Youth Care Specialist (YCS) - The Pines (Part-Time)

Job Title: Youth Care Specialist (YCS)

Reports to: Residential Manager

Department: The Pines

Compensation: $25 per hour

Company Overview:

Shrub Oak International School (SOIS) is a therapeutic day and residential school for autistic children, adolescents, and young adults with complex co-occurring conditions. Located in northern Westchester County, Shrub Oak offers unparalleled educational opportunities for autistic students in a family-centric, supportive environment. We offer a variety of programs to meet the needs of students across the spectrum, and our curriculum is based on the most advanced and successful evidence-based clinical and academic approaches in ASD education.

As a school, SOIS maintains a smoke-free environment to ensure the health and safety of our students, employees, and community. We are a residential boarding school located on a scenic 127-acre campus which includes multiple buildings and a working farm for student programming. The work environment will include both indoor and outdoor spaces.

Who We Are:

SOIS is a community of dedicated professionals that work together to find meaning with and for our students. We strive to make every day memorable in positive ways, and to manage students’ difficulties as a team. We are accountable, timely, and show up whenever needed to support our students and each other.

We are guided day-to-day by our four core principles.

• We Care

• We are Innovative

• We are Collaborative

• We are Resourceful

Benefits: (check for FT, PT or All)

• Free Meals every shift on site (All)

• Employee assistance program (EAP) (All)

• Insurance coverage: Health, vision, dental, life, supplemental and pet insurance (FT)

• Flexible spending account (FSA) (FT)

• Generous Paid time off (PTO) (FT & PT)

• 401k w/company match (FT)

• Tuition/Professional development assistance (FT)

Who You Are:

• You have a passion for working with the autism population and ensuring the safety and well-being of students and staff.

• You combine strategic thinking with hands‑on leadership, modeling best practices for the team.

• You communicate effectively and collaborate well with staff across departments and teams.

• You demonstrate strong written skills, including accurate documentation, progress notes, incident reports, and related administrative tasks.

• You actively pursue professional development and continuously learn new strategies to enhance student support.

• You have experience managing challenging behaviors and using effective de‑escalation techniques and can adapt activities to meet the needs.

• You are willing and able to complete TCIS training and maintain all required certifications.

• You can meet the physical demands including being able to sit and stand for sustained periods of time including bending, stretching, walking up and down stairs, around a hilly campus with both paved and gravel pathways as needed. May also require walking between floors or between buildings at a moment’s notice. May need to lift/move boxes up to 25 pounds and move or rearrange furniture.

Job Responsibilities:

• Manage and support the day-to-day direct care needs, operations and programs of students at The Pines, both in and outside of the classroom. 

• Develop and maintain trusting, respectful relationships with students, including understanding their unique interests, needs and goals, as well as the student body generally, to maintain a positive and cooperative environment.

• Complete administrative tasks, including but not limited to, assisting with move-in/move-out of students, shift logs, incident reports, intervention plans and progress tracking, and attend all required meetings and trainings.

• Proactively work with students in crisis to de-escalate situations using The Pines protocol 

• Attend to and report all emergencies and/or other situations requiring immediate. attention in a timely manner to the appropriate staff member(s) in accordance with The Pines policies/procedures.

• Facilitate on-campus and off-campus programming and community development based on the needs of each student outlined by the student’s Individualized Trans-disciplinary Education Plan (ITEP) and support plans. 

• Support the individualized ITEP and other developmental goals for each student, collaborating with the ITEP team including documenting efforts and progress.

• Develop, present, track, and evaluate educational programs for students.

• Work cohesively with all members of the student’s care team. 

Please note: This job description is not a comprehensive list of tasks or responsibilities. Specific assignments can change within the relevant field and training of your position, with or without notice.

Position Requirements:

• High-School Diploma and relevant combination of post-secondary education and experience in residential, psychiatric, or academic settings required; bachelor’s degree preferred 

• At least 2-years minimum of relevant or related professional experience required 

• Previous experience working in special education and behavioral intervention strongly preferred 

• DBT experience preferred 

EEO Statement:

Shrub Oak is an equal employment opportunity employer. Shrub Oak International School is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Reasonable accommodation can be requested to enable individuals with disabilities to apply for a job or to perform the essentials functions of their job. Requests may be approved if the position/department/school/students will not be adversely affected. Please advise us if you require a reasonable accommodation.

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