Job Summary:

The HealthySteps Specialist is an early child development expert who will join the pediatric primary care team at Santa Rosa Community Health to provide interventions, referrals, and follow-up for families with patients ages 0-3. Using the evidence-based Healthy Steps model, the HealthySteps Specialist builds strong relationships with families and providers to increase the wellness of young children and their family by improving the efficiency of the medical system and supporting team-based comprehensive care.

Specific Tasks/Duties include:

Preventive and Responsive Care

• Promotes HealthySteps within the practice to families and providers. HealthySteps is an evidence-based model focused on interdisciplinary collaboration and early intervention to support social, emotional, and developmental health of young children.
• Collaborates with the Primary Care Provider and participates in Well Child visits. Focuses on monitoring development, social-emotional functioning, relational health, and providing anticipatory guidance.
• Conducts consultations with families regarding development and/or behavioral concerns such as sleep, positive parenting, picky eating, etc.
• Maintains a child development support line and responds to and tracks call requests within the designated response time.
• 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, supports linkage, and tracks follow-up, as appropriate, to help families make successful connections to key resources within the community.
• Conducts outreach to SRCH Primary Care Providers and community partners to share about HealthySteps, 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

• 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.
• Is an active member of the HealthySteps Implementation Team and attends regular team meetings.
• Works with administrative staff to ensure scheduling of the HealthySteps Specialist’s time in coordination with provider visits (i.e., well-child visits).
• Engages in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) initiatives to ensure the HealthySteps model is delivered with fidelity.
• Collaborates with HealthySteps 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
• 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 HealthySteps fidelity metrics including both internal and external referrals.
• Collaborates with HealthySteps Implementation Team to complete required annual site reporting to the HealthySteps 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.

Professional Development Activities

• Participates in HealthySteps training (Virtual HealthySteps Institute)
• Participates in administrative and clinical/reflective supervision meetings

Minimum Qualifications:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in psychology, social work, counseling, early childhood education, or related field, or associate degree in similar field plus work experience.
• Master’s degree preferred.
• Infant-Parent Mental Health training/fellowship preferred.

Experience:

• Experience and knowledge about early childhood growth and development, parent-child relational health, infant and early childhood mental health, and family systems.

Knowledge and Skills:

• English/Spanish speaking bilingual fluency strongly preferred
• 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 work with people of many backgrounds and cultures
• Ability to take initiative and a willingness to learn
• Ability to work well in teams and independently
• Ability to collect and enter data for program management, evaluation, and reporting purposes.
• Ability to use technology -Excel, Word, Outlook, etc.
• Ability to multitask and juggle multiple appointments and conflicting priorities
• Comfort with an open-door policy, potentially frequent interruptions, and warm hand offs
• Flexibility in communication: able to switch between being on the floor playing with young patients and communicating with medical professionals regarding mental health interventions in a professional, coherent, and efficient manner
• Ability to work with providers and colleagues to define the appropriate patient population and develop process for referral

Physical Requirements:

While performing the duties of this job, this position is frequently required to do the following:

• Use standard office equipment and access, input, and retrieve information from a computer. Use computer keyboard with manual and finger dexterity and wrist-finger speed sufficient to perform repetitive actions efficiently for extended periods of time.
• Communicate effectively in person or via telephone in a manner which can be understood by those with whom the person is speaking, including a diverse population.
• Give and follow verbal and written instructions with attention to detail and accuracy.
• Perform complex mental functions and basic arithmetic functions; interpret complex laws, regulations, and policies; collect, interpret, and/or analyze complex data and information.
• Vision: see details of objects at close range.
• Coordinate multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Reach forward, up, down, and to the side.
• Sit or stand for minimum periods of one hour at a time and come and go from the work area repeatedly throughout the day.
• Lift up to five (5) pounds.