Job Description

Job Title:  Community Support Associate

Qualifications :  Must be 18 years old or older, have a high school diploma, a general equivalency diploma (GED), or qualifying documentation from a comparable educational entity.  Must have (1) year of full-time experience working with individuals who receive treatment for a mental health disorder, or co-occurring disorder defined as substance use disorder, intellectual disability, or a physical health disorder or condition. Must successfully complete within six (6) months of hire a DBHDID approved training program. Must complete and maintain documentation of a minimum of (6) six hours of training or continuing education yearly in the areas of principles of recovery and resilience, principles of psychiatric rehabilitation, effective listening and communication skills, diagnosis and medication management, management of mental health disorders or co-occurring disorders and crisis coping skills.  Submit to and pass a criminal background check and a drug screening test.

Hours :  Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m.  Other times may be required with the job or adjusted by your supervisor.

This position works as part of a multidisciplinary team and reports to the Team Leader and/or Program Director.

Summary of Job Duties :  Work as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide activities necessary to allow individuals with mental illness or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders to live with maximum independence in the community through utilization of skills training as identified in the individual’s plan of care.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities :

Use a variety of psychiatric rehabilitation techniques to assist individuals develop skills in:

• Improve daily living skills ( hygiene, meal preparation, medication adherence)
• Self-monitoring of symptoms, side effects, and medication adherence
• Emotional regulation skills
• Crisis coping skills
• Developing and enhancing interpersonal skills
• Assistance in accessing and utilizing community resources
• Non-clinical but therapeutic behavioral intervention, support and skills training

Can include teaching and modeling such skills as the following:

• Routine household care and maintenance
• Activities of daily living, including personal hygiene, shopping, money management, medication management, socialization, relationship building, participation in community activities and goal attainment.

Required Job Skills:

• Oral and Written Communication Skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Ability to exercise good judgment, tact, diplomacy and compassion when problem solving, handling conflict or in a crisis situation
• Ability to complete record keeping in a timely fashion
• Ability to get along with diverse personalities and maintain effective working relationships
• Ability to work well with people of all races, backgrounds and needs
• Knowledgeable of Behavioral Health concepts and how to incorporate concepts into practical application including Recovery Concepts for persons with severe mental  illnesses or co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders

Additional Responsibilities :

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. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable the individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions

• Physically able to reach, push, pull, stoop, bend, stand, walk and lift up to 20 pounds
• Possess a valid Driver’s License, maintain a safe driving record, and maintain the required minimum vehicle insurance amount for the State of Kentucky, if required for job performance

Work Environment :

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations must be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee, out of necessity, may have to work in outside weather conditions, may be off-site from normal office location or placed at a Residential Program.

The noise level in the work environment is mild to moderate.

Environmental Data and Job Hazards :

• Hours of work are structured 7.5 or 8.0 hour blocks of time but may be subject to irregular and/or flexible hours based on needs or demands
• Position may require duties to include routine or reasonable anticipated tasks or procedures where there is a degree of actual or potential exposure to blood or other infectious materials
• All staff are required to participate in yearly trainings regarding infection control and safety in the environment including hazardous waste and blood borne pathogens
• All new staff must attend training regarding handling physical, verbal threats, acts of violence or other escalating and potentially dangerous situations including when police need to be summoned.
• All staff must be certified in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation within one month of employment and maintain the certification.

Required Job Performance :

• Provide an average of 50% direct billable time per month as established by the Agency.
• Successful Performance Evaluation rating of 3 or above. (See attached Performance Outcome Evaluation).  A Performance Improvement Plan will be initiated on all scores below a 3 rating.  An employee will be terminated if the Performance Improvement Plan is viewed as unsuccessful after 2 attempts.

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