We are a team and support each other in all ways necessary to continue working toward the HHC mission.

Benefits: HHC benefits are available to employees who consistently work a minimum of 24 hours a week. Benefits offered are subject to change at HHC's sole discretion. 

• Health Benefits: Employees may elect medical, dental, vision & life insurance plans.
• Simple IRA: Employees may choose to make salary reduction contributions through HHC’s Simple IRA plan and HHC will match the employee’s contribution up to a maximum of 3% of the employee’s annual salary. 
• Hope House will pay for the liability insurance to cover the mental health therapist 

Paid Time Off (PTO):

• Vacation: Upon hire, employees earn 6 hours of vacation per paycheck up to 120 hours (3 weeks) in a year. Accruals are adjusted to increase vacation earned per hours worked based on length of employment with HHC.
• Holidays: HHC observes eleven (11) holidays throughout the year. Salaried employees are paid for these holidays according to the nationally recognized observation day for each holiday. 
• Sick Leave: HHC provides eligible employees with Paid Sick and Safe Leave (PSSL) and Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL) in accordance with the requirements of Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA). 

Requirements

• Must be committed to Hope House Colorado’s Guiding Principles and continually working towards the HHC mission 
• Must demonstrate a commitment to the Hope House Relational Covenant
• Experience in counseling at-risk populations, preferably teenage mothers, is valued 
• Applicant must have a valid driver’s license and current automobile insurance 
• Must pass rigorous background and motor-vehicle record checks 
• Self-directed and comfortable/competent working autonomously  
• Exercises good judgment in a variety of situations 
• Bilingual preferred

Desired Skills and Attributes: 

• Experience as a youth pastor of Christian based counseling is valued
• Highly organized and detail-oriented 
• Ability to work well with others 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills 
• Ability to network to secure counseling partners/volunteers
• Ability to maintain good working relationships with outside service organizations 
• Comfortable working with Microsoft Office Suite 
• Data entry experience in a program database is preferred (Apricot & KPI Dashboard training provided) 

Education or Training:

• A Master’s degree in psychology, counseling, or a related field required.  Appropriate state credentials and licensing required.
• Trauma-informed practices like Splankna, EMDR, or Brain Spotting are valued