Murfreesboro City Schools

Mental Health & Wellness Counselor

Department of Student Support Services

Revised on 05/04/2022

Job Description: The Murfreesboro City Schools Mental Health & Wellness Counselor serves as a member of the school-based student support team and provides mental/behavioral health support within a multi-tiered intervention framework. The Mental Health & Wellness Counselor collaborates with the school-based team to identify the mental/behavioral health needs of students and provide individual and small group mental health counseling and case management for students who do not respond to Tier I and/or Tier II behavioral supports, i.e., students who require more individualized and intensive mental health support to be successful in school.

Qualifications:

• Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), licensed Mental Health Provider (MHP), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) or significant progress towards achieving licensure as an LPC, MHP, or LCSW and a commitment to complete the licensure process.
• A minimum of 2 years' experience working with children with behavior and emotional issues is required.
• Experience working within a school setting is preferred.

Other Qualifications:

• Experience collaborating with parents, school, and community professionals.
• Demonstrate empathy for and understanding of the dynamics of families with students with behavioral and emotional issues.
• Respect and protect the confidentiality rights of parents and children.

Essential Job Functions:

The primary role of the Murfreesboro City Schools Mental Health & Wellness Counselor is to collaborate with school-based student support teams to identify the mental/behavioral health needs of students, provide direct mental health intervention, and coordinate care for those students referred by the support team. Specific job functions include, but are not limited to:

1. Collaborate with the school-based student support team and use multiple data points to identify students who are at-risk for externalizing and internalizing behaviors and would benefit from small group intervention.
   1. Identify a targeted intervention goal for each small group.
   2. Provide goal-directed small group intervention for students who are identified as at-risk (Tier II).
   3. Collaborate with the school-based student support team to develop comprehensive behavior support plans.
   4. Evaluate the effectiveness of intervention for students and share outcomes with the support team.
   5. Collaborate with the school-based student support team to modify goals/intervention as needed.
   6. Communicate progress with caregivers and link families to available community-based resources.
2. Collaborate with the school-based student support team and use multiple data points to identify students whose externalizing and internalizing behaviors indicate the need for more individualized and intensive intervention.
   1. Develop a treatment plan and identify clear goals for treatment.
   2. Provide goal-directed individual intervention for each student (Tier III).
   3. Collaborate with the school-based student support team to develop comprehensive behavior support plans.
   4. Provide case management services for students with complex needs.
   5. Evaluate the effectiveness of intervention for students and share outcomes with the support team.
   6. Collaborate with the school-based student support team to modify goals/intervention as needed.
   7. Communicate progress with caregivers and link families to available community resources.
3. Provide training for principals, assistant principals, teachers and other staff regarding mental health, trauma, student wellness, staff wellness, de-escalation strategies, crisis prevention & intervention, etc.

Staff Relationship: Reports directly to the Coordinator of Behavior Support.

Terms of Employment: 10-11months, salary and benefits set annually. Exempt.