Lead Wellness Clinician

Job Description

Job Description

Since 1984, Larkin Street Youth Services has helped more than 75,000 young adults in San Francisco with outreach, shelter, housing, education, employment, healthcare, and other services.

Today, Larkin Street Youth Services is the largest provider of housing and services to homeless youth in the Bay Area. We serve 1,500 youth annually, operating or partnering to provide more than 500 emergency shelter, transitional, supportive, and subsidy-based housing beds at several unique sites across San Francisco.

Working at Larkin Street, no matter what department, means making a real difference in the lives of young people experiencing homelessness. Our team is skilled, diverse, and passionate. Our culture encourages achievement and professional development, as well as teamwork and self-care. Our focus is always on the young people at the heart of our mission and to nurture potential, promote dignity and support bold steps by all.

For more information about us, visit

The Wellness Department at Larkin Street offers a wide range of services to support young people across Larkin Street programs to achieve the healing they desire, including onsite drop-in counseling at program sites, check-ins, weekly individual therapy (in-person and virtual), and weekly psychoeducational groups (e.g. Healing Meditation, Crash Out, Boyz II Men, Alphabet Soup groups, etc.). With our typically serving over 85% BIPOC (including 45% Black) and over 30% LGBTQ+ TAY, the Wellness Department strives to provide a continuum of personalized culturally responsive services that empower young people towards achieving their identified mental health, harm reduction, and wellness goals, accessing resources to support their mental well-being, and decreasing the negative impacts of trauma and homelessness. The Wellness Department further provides consultation, trainings, and care coordination for all programs to deepen staff use of best practices across Larkin Street.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

Under the guidance of the Division Director or Director of Client & Clinical Services, the Lead Wellness Clinician will provide mentoring and guidance to the Wellness Team, including providing clinical and/or administrative supervision to clinical interns, non-clinical staff and interns, and volunteers, and support with the overall day-to-day program operations of the Wellness Department. The Lead Wellness Clinician will provide comprehensive strengths-based and culturally responsive mental health services to unhoused and/or marginally housed transitional aged youth (TAY) ages 18-24, utilizing dynamic best practices for Trauma-Informed Care, Harm Reduction, Non-Violent Crisis Intervention (CPI), and Restorative Practices. The Lead Wellness Clinician will also join in providing clinical consultation, training, and professional development to program staff across Larkin Street, leading collaborative team conferences, and providing consultation at cross-departmental meetings.

This position is full-time and eligible for full-benefits.

Your responsibilities:

• Provide mentoring and guidance to Wellness Team towards implementing best practices and provide clinical and/or administrative supervision to clinical interns, non-clinical staff, and volunteers.

• Support Director with daily program operations for the Wellness Department, including but not limited to, triaging waitlist and referral workflow communications, updating of Wellness Resource Padlet's and creation of resource guides, distribution of monthly Wellness and Harm Reduction newsletters, disbursement of gift cards and reconciliations, distribution and maintenance of harm reduction kits and program supplies, clinical chart reviews, and quality assurance, as needed.

• Maintain a caseload of up to 12 ongoing individual therapy clients, in addition to supporting drop-in counseling and waitlist outreach clients enrolled in various Larkin Street programs, including with our Engagement & Community Center (ECC), transitional housing, shelter, and permanent supportive housing sites. 

• Conduct clinical assessments, individual and group psychotherapy, treatment planning, crisis intervention and de-escalation, and linkage to resources and the continuum of services offered throughout Larkin Street and in the community.  

• Co-facilitate 1-2 weekly psychoeducational groups and/or workshops, such as Crash Out (Anger Management), Risky Business (Harm Reduction), Real Talk (Healthy Relationships), and Seeking Safety groups, with opportunities to launch new groups and/or workshops to engage TAY in discussions, based on their topics of interest.  

• Creatively utilize a variety of therapeutic modalities to engage with clients and provide onsite in-person & virtual mental health and/or substance use counseling services.  

