JustUs Counselor

About Rising Ground

Founded as an orphanage in 1831, Rising Ground has been at the forefront of evolving community needs. Driven by the belief that each of us can thrive when life has hope and opportunity, Rising Ground provides caring support and proven paths to positive change, helping children, adults, and families rise above adversity. Each year, Rising Ground positively impacts the lives of more than 72,000 individuals through 101 programs across 138 sites in New York City and Westchester. Our commitment to diversity is reflected in our staff, which mirrors the communities we serve.

Rising Ground is headquartered in New York City.

About The Role

Just Us is an ACS-funded Gender Responsive Diversion Program facilitated by Rising Ground. This program is a holistic, gender-responsive program for girls, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary youth (TGNBNC) who are involved, or at high risk of involvement, in the youth justice system. The project is grounded in the tenets of healing-centered, anti-oppressive practice, bringing together individual coaching, clinical interventions, group-based activities, economic empowerment skills building, and space for young people to build community. All elements are designed to support young people in cultivating leadership, self-reliance, healthy relationships, avoiding criminal behavior, and enhancing educational and work opportunities.

The full-time Counselor will provide youth-driven, healing-centered, anti-oppressive, clinical, and emotional support and advocacy to young people engaged in the project. This is an exciting and demanding opportunity for an emerging therapist looking to contribute to a program aiming to become a national model.

What You’ll Do

• Connect with 15-20 young people within the project and serve as their primary point of contact.
• Intentionally and regularly engage all young people in weekly hour-long individual sessions.
• Co-construct individualized engagement plans and assess and revise them throughout the young person's engagement with the program.
• Be available to help staff at the Teen Hub on the weekend.
• Collaborate and coordinate with all program staff and a vast network of stakeholders.
• Participate in weekly supervision, team meetings, group supervision, and other required meetings.
• Maintain program records, case files, and funder reports with accuracy and attention to timeliness.
• Perform other duties as required.

Qualifications

• LMSW, LCSW, or other clinical licenses required.
• Clinical supervision offered for licensure (LCSW/LMHC).
• Highly organized, self-motivated worker who can manage competing demands.
• Creative problem-solver who anticipates challenges and collaborates effectively.
• Able to implement vision, think strategically, exercise good judgment, and lead change.
• High self-awareness and ability to give and receive feedback well.
• Impeccable attention to detail, systems, and processes.
• Able to work with flexibility, independence, accountability, passion, and humor.
• Meaningful commitment to practicing from a healing-centered, anti-oppressive stance.
• Lived experience within systems impacting the young people involved strongly preferred but not required.

Benefits

• 11 Paid Holidays
• Paid Sick Time
• Paid Vacation
• Paid Personal Days
• Insurance Coverage (Medical, Dental, Vision)

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

It is the policy of Rising Ground that the Agency wholly complies with equal treatment of all employees and applicants for employment without unlawful discrimination as to an individual’s perceived or actual race, creed, color, national origin, alienate, citizenship status, gender, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, partnership status, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or veteran status in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, training and apprenticeship, promotion, upgrading, demotion, downgrading, transfer, layoff and termination and all other terms and conditions of employment.