Youth Project Director - Martha Eliot Health Center

Department Ambulatory Services- Martha Eliot Health Center

Job Posting Description
The Youth Project is one of several initiatives within the Adolescent Services Program based at Martha Eliot Health Center in Jamaica Plain. Martha Eliot is the primary community health center of Children's Hospital Boston. The Youth Project is designed to address the clinical and psychosocial needs of local community adolescents. The Youth Project has a twofold preventive focus: health and wellness promotion and harm reduction. Specifically, this Project will build resilience by connecting youth with growth-enhancing community resources and appropriate healthcare, and by providing skills-building interventions, such as positive decision-making, problem-solving and conflict resolution skills. The prevention component, designed to address social issues and high risk behaviors such as violence, drug use, and high risk sexuality, will be enhanced through the program's culturally-specific and strengths-based focus. Older adolescent peer leaders (16-18) will be recruited and trained to provide education and role modeling through a multi-faceted comprised of education groups, peer counseling, and community outreach to younger, middle school aged adolescents.

The Project Director will be experienced in developing and implementing a progressive model of youth leadership development, and will be an engaging educator/facilitator who has the ability to connect with youth, community agencies, schools, tenant organizations, and other youth-serving organizations. The Project Director will develop the program model, recruit, train and provide ongoing supervision to the peer leaders, develop curriculum for the lead skills-based groups, develop linkages with community resources and collaborate with other youth development programs. The Project Director will lead the peer leaders in assessing the needs of 12-14 year old youth in their community, determining the most effective way to reach these youth with information, support and referrals, and implementing a variety of creative programming designed to share the skills they have learned about growing into healthy and resilient young adults. The Project Director will have the ability to facilitate group discussions with youth of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, perform outreach in response to youth identified as being at risk, advocate and facilitate referrals for supportive resources as needed, and evaluate and report on program effectiveness.

Based on experience there may be an opportunity for the appropriate candidate to provide limited adolescent specific just-in-time" mental health evaluations and brief intervention services. This additional facet of the position is based upon the acute need for enhanced access of community adolescents to effective behavioral and mental health interventions. In this capacity the position will receive support and supervision from the Department of Psychiatry attending staff.

As an affiliate of Children's Hospital Boston, all Martha Eliot staff are employees of the hospital. This position requires a Master's degree or commensurate experience in youth development and leadership training. This is a full time position.

Qualified and interested individuals are encouraged to apply.

Shift
Day
Evening

Standard Hours per Week
40.00