The Youth Development Professional (YDP) plays an essential role with children placed in care at Elmcrest. Having the greatest amount of contact with residents, the YDP utilizes a child-centered approach and makes every effort to work in the best interest of children while facilitating the individual and environmental conditions that are necessary to create change. The YDP is charged with providing a safe, secure and nurturing environment while continuously using natural, every day opportunities to teach, guide, and support residents with their treatment, goals and challenges. The YDP is scheduled in a manner that best accommodates the staff ratio and coverage requirement of programs. A regular, set schedule can be expected. There may be times, however, when any combination of 1st, 2nd, and 3rdshifts, and/or overtime may be necessary. SOME PART TIME POSITIONS AVAILABLE
Responsibilities:
· Create and support an environment by which each resident can be successful in making his/her own unique behavioral, emotional, intellectual, and developmental gains by:
o Teaching and fostering residents’ skill development relative to his/her individual needs.
o Teaching and fostering an array of independent living skills, including guiding and preparing youth to towards independence socially, emotionally and economically.
o Interacting and intervening with residents in accordance with their treatment plans and Individualized Crisis Management Plan.
· Maintain a physically and emotionally safe & supportive environment by:
o Developing and providing a safe and secure physical environment for each resident.
o Providing continuous supervision of residents.
o Using Therapeutic Crisis Intervention de-escalation techniques (proximity, time and space, caring gestures, etc).
· Develop and maintain appropriate and positive relationships with residents by:
o Demonstrating appropriate social boundaries.
o Having a non-threatening and supportive demeanor.
o Actively involving residents in all facets of programming.
o Transporting and accompanying residents to school, off-grounds activities, appointments in the community, and home visits.
· Perform other essential functions of the job including:
o Complete all assigned paperwork (case documentation, reports, shift logs, etc) accurately and on time.
o Attend staff meetings.
o Provide regular, documented night checks when working the awake overnight shift.
o Report incidents of child maltreatment, neglect, and/or abuse.
o Assist in maintaining a program that is clean, organized, hazard-free, and complies with regulatory standards (e.g. Department of Health, OCFS Fire/Safety, etc).
o Follow all agency and department policies & procedures.
o Other duties as assigned by supervisors.