Early Childhood Development Specialist: Healthy Steps Specialist

Job Summary: The Healthy Steps Specialist is an early child development expert who will join the pediatric primary care team to provide interventions, referrals, and follow-up for families with patients ages 0-3. The Healthy Steps Specialist builds strong relationships with families and providers to increase the efficiency of the medical system and support team-based comprehensive care.

Responsibilities: Preventive and Responsive Care Promotes Healthy Steps within the practice to families and providers Conducts team-based well-child visits before, during, or following the primary care provider; visits focus on monitoring development, social-emotional functioning, and relational health, and providing anticipatory guidance Conducts consultations on a short-term basis for needs regarding development and/or behavioral concerns such as sleep, positive parenting, picky eating, etc. Maintains a family support line and responds to and tracks call requests within the designated response time Participates in reflective supervision meetings May conduct home visits and may accompany families to key medical, specialty, and community agency appointments as needed May facilitate parent/caregiver groups Referrals and Community Collaborations Creates and maintains community resource directory/database. Provides referrals and tracks follow-up, as appropriate, to help families make successful connections to key resources within the community. Reaches out to community providers within first 6 months in position to share about Healthy Steps, their role, and receive information to support referrals, warm handoffs, and ensure appropriate referral criteria is met. Participates (when appropriate) in community-wide early childhood and/or mental health meetings. Team-Based Care Is an active member of the HS Implementation Team and attends regular team meetings Works with the front office administrative staff to ensure scheduling of the HS Specialist's time in coordination with provider visits (i.e., well-child visits)Engages in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) initiatives to ensure the Healthy Steps model is delivered with fidelity Collaborates with Healthy Steps implementation team to implement all eight Core Components including universal screenings, making positive parenting and early learning guidance information available, and adjusting workflows for optimal efficiency Maintains open communication with all members of the primary care team Works closely with pediatric primary providers around care coordination, goal setting, coaching, and education about key aspects of a child's development Provides consultation and/or facilitates training to medical professionals and all practice staff re: early childhood development, early relational health/infant early childhood mental health, and trauma-informed practice Caseload Tracking, Record Keeping, and Reporting Maintains extensive databases required to meet Healthy Steps fidelity metrics including both internal and external referrals. Collaborates with Healthy Steps Implementation Team to complete required annual site reporting to the Healthy Steps National Office at ZERO TO THREE, which may include analysis of both external database files and EHR data reports. Documents all patient clinical activity and care coordination in EHR. Tracks caseload to ensure capacity to deliver the HS services within the risk stratified service delivery model. This includes ensuring exit criteria is met and that families and children are elevated to higher levels of care or referred to community providers if needed.

Education: Master's degree in psychology, social work, counseling, early childhood education, or related field REQUIRED

Skills: Excellent oral and written communication skills Commitment to working with underserved populations in a community setting Empathic, supportive, and patient Strong motivational interviewing skills Ability to take initiative and a willingness to learn Ability to collect and enter data for program management, evaluation, and reporting purposes

Salary: $75,000-$80,000

Equal Opportunity Employer: Essen Health care is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and we seek candidates who desire to work in and serve an ethnically diverse population.