E26/27 CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER-RISE (SYPHAX)

Clinical Social Worker-RISE Team

Arlington Public Schools (APS) announces an opening for the position of a Clinical Social Worker-RISE Team. This 12-month E-11 position of Clinical Social Worker serves on the RISE Team (Respond, Intervene, Support, Empower) to support students experiencing significant behavioral challenges. The position provides immediate crisis intervention, behavioral health assessment, stabilization support, and short-term therapeutic services for students experiencing emotional, behavioral, or mental health crises within Arlington Public Schools. This position emphasizes assessment, intervention, consultation, and collaboration to develop a responsive program for the students on their caseload. This position is initially onsite at the referring school with other RISE team members to respond to immediate behavioral needs and safety concerns. The team develops an intervention plan and works with the staff to implement the plan with fidelity.

Essential functions include developing and providing evidence-based therapeutic interventions for students, conducting functional behavioral assessments (FBAs), developing Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs), analyzing and tracking behavioral and other data to evaluate intervention effectiveness and recommend adjustments, responding to acute behavioral, emotional, and mental health crises occurring in school settings, conducting suicide risk assessments, threat assessments, safety planning, and behavioral health evaluations, providing de-escalation, crisis stabilization, and brief therapeutic intervention for students, assisting in determining appropriate levels of care and facilitating referrals to community mental health providers, hospitals, mobile crisis units, or emergency services when necessary, participating in re-entry and transition planning for students returning from hospitalization, alternative placements, or crisis events, providing individual and short-term counseling services for students experiencing behavioral or emotional challenges, supporting students impacted by trauma, grief, family instability, substance use, self-harm behaviors, anxiety, depression, or other mental health concerns, collaborating with parents/guardians to connect families with school and community resources, facilitating family meetings and providing socio-cultural assessment regarding behavioral health and intervention strategies, collaborating with administrators, school counselors, psychologists, nurses, teachers, and special education staff regarding student behavioral and mental health concerns, participating in multidisciplinary student support teams, manifestation determination meetings, IEP/504 meetings, and threat assessment processes as appropriate, providing consultation and training to school staff on trauma-informed practices, crisis response, suicide prevention, behavioral intervention, and mental health awareness, assisting schools in developing division wide prevention and intervention strategies to improve student well-being and school climate, coordinating wraparound services to support continuity of care for students and families, participating in community-based and division-wide crisis response initiatives, emergency planning, and interdisciplinary collaboration efforts, serving as an active member of the RISE Team, supporting the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), designing and delivering professional development to APS staff related to positive behavior supports, crisis prevention and intervention, trauma-informed practices, functional behavior assessment, data collection and progress monitoring, and classroom behavior management, maintaining timely and accurate case documentation, risk assessments, service records, and referral information in accordance with APS policies and related implementation procedures, Federal and state regulations, FERPA, and adhering to professional and licensing body ethical standards, enrolling in and maintaining appropriate credentials for Medicaid billing; completing Medicaid billing within department timelines, preparing reports and maintaining data related to crisis response activities and student outcomes, and performing other duties as assigned.

Required knowledge, skills, and abilities include experience working in educational settings preferred, strong knowledge of child and adolescent development, behavioral health disorders, and evidence-based crisis intervention practices, experience developing services for children and adolescents, specialized training in evidence-based practices (e.g., CBT, trauma-informed care, psychological assessments, psychopathology, counseling techniques, and therapeutic interventions), ability to remain calm and effective in high-stress situations, knowledge of trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and restorative practices, strong collaboration, communication, and conflict resolution skills, ability to build positive relationships with diverse students, families, and staff, knowledge of special education processes, mandated reporting requirements, and school safety procedures, experience with MTSS, PBIS, and threat assessment models, strong clinical assessment and diagnostic skills, expertise in behavioral intervention and school-based mental health, effective collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, excellent human relations, problem solving, as well as oral and written communication, including report writing, skills, and ability to use computer technology in an administrative and educational setting to manage meetings and all aspects of work assignments.

Minimum education, training, and experience include a Doctoral or Master's degree in Social Work (MSW) from an accredited program required, experience in crisis intervention, suicide risk assessment, trauma-informed care, and school-based mental health strongly preferred, experience working in educational settings preferred, active Virginia licensure as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) required, or eligibility for Virginia licensure within a specified timeframe. Minimum of 5 years of experience providing clinical mental health services to children and adolescents.

Salary range: based on the 26/27 pay plan.

Arlington Public Schools is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of the Arlington School Board, as stated in Policy G-2.30, Employee Relations – Equal Employment Opportunity - that "Employment opportunities shall not be restricted, abridged or otherwise adversely affected on the basis of race, national origin, creed, color, religion, gender, age, economic status, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, genetic information, gender identity or expression, and/or disability."