Social Worker/Adjustment Counselor, PATH Intervention Clinician, OSS/DVUS

Position: Social Worker/Adjustment Counselor, PATH Intervention Clinician


Office of Student Services/Darby Vassall Upper School

The Office of Student Services:


The Office of Student Services (OSS) is responsible for providing a variety of supports and services to students in Cambridge Public Schools (CPS). Our programs are dedicated to ensuring equitable access and success for students with disabilities and students who have advanced learning needs.


The Opportunity:


The Social Worker in the PATH (Personalized Academic and Therapeutic Hub) Intervention is responsible for developing and continuously improving a high-functioning tier 3 intervention that provides clinical and academic supports to students in upper schools within Cambridge Public Schools who are transitioning back to school following a psychiatric hospitalization or an extended absence due to mental health struggles. The PATH Clinician will report directly to the Office of Social Emotional Learning and work collaboratively with DVUS staff, school social workers, and district leaders.

Key Responsibilities:

• Works with the Principal, other school leaders, and external support organizations to develop and continuously improve an intervention for students who have experienced significant mental health challenges and have missed extensive amounts of school time.
• Develops and implements the clinical, care coordination, and family engagement components of the overall case management plan for each student in PATH.
• Provides individual and small-group clinical intervention to PATH students on a flexible, as-needed basis, employing clinical methods that are most appropriate for meeting the goals in each student's individualized plan.
• Provides timely assessments in complex situations in order to identify immediate supports necessary to address safety concerns, suicidality, and/or concerns around suspected abuse or neglect. Provides crisis intervention as needed.
• Pro-actively communicates with educators, school based teams, and school administrators regarding the progress and status of each student in PATH, maintaining student confidentiality as appropriate.
• Engages in consistent two-way communication with the families of PATH students to keep them apprised of student progress and gather feedback and information to support student learning and well-being.
• Work in partnership with students and families to provide psychoeducation, identify resources, and coordinate referrals to external agencies and programs to support students' and families' needs.
• Maintains a classroom and office environment that is conducive to learning and appropriate to the maturity and interests of students through implementation of practices that govern student life and conduct, the development of reasonable expectations of classroom behavior and procedure, and addressing inappropriate student behaviors as needed.
• Ensures that all required data is gathered and entered into data management systems in accordance with program procedures.
• Develops and ensures effective implementation of a comprehensive transition plan integrating clinical, care coordination, and academic supports for each student in the PATH intervention with the goal of successful return to their home school setting.
• Collaborate and work in partnership with the Office of Social Emotional Learning through attendance at meetings, professional development, and supervision sessions to ensure continuous improvement of clinical practice and service delivery.
• Facilitates professional development about PATH as needed for school staff and participates in professional development opportunities through the bryt network to support ongoing learning.
• Willingness to travel to upper schools within the district to support student transition.
• Any related duties as outlined by the Office of Student Services.

Your Skill Set:
As the incoming Social Worker/Adjustment Counselor, you will possess many, though perhaps not all, of the following characteristics and qualifications:

• Master's degree from an accredited college or university in social work, clinical psychology, or mental health counseling.
• Formal training and experience working with adolescents and families struggling with complex challenges, including mental health challenges, causing extended absences from school.
• Demonstrated skill and experience in setting clinical goals and providing direct clinical support to adolescents in the school setting, including collaborating with collateral/community-based mental health providers.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
• Demonstrated skill and experience working with parents/guardians from an assets/strengths-based perspective.
• Demonstrated effectiveness with the development and continuous improvement of student support programming within a school environment.
• Demonstrated effectiveness in providing supervision and support to other professionals.
• Ability to assess complex situations and design individual, small group, and classroom interventions to address student needs.
• Demonstrated cultural proficiency and a deep sense of cultural humility, self-awareness, and reflection.
• Excellent case management skills
• Required Massachusetts Licensure: School Social Worker/School Adjustment Counselor and clinical licensure (LCSW, LICSW, or LMHC)

How to Join Our Team:


Apply online at Please upload a resume and thoughtful cover letter, outlining how your skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position and stating how you heard about this opportunity.

At the Cambridge Public Schools, we are committed to cultivating an environment where diverse perspectives and backgrounds are embraced, acknowledging that a team reflecting diversity of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, gender, marital/domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, and veteran status allows us to serve our communities better. To that end, we welcome and encourage applicants to bring their authentic selves when considering employment opportunities within our school district.