Description

Compensation Range: $23/hr - $26/hr commensurate with experience

Benefits

We have three comprehensive healthcare plans to choose from based on your priorities and budget. Housing Works covers most of the plan; you pay a portion, based on your salary. Staff begins accruing PTO immediately for a total of up to 30 days earned in the first year. We offer employees an educational benefit. This money is available for tuition loan reimbursement, tuition costs, and text books.

Overview

The Vocational Counselor plays a key role in supporting participants of the Ready For Work and Peer programs on their path to employment. This position involves conducting intake interviews, recruiting participants, performing pre-enrollment and job readiness assessments, and identifying barriers to employment. The Vocational Counselor provides coordinated care and support for individuals facing complex challenges such as mental health conditions, substance use, HIV, homelessness, and chronic health issues.

The Counselor also collaborates closely with the Job Developer to design and lead community workshops that promote workforce development. The Vocational Counselor is responsible for managing each participant’s job readiness journey—ensuring access to professional services, maintaining consistent follow-up, and adapting support plans based on individual progress. Services are delivered both on-site and through field visits within the community

Responsibilities

• Conduct pre-enrollment assessments to determine suitability for the program and ongoing assessment to identify needs, goals, and support needed.
• Engage participants using motivational interviewing, addressing their concerns with interventions grounded in trauma-informed care and harm reduction principles.
• Work with participants to identify and address barriers that may be hindering progress toward their goals
• Facilitate access to supportive services through timely referrals and actively encourage participant engagement with those resources.
• Complete comprehensive risk assessments for participants and ensure responsive, strengths-based follow-through tailored to individual needs
• Offer compassionate crisis intervention and ensure supportive, ongoing follow-up to promote stability and well-being.
• Evaluate the effectiveness and coordination of services to ensure participants receive seamless, continuous support
• Advocate with service providers/resources as needed.
• Develop individualized goals that support participants’ mental health and social well-being, while consistently tracking, documenting, and communicating progress with the team.
• Maintain detailed progress notes and input updates into the AIRS and e-Icare Systems, capturing referrals and key participant interactions to support continuity of care.
• Verify that all necessary assessments and consents are completed and up to date for every enrolled participant.
• Ensure documentation is thorough, timely, and aligned with organizational policies and procedures to support accountability and quality care.
• Engage participants through both telephone and in-person outreach to support recruitment and facilitate a welcoming, seamless enrollment process.