• Lead in collaboratively organizing events and activities hosted by the Wellness Department, such as Mental Health Awareness Day, Empowering Young Men of Color Conference, Suicide Prevention Month, Overdose Awareness Month, etc.

• Complete and maintain clinical documentation using EHR databases in a professional and timely manner, with NO Medi-Cal billing required. 

• Provide clinical consultation and training to staff across Larkin Street programs on a range of clinical topics and best practices for working with TAY, with a variety of diverse and intersectional identities and life experiences, including at collaborative meetings, TAY Navigation Hotspot meetings, cross-departmental meetings, and team meetings across programs.

• Facilitate and coordinate Collaborative Case Conferences for program sites to assist in developing care plans for clients with clinical concerns. 

• Ability to travel independently throughout the community to Larkin Street's various program and partner agency sites, as applicable, via public transportation and Lyft/Uber.  

• Attend weekly individual supervision, group supervision, clinical consultation, training, and professional development and training opportunities.  

• Actively promote Wellness program services across Larkin Street and participate in community meetings, agency-wide cultural events, stakeholder meetings, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work within the agency.  

• Always exercise discretion and professional judgment, keeping with the responsibilities carried out personally and by the agency for the care and welfare of the youth we serve. 

• Assist with special projects and other assignments, as requested by the Senior Leadership team and the Chief of Programs.

• Other duties as required.

• Perform tasks and responsibilities in a complete and timely manner, complying with agency policies and standards and conforming to scheduling requirements of this job description and program.

• Exercise discretion and professional judgment at all times keeping with the responsibilities carried personally and by the agency for the care and welfare of the youth we serve.

• Actively strive to upgrade professional skills through engaging in appropriate professional training and experience.

• Other duties as assigned.

WHO YOU ARE:

• You have a Master's degree in Counseling, Psychology, Social Work, Social Welfare, or closely related field.
• Your 2+ years of working experience post-Master's Degree is highly preferred.
• You are registered with the BBS (or able to obtain BBS registration within 30 days of hire) as an Associate Clinical Social Worker, Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, or Associate Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, or currently licensed in CA.
• You have previous experience providing mental health services in a social service setting, including individual therapy and/or group therapy, preferably with TAY, and unhoused and/or marginally housed individuals with mild to moderate mental health and/or substance use challenges.
• You have excellent written and verbal skills, including engaging with diverse audiences.
• You bring lived expertise relevant to the BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ TAY we serve and are passionate about serving marginalized communities, with bilingual in Spanish being a plus.
• You bring attention to detail with strong customer service and follow-through skills.
• You are proficient with Microsoft Office Suite.
• You bring the strong ability to multi-task, efficiently manage priority action items, and take the initiative to fill in the gaps.
• You work best in a hybrid, mostly on-site and in person working environment.
• You are willing to work evenings, weekends, and holidays occasionally.

THE PERKS:

• Competitive annual salary
  • $90,000-$95,000
  • +$3,000 if fluent in English and Spanish
• Clipper Bay Pass - Commute for FREE!
• Choice of Kaiser and Sutter medical plans, plus dental and vision.
• Generous 3 weeks of vacation annually, plus 11 Paid Holidays and 3 Floating Holidays.
• 403(b) retirement plan with employer matching.
• Flexible spending accounts for Healthcare and Dependent Care expenses.
• Life Insurance.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for counseling services.
• Health Advocate Service.
• Commuter Benefits Program.
• Paid Sabbatical following 5 and 10 years of employment.

Larkin Street Youth Services is an equal opportunity employer. Larkin Street Youth Service seeks qualified candidates with an interest in the non-profit sector. We are committed to embracing diversity and consider all applicants for all positions without regard to color, ethnic background, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, HIV/AIDS status, veteran status, or any other legally protected class. We encourage applicants of diverse backgrounds to apply for any open position in which they feel qualified.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider employment for qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. For details on how it is applicable to your employment, please click here.