Milieu Counselor (Youth Care Worker)

FLSA: Non Exempt

Location: Portland, Oregon

Department: ORR Long Term Group Home

Reports To: Milieu Supervisor

• Morning Front end: Sunday thru Wednesday from 7am-5:30pm OR part time Sunday thru Tuesday (7am-5:30pm)
• Swing Front end: Sunday thru Wednesday from 1pm-11:30pm OR part time Sunday thru Tuesday (1pm-11:30pm)

• Nonviolence - being safe and doing the right thing 
• Emotional Intelligence - managing our feelings so we don’t hurt ourselves or others  
• Social Learning - respecting and sharing ideas of our teams 
• Democracy - shared decision making whenever possible 
• Open Communication - saying what we mean and not being mean when we say it 
• Social Responsibility - everyone makes a contribution to the organizational culture 
• Growth and Change - creating hope for our clients and ourselves

Job Summary:

The Milieu Counselor is responsible for providing direct care supervision and maintaining a safe and supportive environment for Unaccompanied Children (UC) in accordance to Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) licensing standards, Agency and program policies and standards, and other federal, state, and local regulatory requirements.  The program is a 24-hour shelter for male and female minors between the ages of 14-17.  The program works with adolescents in a residential facility.

The Youth Care Worker/Milieu Counselor (MC) provides direct supervision of youth in care and always maintains effective line-of-sight supervision. MC assists with vocational and daily living skills and is involved in working one-on-one, in groups and school settings, provides transportation and guidance for safety during resident outings and participates in serving daily meals, depending on program requirements.

Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Provide effective supervision of milieu and youth activities according to the program’s daily schedule.  
• Complete documentation of services in a timely manner, including internal incident reports and shift summaries. 
• Transport and/or accompany youth to local appointments and other client outings.  
• De-escalate youth using behavior management techniques and perform appropriate follow ups 
• As a last resort, perform physical restraints of clients as needed following approved crisis intervention model methods. 
• Administer medication to youth, including required documentation and disposal. 
• Demonstrate a commitment to learning and implementing the Sanctuary Model and other organizational policies and practices. 
• Participate in staff development, in-services, and training related to workplace effectiveness; model professional behaviors and implement improvements to business practices with awareness of their impact in a trauma-informed behavioral healthcare organization. 

Competencies: (Competencies are the abilities and qualities a person needs to be successful in this job)

• Ability to lead a group of staff and clients.
• Ability to maintain composure and professional boundaries in chaotic situations; ability to effectively diffuse or de-escalate potentially volatile situation