LA Counselor

Website Family Legacy

Family Legacy Missions Zambia (FLMZ) is a Faith based organization that upholds Christian values and morals in the education of the orphaned and vulnerable children it serves. The organization seeks to recruit suitably qualified, experienced and competent individuals who will demonstrate commitment to FL mission, vision, and values.

Job Summary

The job of the LA Community Counselor is to assesses the psychological, emotional, developmental, and social wellbeing of children and staff across the ministry’s Legacy Academy schools and provide clinical therapeutic interventions to address their specific psychosocial needs.  It is the responsibility of the LA Community Counselor to conduct psychosocial assessments, receive referrals, triage and prioritize clients’ needs, provide a variety of counseling interventions, perform administrative duties, and facilitate other therapeutic activities as directed. The LA Community Counselor will ensure that all departmental, HWC, Legacy Academy, Family Legacy, and governmental policies and procedures are followed correctly to ensure that the department works in accordance with the law.

Specific Tasks:

Psychosocial Care Services:

  • Provide daily clinical counseling therapy to all children, caregivers and staff members across the ministry’s Legacy Academy schools
  • Receive counseling referrals from other departments and communicate client’ needs and treatment plans effectively to other members of staff
  • Utilizing referrals, triage and prioritize clients’ needs to effectively manage client caseload
  • Conduct informal and formal assessments of clients’ psychological, emotional, developmental, and social needs
  • Create individualized treatment plans to meet clients’ personal needs
  • Provides timely and appropriate assessment, treatment planning, therapeutic interventions, and follow-up to all clients
  • Use a variety of evidence-based counseling techniques & interventions to conduct individual and group therapy sessions (play-based interventions, therapeutic art activities, sand tray therapy, CBT, trauma-focused interventions, coping skills development, anger management techniques, etc.
  • Routinely monitor clients’ progress and adjust their treatment plans as needed
  • Conduct HIV disclosure processes with children who are HIV+ and their caregivers
  • Facilitate regular therapeutic support groups across the Legacy Academy schools (HIV, sickle cell, sexual abuse, grief, trauma, etc.)
  • Conduct family-centered counseling sessions with children and their caregivers on a variety of issues as needed
  • Provide Legacy Academy school staff members with clinical counseling interventions and therapeutic debriefing sessions as needed
  • Conduct death and/or sick family member disclosures with children and accompany them to funerals and hospital visits
  • Acts as a resource for other departments and staff across the ministry in understanding the significance of developmental, psychological, emotional, and social factors related to children’s trauma, growth and development, coping, and wellbeing
  • Participates in trainings for staff across the ministry on a variety of topics related to psychosocial care including, but not limited to, trauma and coping, children’s development, psychosocial needs, treatment strategies, etc.
  • Promotes the continuous development of children to optimize their responses to traumatic experiences, to minimize psychological stress, and to increase understanding of and coping with trauma and illness.
  •  Assess, determine, and make referrals to other departments when special services or care are needed for clients, such as medical evaluation, social services, community services, or specialized psychological/psychiatric testing.
  • Facilitate additional therapeutic activities and programming in Legacy Academy schools as directed
  • Ensure high quality care for clients by reviewing and researching concerns or complaints and recommending corrective action as needed
  • Implement trauma-informed programming across Family Legacy’s programs

Communication

  • Clearly and respectfully communicate with children, caregivers, staff across the ministry’s Legacy Academy schools
  • Practice clear communication with coworkers, direct supervisor, other departments, management, and relevant stakeholders
  • Closely collaborate with other departments across Family Legacy to communicate about children’s psychosocial needs, goals, and treatment plans
  • Participate in multidisciplinary team treatment conferences when needed to review and plan for specific client cases

Record Keeping and Administrative Duties

  • Complete appropriate mental health documentation, including but not limited to patient care plans, performance outcomes, progress reports, and daily activity tracking as required by HCPZ, the Zambian Counselling Council, the HWC, and Family Legacy
  • Perform daily scheduling tasks to manage and maintain an independent caseload of clients
  • Document and submit daily counseling statistics to direct supervisor in a timely manner
  • Attend and participate in daily counseling department meetings
  • Attend and participate in weekly departmental professional development activities (including trainings, case presentations, etc.)
  • Perform record-keeping duties by maintaining clients’ counseling records in confidential files
  • Compile comprehensive counseling reports for the ministry as directed
  • Follow all departmental, HWC, and government policies and procedures as instructed
  • Comply with rules and regulations of the Zambian Counselling Council. Maintain working knowledge of the legal issues pertaining to the counseling program so they are in-line with relevant government agencies and rights of all stakeholders.

The Employee shall also be expected to undertake any additional responsibilities as delegated by his or her supervisor.

Skills Required

  • Demonstrates commitment to Family Legacy mission, vision, and value
  • Has a heart to work with children even when faced with challenges
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Strong oral and writing skills
  • Ability to maintain confidentiality and privacy
  • Basic computer proficiency skills (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, & email)
  • Ability to perform well with limited supervision
  • Ability to identify and address issues with creativity and effectiveness
  • Shares knowledge and experience
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development and applying newly acquired skills
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and positive constructive attitude
  • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
  • Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
  • Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view
  • Solicits feedback from coworkers about the impact of his/her behavior
  • Relational and personable
  • Ability to work as a team and collaborate with others
  • Adheres to all deadlines
  • Must have no prior convictions of harm to a child

Educational Qualification and Experience

  • Have a minimum of a Diploma or License in psychosocial or child counseling accredited by the Zambia Counselling Council
  • Bachelor’s Degree in psychology or psychosocial counseling is strongly preferred.
  • Maintain current Zambian licensure as a counseling practitioner.
  • Have at least 5 years of experience in leading and/or building clinical counseling programs.
  • Have at least 2 years of experience in community counseling settings.

Follow the link here and complete the application process by sending your CV to [email protected] clearly labelling position applying for in the subject line.

Closing date: 17 hours on Monday 9th January 2023. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.


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