This position is located within the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), within the division of Secure Programs. The mission of DYRS is to improve public safety and give court-involved youth the opportunity to become more productive citizens by building on the strengths of youths and their families in the least restrictive, most homelike environment consistent with public safety.  Emphasis will be placed on best practices for interacting with youth, via short-term basic programming for youth in temporary short-term detention; or a treatment-oriented milieu for youth in longer-term custody depending on the legal status of the youth and based on Positive Youth Development principles.

Juvenile Justice Institutional Counselor’s primary functions include implementing a range of counseling, prevention, and early intervention strategies designed to re-connect youth with effective rehabilitation services and case management supervision, consistent with Positive Youth Development practices.

Major Duties & Responsibilities:

The Juvenile Justice Institutional Counselor will provide counseling, prevention, and early intervention strategies designed to re-connect youth with effective rehabilitation services for approximately twenty (20) youth committed to The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.  The Juvenile Justice Institutional Counselor is a member of an interdisciplinary treatment team, with responsibility for the rehabilitation of youth and their eventual return to the community. The incumbent will coordinate the initial development of the Temporary Service Plan (TSP) and Individual Service Plan (ISP) with education, recreation, mental health, and medical services for youth and monthly thereafter to review the plan's implementation. Additionally, the Juvenile Justice Institutional Counselor will Develop and implement strategies to meet the identified treatment needs of assigned youth, as well as, ensures that cottage life staff is aware and are delivering the requirements of the ISP and treatment program for each youth as specified.

The Juvenile Justice Institutional Counselor will also chair and documents in the Juvenile Information Management System (JIM) and youth's case file the interdisciplinary team meetings in order to review and modify, as needed, the ISP for each youth and prepares the assigned youth's monthly progress report. The incumbent must make recommendations to Probation Officer and requests to the DC Office of the Attorney General, Juvenile Branch, and defense attorneys to file motions recommending the court lower levels of detention for youth, as needed. The Juvenile Justice Institutional Counselor will meet with youth individually, weekly or more frequently as determined by the youth's needs, in addition to assisting cottage staff in leading regular counseling sessions in order to address interpersonal, as well as practical problems of the youth in their living environment.