VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA·Lake Charles, Louisiana
The clinician provides home-based psychotherapeutic interventions for young children and their caregivers using a dyadic, relationship-based model. They also collaborate with a care coordinator to conduct family assessments and provide mental health consultation to early education settings.
Child First is an intensive, early childhood, two-generation, home visiting model that helps families build strong, nurturing relationships that heal and protect young children (prenatal through age five years) from the impact of trauma and chronic stress, with the goal of healing. Child First strives to identify children at the earliest possible time to provide care for emotional and behavioral health, developmental and learning success, and connection with services and resources to support the family’s success/wellbeing/stability. Child First has been recognized as an evidence-based home visiting model by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Maternal, infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program and rated “Effective” by the National Registry for Effective Programs and Practice (NREPP)) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA).
The Mental Health and Developmental Clinician partners with a Care Coordinator to support families referred to Child First.
The Clinician uses Child Parent Psychotherapy, a relationship-based, dyadic, parent-child treatment model, which focuses on the primary attachment relationships of the young child.
The Clinician engages with both the caregiver and child in a supportive, reflective, and exploratory manner which fosters a protective, nurturing, and responsive parent-child relationship.
The Clinician’s therapeutic intervention focuses on 1) helping caregivers understand typical developmental challenges and expectations; 2) increasing caregivers’ ability to reflect on the meaning and feelings motivating a child’s behavior; 3) supporting caregivers’ problem solving; and 4) helping caregivers understand the psychodynamic relationship between parental feelings, history, and the caregiver response to the child.
The Clinician also provides consultation to teachers in early care and education settings, as needed.
The best candidate for this position is highly organized, self-motivated, reliable, and flexible with an openness to learning, capacity for self-reflection, eagerness to participate in reflective clinical supervision, and desire to be part of a team.
Key Job Responsibilities
Engage with the Child First family and the Care Coordinator in the collaborative family assessment process (i.e., gather information from interviews, observations of interactions and play, reviewed records, collateral sources, and standardized measures).
Use all available information to develop a thoughtful, well-integrated clinical formulation and Child and Family Plan of Care, in partnership with the Care Coordinator and family.
Provide Child First home-based psychotherapeutic intervention with young children and their caregivers using relational, dyadic psychotherapy (CPP) and other modalities.
Help the caregiver gain insight regarding personal history (including trauma history), feelings for the child, and current parenting practices.
Support crisis situations by assisting the family in times of urgent need (e.g., risk of harm to child or caregiver, pending child removal), in consultation with the Care Coordinator and Clinical Supervisor.
Provide mental health and developmental assessment and consultation within early care and education settings and to other early childhood providers.
Embrace use of videotaping to enhance both therapeutic work with families and reflective supervision.
Engage in weekly individual, team, and group reflective clinical supervision with Clinical Supervisor.
Engage actively in all aspects of the Child First Learning Collaborative, including in-person or live-remote training, distance learning curriculum, and specialty trainings.
Track completion of all assessments and enter in the appropriate database.
Keep all appropriate documentation for clinical accountability and reimbursement.
Maintain schedule and complete tasks to achieve home visiting Benchmarks and meet Accreditation standards.
Participate in other clinical and administrative activities as appropriate.
Competencies
Knowledge of relationship-based, psychodynamic intervention and early child development; parent-child relationships and attachment theory; effects of trauma and environmental risks on early childhood brain development, especially violence exposure, maternal depression, and substance abuse; and community-level risk factors (e.g., poverty, homelessness).
Experience providing mental health assessment and consultation to early care and education sites preferred.
Knowledge and experience working with adults with mental health, substance use, and cognitive challenges preferred.
Experience providing intervention within diverse home and community settings preferred.
Ability to speak a second language (Spanish, Portuguese, Creole, other), highly valued.
Able to communicate well verbally and in writing.
Comfortable with computers and experienced with Word and Excel.
Reliable vehicle and appropriate insurance for home visits.
Required Education and Experience
Licensed or license-eligible (provisionally licensed) master’s level mental health provider.
Experience working psychotherapeutically with culturally diverse children and families, including parent-child therapeutic work and play therapy with very young children (0-5 years), for a minimum of three years preferred. Past CPP training is highly valued.
Candidates must hold a master's level mental health license or be license-eligible. A minimum of three years of experience working psychotherapeutically with culturally diverse children and families is preferred.
Market context
Behavioral-health roles in Louisiana are often driven by ongoing demand for licensed clinicians who can support individuals with serious mental illness in community and outpatient settings. These positions can be competitive because employers typically look for active Louisiana licensure, at least two years of relevant experience, and a valid driver's license, while benefits such as dental, vision, paid holidays, sick leave, and an employee assistance program may help offset the workload. Before applying, confirm your licensure status and driver’s license are current, and note that the requirements and benefits here are AI-summarized from the original job description to save research time.
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