Job Description

The Boston Public Health Commission’s Homeless Services Bureau (HSB) provides emergency shelter, job training, behavioral health support, and housing services to unhoused individuals in Boston. We serve close to 5,000 individuals every year, and are one of the largest providers of emergency shelter in New England. We aim to make homelessness in Boston rare, brief, and one time. We do that by problem-solving with new guests at the front door to try to prevent anyone from entering homelessness to begin with. For individuals who do become homeless and use our shelters, we help them quickly move out of homelessness and find a safe place to call home. Once housed, we provide in-home supports to ensure someone does not return to homelessness. We use a Housing First and racial justice framework, which is built on the foundation that housing is a social determinant of health, a basic need that everyone deserves, and does not require sobriety. We believe that everyone, with the right support, can succeed in housing. We foster evidence-based approaches such as trauma-informed care, harm reduction, and motivational interviewing in the delivery of our services, and ensure services are low-threshold and accessible to our guests.

DUTIES:

• Provide engagement and support services to clients whose behaviors may pose risks such as drug and alcohol use and sexual practices using a harm reduction approach.
• Ensure sedation monitoring and follow up intervention at emergency shelter for guests presenting as over intoxicated.
• Coordinate with HSB Housing Stabilization teams to provide harm reduction services to newly housed clients.
• Provide harm reduction consultation for staff requesting additional client support.
• Conduct targeted in-reach to and build rapport with guests to engage them in harm reduction services and facilitate linkages to care.
• Provide referrals and linkages to community-based recovery and harm reduction services.
• Manage harm reduction supply access for individuals at risk for overdose or infectious disease transmission, including safer use and safer sex supplies, and distribute according to HSB policy.
• Assist with the facilitation of individual and group overdose prevention and Narcan administration trainings for guests and staff.
• Assess and respond to incidents utilizing de-escalation protocol or appropriate emergency response procedures.
• Build relationships and collaborate with community partners to ensure staff and residents have access to harm reduction and recovery resources.
• Conducts formal and informal needs assessment to make appropriate referrals to internal and external programs.
• Maintain professional ethics, boundaries and client confidentiality and work from a strength-based perspective using evidence base practices (MI, CBT, Harm Reduction etc.)
• Maintain up to date and accurate service plans, client files, and client records/documents, entering timely and accurate data into BPHC’s and the City’s HMIS databases.
• Conduct quality improvement initiatives and assist with program evaluation efforts.
• Intervenes to de-escalate conflict situations, anticipating potential conflict situations and intervening prior to crisis.
• Works collaboratively with other HSB and BPHC programs and departments
• Demonstrates knowledge of trauma informed care.
• Maintain confidentiality and standards of ethical practice
• Attends required meetings and training sessions.
• Performs other duties as required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with a minimum one (1) year human services experience. College level course work equivalent to an Associate’s degree with two (2) years human services experience or High School diploma/GED and three (3) years human services experience may be substituted for above requirements.
• Commitment to racial equity, housing first, trauma-informed care, and harm reduction.
• Previous experience working with homeless, diverse ethnic and racial, or low-income populations with an understanding of barriers posed by mental health, substance use immigration status, and criminal record.
• Knowledge of Boston area housing resources and social service agencies.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Computer proficiency including writing, sending, and managing emails, using and entering data into an online database, completing electronic assessments, entering and updating data on Excel.
• Valid driver's license
• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred