High School Mental Health Counselor, LPC or LCSW required

Position Summary

EQA Schools seeks a highly skilled counselor to provide individual and group counseling to its students and to provide leadership to the school’s trauma-informed approach. More than half of EQA School’s students have behavioral struggles. A large percentage of students suffer from PTSD or C-PTSD due to exposure to high levels of neighborhood violence. In a city and state which lack appropriate mental health, crisis, and wrap-around services, EQA Schools believes it has more responsibility than schools normally do for providing high quality mental health services to its students.

Position Requirements

• Education & Experience:
  • 5-10+ years experience effectively counseling adolescents with mental health, behavioral health, and trauma issues
  • Experience with restorative approaches, SAMSHA’s 6 Principles of Trauma-Informed Approaches, and effective, culturally responsive interventions for adolescents with CPTSD
  • Experience in schools preferred but not required
  • LCSW or LPC required; all Louisiana certification/licensure must be in good standing
• Skills & Approach:
  • Passion for improving educational opportunities for urban students and for being a part of a strong, mission-driven team
  • Commitment to EQA’s mission, vision and growth
  • Demonstrated record of effective collaboration with diverse teams and with building effective partnerships
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
  • Careful, detail oriented data/file/information management
  • Flexible and learning mindset focused on effective and innovative problem solving
  • Dedicated to continually growing as a professional and as a servant leader

Details

• Start date: July 2026
• Location: 6601 Franklin Avenue
• Salary: Commensurate with experience
• Benefits: Comprehensive benefits and retirement
• Reports to: Principal

Responsibilities

• Assessment:
• Select psycho-social assessments that are informed of a knowledge of the impact of race, gender and social injustice on the family and youth
• Complete psycho-social assessments on every student every semester
• Effectively and appropriately assess needs, characteristics, and interactions of students, families, staff, and community
• Use DSM V and current research to accurately assess student needs
• Conduct compliant and productive Functional Behavior Assessments
• Maintain electronic and paper records of assessments and share with students, families, and staff as appropriate to insure empowerment and appropriate interventions and in keeping with confidentiality mandates
• Research and vet resources and build partnerships with high quality providers
• Collaborate with team to insure all students are connected with appropriate referrals, supports and resources
• Track referral outcomes and advocate for students and families to insure they receive appropriate care
• Aids students in accessing formal and informal community resources
• Resources:
• Design effective intervention strategies for students, parents, and staff which lead students to be more successful in school including but not limited to students with IEPs, 504s, and BIPs
• Serve on SBLC to review student needs and make decisions regarding interventions, placements, and supports
• Manage caseload of short and long term cases, insuring all students have appropriate treatment plans and that all students make progress on those plans
• Design and provide high quality group counseling around student needs including, but not limited to, grief, trauma, substance abuse, conflict resolution, anger management using C-BITs and other best practices
• Engage families, do home visits, mediate with family members and otherwise include families in students’ growth and development
• Provide all services in ways that build upon students’ individual strengths and assets and maximize students’ opportunities for agency their healing/growth
• Crisis Prevention and Intervention:
• In collaboration with students, families, and staff, design crisis plans for high needs students
• Train students and staff to handle crisis in safe, restorative, and appropriate ways
• Train staff on trauma informed care, mental health issues, best practices, and secondary trauma
• Consult with staff and leaders on issues such as attendance, confidentiality, ethnicity and diversity, mental health, behavioral management, discipline, crisis intervention, and child abuse and neglect
• Program Management & Accountability:
• Design evaluation systems and collect and analyze data to insure evidence based decision making
• Collect, communicate, and analyze student records and data to insure appropriate student progress
• Conform to the National Association of Social Work Code of Ethics and Standards for School Social Work practice
• Maintain appropriate communication and confidentiality in accordance with HIPAA, FERPA, state law and school policy
• Constantly Develop your Craft
• Set goals for student development and professional growth
• Actively reflect on your own work and monitor progress toward goals
• Productively seek, give, and use feedback
• Positively contribute to the school’s collegial community
• Participate in all scheduled professional development activities and seek out additional opportunities
• Involvement in the continual development and improvement of the school’s curriculum, culture, and program
• Qualifications:
• Being authorized to work in the U.S. is a precondition of employment
• EQA does not sponsor employment visas
• In compliance with state law, all persons hired will be required to verify eligibility to work in a Louisiana public school via the appropriate background checks