Behavioral Health Therapist

Therapist

The Therapist provides comprehensive, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive mental health services to children, youth, and families across home, school, clinic, and community-based settings. Grounded in a strengths-based and relationship-centered approach, this role supports individuals with diverse emotional, behavioral, and developmental needs while promoting resilience, stability, and overall well-being.

Therapists deliver a continuum of care that may include assessment, diagnosis, individual, family, and group therapy, and case coordination. Services are tailored to meet the unique needs, identities, and lived experiences of each child and family, incorporating evidence-based practices and developmentally appropriate interventions. Depending on program assignment, services may include school-based mental health support, outpatient therapy, home-based intervention, early childhood attachment-focused care, and/or enhanced foster care services.

This role emphasizes strong partnerships with caregivers, educators, childcare providers, and community systems to ensure coordinated and holistic care. Therapists work collaboratively across disciplines to reduce barriers to access, advocate for equitable outcomes, and support children and families within their natural environments.

Therapists are committed to advancing equity and practicing anti-racism by recognizing and addressing systemic disparities that impact children and families. Services are delivered with cultural humility and inclusivity, ensuring all individuals—regardless of race, ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status, ability, gender identity, or family structure—feel valued, respected, and supported.

The Therapist utilizes a trauma-informed framework that prioritizes safety, trust, collaboration, and empowerment, recognizing the widespread impact of trauma on development and functioning. In early childhood settings, this may include caregiver-child attachment work and developmental guidance, while school-based roles may involve collaboration with educational teams to support student success and engagement.

Across all settings, the Therapist maintains timely documentation, meets productivity and program expectations, participates in supervision and professional development, and upholds ethical and regulatory standards. The role requires flexibility, strong clinical judgment, and the ability to engage effectively with diverse populations in dynamic environments.

Essential responsibilities include providing trauma-informed, culturally responsive mental health services to children, youth, and families, delivering individual, family, and/or group therapy using evidence-based and developmentally appropriate practices, conducting intake assessments, ongoing evaluations, and crisis intervention while prioritizing client safety and stability, utilizing a variety of therapeutic modalities tailored to the strengths, identities, and needs of each child and family, collaborating with families, schools, childcare providers, and community partners to coordinate care and support positive outcomes, advocating for equitable access to services and resources, addressing barriers impacting children and families, participating in case-related meetings, interdisciplinary teams, and agency activities, engaging families as partners in treatment through education, coaching, and strengths-based support, providing services in flexible, community-based settings to increase accessibility and engagement, participating in supervision, team meetings, and ongoing professional development, adhering to professional ethical standards and agency policies, supporting agency initiatives, committees, and cross-functional collaboration efforts.

Site Team Clinician responsibilities include providing school-based mental health services aligned with KSSN goals, maintaining consistent presence within assigned school(s), collaborating closely with school personnel, coordinating care across school, home, and community systems to support student outcomes, maintaining regular communication with parents/guardians of all assigned students, serving as a Network 180 Access point and facilitating referrals to additional behavioral health services.

Behavioral Health Services responsibilities include managing a mixed caseload that may include outpatient, home-based, and case management services, providing clinical case management and support for Enhanced Foster Care cases when applicable, participating in court hearings, school meetings, and other external case-related obligations, rotating participation in a 24/7 on-call system to respond to client crises, providing services in non-traditional/community settings to meet client needs.

Early Childhood Attachment responsibilities include providing infant and early childhood mental health services focused on caregiver-child attachment, delivering parent-child psychotherapy and relationship-based, play-based interventions, monitoring developmental progress using standardized screening and assessment tools, providing consultation to childcare providers to support inclusion and prevent suspension/expulsion, applying Infant Mental Health (IMH) principles and pursuing/maintaining IMH endorsement, participating in reflective supervision specific to early childhood and attachment-focused work.

Minimum qualifications include a Master's degree in Social Work or a related field, licensed to practice therapy in the state of Michigan or actively working towards licensure, strong knowledge of the common diagnoses and treatments for children, ability to provide effective individual, family, and group therapy skills, valid driver's license, good driving record and adequate insurance with a car available, experience working with children and families from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds preferred, strong knowledge of early child development and the common diagnoses and treatments for children, knowledge of clinical issues related to foster and adopted children and families is preferred.

Early Childhood Attachment candidates should have or be willing to work toward a level II MI-AIMH Endorsement by starting on an IMH Waiver.

Core competencies include working under pressure, communication, planning and organizing, integrity, reliability, adaptability, decision making, and cultural responsiveness.

Physical/environmental requirements include mobility and movement, lifting & physical handling, technology & documentation, communication, driving & transportation, emotional and psychological, safety awareness & crisis response, environmental conditions, work hours & scheduling flexibility, confidentiality & professional boundaries.

DABSJ strives to be a fully inclusive organization as we support a diverse group of children and families. We are building a diverse team that represents our customers and our community and recognize that each of us brings a unique perspective to the organization. We welcome differing thoughts, faiths, beliefs, groups, and lived experiences. The diversity and differences of each team member, foster parent, adoptive parent, child, and family make us #DABSJstrongertogether for children and families.

DABSJ is an equal opportunity, at-will employer, and will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment. DABSJ does not discriminate on the basis of race, including but not limited to hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists; culture, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, height, weight, marital status, veteran status, socio-economic status, disability, or other legally-protected characteristics as required by law.

This job description does not list all duties of the job. Employees may be asked by management to perform other duties as needed. The Company reserves the right to revise this job description at any time. This job description is not a contract for employment and does not infringe upon the Company's at will employment status.