Senior Mental Health and Wellness Specialist

COMPANY DESCRIPTION:

The mission of Acelero Learning is to bring a relentless focus on positive child and family outcomes to close the achievement gap and build a better future for children, families, and communities served by the Head Start program. Acelero Learning is a pioneering provider of early childhood education and family engagement services through our three business units, all focused on closing the achievement gap for thousands of Head Start children and families across the country. With over $50 million in revenue and unparalleled child outcome data, we are both one of the largest and one of the most innovative companies in our space.

DESCRIPTION/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Are you a socially conscious, dedicated individual who is committed to building a better future for children, families, and their communities? If so, join us as we support early childhood education programs across the country to create positive outcomes for the children and families served.

The Senior Mental Health (MH) and Wellness Specialist is responsible for leading a team of specialists and coaches who will develop and execute a statewide system of staff, family and child mental health and wellness strategies and tools. These strategies and tools will support diverse early care and education organizations to create trauma informed organizational, Center and classroom environments, integrate resilience focused practices, establish internal and external MH referral and support systems, and reduce stigma for accessing MH services on behalf of child, family and staff MH and well-being. These strategies could include but would not be limited to computer- based, virtual and/or in-person training, statewide professional learning communities, as well as cross-program group coaching opportunities.

Location of this position within Indiana is flexible as the position will require local travel in Indiana. The annual salary for this position is up to $75,000.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

● Develops a tiered approach to promoting trauma informed, culturally competent MH and wellness strategies to support a diverse range of early childhood education (ECE) environments, including a tailored scope and sequence of strategies and activities that can be adapted to meet the needs of diverse community and agency contexts

● Curates a set of universal resources that support ECE professionals to recognize the signs of and mitigating the resulting behaviors brought on by mental, social and emotional health issues, including trauma

● Works with teams to research current child, family and staff MH and wellness models and perform a landscape review of established mechanisms and systems such as Part B and Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and make recommendations for integration

● Collaborates with the SPARK Manager - Strategic Partnerships to research, identify and curate directories of local resources available to provide culturally responsive and trauma-informed MH services and consultative support

● Develops training and technical assistance workshops, tools, and implementation manuals to support MH and Wellness strategy dissemination

● Supervises a team of MH and Wellness staff to develop and support execution of adult, child and staff MH and Wellness strategies

● Works with teams to develop and oversee network wide professional learning communities

● Facilitates, presents and participates in both internal and externally-facing meetings, events and trainings as required

● Participates in assigned meetings, events and training as required

Job Requirements:

    * Bachelor's Degree in Social Work, Public Health or other relevant field, master’s degree preferred

    * Clinical mental health licensure preferred

    * Five or more years of experience in community health and well-being models for children, families and/or staff (e.g., MH systems of referral and support, community MH ambassadors, community-based self-help and support systems, etc.)

    * Lived experience or demonstrated skill working at the intersection of trauma and resilience in the lives of children, families and communities, including understanding the impact of institutionalized racism on health, MH and well-being of communities of color, and historical communal supports that have served to buffer some of the negative effects of systemic racism

    * Experience in instructional design, professional development and/or training facilitation (related to MH preferred), including needs analysis and developing scope and sequence of content

    * Previous experience managing people and/or teams preferred

    * Travel may be required locally or long -distance, but mostly within Indiana, up to 20% of the time for work related meetings and functions.

Why Acelero Learning or Shine Early Learning?

- Ability to make an impact in the lives of the children, families, and partners we serve

- Career growth and professional development opportunities

- Supportive working environment

- Average of 5 weeks of paid time off during 1st year of employment

- Comprehensive benefits, including 401K matching and 100% vesting program

We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to creating a diverse and healthy work place.