Position Title: Licensed Social Worker/Support Group Specialist

 

Supervised By: Director of Client Services

 

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter is a nonprofit organization that is seeking interest for a second Case Manager position. This would be a full-time position consisting of 40 hours weekly with schedule determined upon hire and negotiation. The salary for this position would start out at $30,000 annually.

 

This agency is made up of purpose- driven, hardworking individuals who spend a majority of their time formulating innovative solutions to issues that arise and working past the barriers we encounter day-today to provide life-saving services to survivors of domestic violence. The right candidate will match these efforts by having a passion for working directly with survivors from the point of crisis to follow-up and having high standards of maintaining confidentiality, work dependability, self-motivation, and personal ethics.

 

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter is a non-profit and an Equal Opportunity Employer. Branches is committed to building a culturally diverse staff and strongly encourages applicants who identify as people of color, LGBT+ and marginalized communities to apply. Branches believes these communities must be centered in the work that we do and that our staff should reflect the communities we serve. 

 

A bachelor's degree in social work/services, counseling, or related field is required. Applicant must be a Licensed Social Worker in the state of West Virginia (a temporary license will suffice, but applicant must be on track to acquire permanent license for continued employment).

 

Our work is all encompassing, but candidates who possess these skills have a much greater chance of thriving in our field:

 

Confidentiality – Due to the nature of our work, our clients rely on us to maintain their private, personal information. Our survivors will disclose intimate details of their lives with the Social Worker that they might never disclose otherwise and they depend on them to handle those details with care.

Protect all client information at their discretion: having client sign a release of information when appropriate.

Respond appropriately to incoming client inquiries whether personal or professional.

Protect location of operating offices.

 

Support Ability – A major part of being an advocate is supporting a client-led service plan and offering options to every step in gaining self-sufficiency. Branches relies on the Social Worker to make strong connections with our clients and to help survivors obtain judgement free access to any of the services they need.

Do not discriminate on the basis of biological or assumed gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability, marital status, or military status.

Assist clients in developing their own personalized safety plans when needed.

Do not judge clients based on the choices they make to survive.

Listen effectively to what clients want and work from there, not telling them what they should and shouldn’t do.

Provide individual, group and family crisis support and advocacy to resident and nonresident adults.

Organize and facilitate support groups for survivors of domestic violence.

Provide appropriate referral services for clients who need counseling for non-domestic violence related issues.

 

Creativity – Advocacy is not cut and dry, black and white. Sometimes the duties of our work require us to think outside of the box or out of our comfort zone. This can be especially important for our Social Worker, who would rely more on trauma-informed response than immediate punitive means in most cases of our work.

Provide consistent crisis intervention.

Arrange emergency services to clients as needed.

Assist clients in carrying out a service plan needed for client to live successful, safe and violence-free life.

Connect clients with needed and available community resources, such as social service, medical, financial, and housing contacts.

Pursue alternative routes when a service plan changes, whether by choice or circumstance.

De-escalate incidents that occur within the shelter either on shift or during on call using the least restrictive measures.

 

Respectability – Professionalism is the key to building and maintaining strong, functioning relationships. These relationships can be the guiding light to new roads for our clients and the Social Worker is needed to network and create these relationships with clients and other partnering agencies.

Participate in weekly staff meetings. Participate in and assist in providing in-service training for staff

Perform job functions of other employees as needed or requested by the Executive Director

Abide by all policies and procedures established by the Board of Directors and/or Executive Director.

Assist Director in general tabling, speaking, and awareness events.

Establish relationships with churches, senior centers service agencies, and other community resources to develop locations and referral sources for providing support groups for victims.

Assist in providing training for related social service providers and professionals (i.e., clergy, police, medical, social workers, etc.

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