Youth and Family Services Therapist II

THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION.  The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year, but can be extended.

Applications must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing.  Postmarks are not accepted.  Applications will only be accepted on-line.

Supplemental Questionnaire:  A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application.  Applications and Supplemental Questionnaires must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing. Postmarks are not accepted.  Failure to submit the Supplemental Questionnaire will result in disqualification.

ABOUT THE ALAMEDA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office is a full-service law enforcement agency accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) and the American Correctional Association (ACA). Additionally, the agency's health care provider, Prison Health Services, has dual accreditation through the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) and the California Medical Association (CMA).  Together these form what is referred to as the "Triple Crown" of accreditation (ACA, NCCHC/CMA and CALEA) awarded by the National Sheriff's Association.  Additionally, the Sheriff's Office Crime Lab is nationally accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD).  The Sheriff's Office Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit has also been awarded national accreditation through the Bomb Squad Commanders Advisory Board.

The Sheriff's Office has a current adjusted net budget of approximately $185.7 million and has over 1500 authorized positions, including in excess of 1000 sworn personnel. The agency's Chief Executive Officer is Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern, who is assisted in the operation of the agency by Undersheriff Richard T. Lucia, Assistant Sheriff's Brett Keteles and Casey Nice.

The Sheriff of Alameda County is responsible for a vast array of tasks and duties, including the following:

• Providing security to the Consolidated Superior Courts
• Operating the Coroner's Bureau
• Operating a full service criminalistics laboratory
• Performing Civil Process
• Operating a County Jail (Santa Rita)
• Operating the County Office of Emergency Services
• Providing patrol and investigative services to the unincorporated areas of Alameda County
• Pursuant to contractual agreements, providing patrol and investigative services to the City of Dublin, Peralta
• Community College District, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum complex, Oakland International Airport,
• Highland County Hospital, Social Services, and to the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
• Conducting a basic academy pursuant to Police Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) requirements.
• Providing Fish and Game enforcement
• Project Director of the Narcotics Task Force 
•  Serving as the Executive Director of the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force 
•  Operating a Marine Patrol Unit in the San Francisco Bay waters.

For additional information, you may visit the Sheriff's Office website at: http://www.alamedacountysheriff.org/

 

THE POSITION

Under general supervision, in a law enforcement environment, provides crisis intervention; follow-up counseling and referral services to youth, families, inmates, and individuals experiencing conflicts, crisis and trauma; gathers and presents case history data; provides clinical and case management services, mental health and environmental assessments as well as psychotherapy for assigned clients; and performs related duties as required.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

Positions in this class are unique to the Youth and Family Services (YFS) Bureau of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

Incumbents in this class are licensed clinicians and provide direct clinical, counseling and referral services to the Bureau’s clientele, within the scope of the Bureau’s objectives. Work assignments, professional guidance and mentoring directed toward development of professional abilities are received from the Youth and Family Services Lead Therapist and/or from the Youth and Family Services Supervisor. Additionally, incumbents receive guidance in the appropriate handling of criminal cases involving offenders and their families from the Youth and Family Services Manager and a Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant.

Youth and Family Services Therapist II is the entry-level class in this series. This class is distinguished from the next lower class of Youth and Family Services Therapist I in that incumbents in the latter are receiving in-service training and experience in the provision of direct clinical service while completing an applicable degree program and/or working towards clinical licensure. This class is further distinguished from the next higher class of Youth and Family Services Lead Therapist in that the latter performs the full range of clinical and counseling services and is certified to provide clinical supervision to interns and trainees.

 THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

 In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications, the ideal candidate will have demonstrated a successful track record of:

• Two years post Masters experience providing psychotherapy and related services is highly preferred.
• Experience providing crisis intervention, psychotherapy, case management and referral services to a diverse population, including: individuals, couples, families, youth and adults; the incarcerated & formerly incarcerated; victims of crime, violence and trauma; youth and adults exhibiting at-risk behavior.
• Experience working in a law enforcement or corrections environment; ability to function effectively in a structured work environment and adhere to established policy, procedure and protocol.
• Effective interpersonal skills; with the proven ability to establish and maintain effective professional relationships and work well with others.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing; organized, detail-oriented, able to prioritize, meet deadlines and multi-task.
• Billing services including Medi-Cal, private insurance and Medi-Cal Administrative Activities (MAA).
• Strong computer skills including proficiency in Microsoft Word & Excel (maintenance of clinical files, record keeping and statistical reports will be required). 

For the full job description and a summary of duties for this position, click here.

Education:

Possession of a Master’s or Doctoral degree from an accredited college or university in social work, marriage and family therapy, clinical psychology, counseling psychology, counseling or a closely related field.

AND
License:

Possession of a valid clinical license in Marriage or Family Therapy (LMFT), Clinical Social Work (LCSW), Clinical Psychology, or License Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), issued by the applicable licensing authority: California Board of Behavioral Sciences or California Board of Psychology

Some positions in this class may require possession of a valid California Motor Vehicle Operator’s license.

Special Requirements:

Prior to appointment to this class, prospective appointees must pass a comprehensive background investigation conducted by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

Incumbents in this class must be able to work effectively in an environment in which they may encounter sensitive/confidential information and data that may contain explicit or disturbing content.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

NOTE: The level and scope of the following knowledge and abilities are related to duties listed under the "Examples of Duties" section of this specification.

Knowledge of:

• Crisis intervention and intake procedures.
• The theory, principles and techniques of counseling and psychotherapy.
• Social, emotional and behavioral aspects of mental disorders, emotional disturbances and at-risk behavior characteristics exhibited by youth.
• Principles of maturation, social adjustment, human/child development, normal and abnormal behavior, general psychology.
• Psychotherapy, diversion counseling, case management and other methods of counseling, including but not limited to therapy with children, adolescents, families, adults, couples, and groups.
• Community resources in the field of mental health.

Ability to:

• Function effectively in a highly structured law enforcement environment and adhere to established policy, procedure and protocol.
• Apply clinical and case management principles and concepts.
• Secure and systematically record accurate social and personal data.
• Maintain necessary statistics and prepare comprehensive statistical reports.
• Develop effective and productive therapeutic relationships with clients.
• Work effectively with law enforcement coworkers in the handling of dispute and/or crisis calls.
• Utilize community resources in case management.
• Establish and maintain effective professional relationships and work effectively with others.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.

The examination will consist of the following steps:

• A review of candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements.
• Candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move onto the next step in the examination process which is a review of the supplemental questionnaires to determine those best qualified.
• Candidates who pass the screening for best qualified will move onto the next step in the examination process which is an oral interview that will be weighted as 100% of the candidate's final examination score.

CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION.

We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit.  Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position.  Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position.  Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance.  The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency:

  

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN:

Deadline for Filing:	5:00 pm, Monday, August 10, 2015
Review of Minimum Qualifications:	August 21, 2015
Best Qualified Screening:	August 26, 2015
Oral Interview Exam:	Week of September 21, 2015
Departmental Interview:	Week of October 12, 2015

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statues.  To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Welfare Benefits

• Medical – HMO & PPO Insurance
• Dental – PPO & DHMO Insurance  
• Vision
• Basic Life Insurance 
• Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage) 
• County Allowance
• Health Flexible Spending Account
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Accident, Critical Illness & Hospital Indemnity
• Long Term Care Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

• Short-term Disability Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Retirement Plan – (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
• Deferred Compensation Plan

For your Work/Life Balance

• 11 paid holidays
• Vacation and sick leave accrual
• Vacation purchase program
• Management Paid Leave**
• Group Auto/Home
• Commuter Benefits Program
• Guaranteed Ride Home
• Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
• Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
• Child Care Resources
• 1^st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the "My applications" button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to insure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.

Nicole Lewis-Bolton,  Human Resources Analyst

Human Resource Services, County of Alameda

(510) 272-6468   nicole.lewis-bolton@acgov.org

Alameda County is an Equal Opportunity Employer