Social Services Director

About the Role

This position requires the ability to handle pressure, maintain objectivity and confidentiality, demonstrate strong organizational and planning skills, and exhibit persistence, proactivity, and effective listening and verbal communication. The role focuses on fostering positive relationships with residents and their families.

Responsibilities

• Establish a course of action by exploring options and setting goals with residents and their families.
• Assist residents in achieving the highest practicable level of self-care, independence, and well-being.
• Provide medically related social services to ensure the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident.
• Evaluate social and family information, psychological and emotional needs to assess social services needs and develop care plans.
• Provide emotional support and address emotional problems, including assisting residents and families with coping difficulties related to physical disabilities, health-related fears, and grief.
• Assist residents with healthcare decisions.
• Assist with personal shopping and inventory/tracking of patient belongings.
• Coordinate responses to reports of missing, lost, or stolen belongings.
• Obtain resources from community, social services, health, and welfare agencies to meet resident needs.
• Assist in securing appropriate prosthetics and assistive devices.
• Develop and maintain strong working relationships with other facility departments and outside community agencies.
• Document resident social service status.
• Assist in making outpatient appointments and scheduling on-site ancillary services (optometry, podiatry, dentistry, psychiatric).
• Assist in discharge planning with appropriate agencies, entities, or individuals, including agency services, equipment, and referrals.
• Coordinate with the interdisciplinary team.
• Provide in-service training to staff as requested.
• Counsel residents and family members.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work or Human Services, with 2 years of supervised social work experience in a health care setting working directly with individuals.
• MSW preferred.

Skills

• Ability to read technical procedures and comprehend policy/procedure manuals.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from managers and employees.
• Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.
• Ability to solve practical problems and interpret a variety of instructions (written, oral, diagram, or schedule form).
• Knowledge and experience with PCC preferred.

Physical Demands

• Standing and/or walking very frequently.
• Sitting occasionally.
• Reaching with hands and arms frequently; pushing/pulling very frequently.
• Talking and/or hearing very frequently.
• Tasting and/or smelling very frequently.
• Lifting up to 25 pounds frequently.
• Climbing, balancing, stooping, kneeling, or crouching occasionally.

Work Environment

The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.