Legal Assistance to the Elderly (LAE) seeks a Social Service Advocate who will work with our Licensed Clinical Social Worker and our CARE Court attorneys to provide representation and support to clients through the CARE Court process.
Organization Description
For more than 40 years, LAE has provided free legal advice and representation to seniors and adults with disabilities in San Francisco. Our mission is to protect and advance the right of San Francisco’s seniors and adults with disabilities to be housed, healthy, financially stable, and safe. Our primary practice areas are Housing Preservation/Eviction Defense, Benefits and Healthcare Advocacy, Physical and Financial Elder Abuse Prevention, Consumer Rights and Protection, Foreclosure Prevention and End of Life Planning. LAE is a friendly and collaborative work environment.
What is CARE Court?
Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court is a new framework to get people with mental health and substance use disorders the support and care they need. CARE Court connects a person struggling with untreated mental illness – and often also substance use challenges – with a court-ordered Care Plan for up to 24 months. Each plan is managed by a care team in the community and can include clinically prescribed, individualized interventions with several supportive services, medication, and a housing plan. The client-centered approach also includes a legal representative and supporter to help make self-directed care decisions in addition to their full clinical team.
LAE will provide this legal representation through an interdisciplinary team that will collaborate in case assessment, strategy and providing services. This position requires a strong experience working with clients who are severely mentally ill, specifically with untreated schizophrenia, and other psychotic disorders and disorders on schizophrenia spectrum. We would like the advocate to have excellent organizational skills and a willingness to work collaboratively across legal and social work disciplines.
- Experience working with clients who are severely mentally ill, specifically with untreated schizophrenia, and other psychotic disorders and disorders on schizophrenia spectrum
- Experience working with clients who have substance use disorders.
- Excellent verbal, writing, and organizational skills
- A demonstrated ability to work well both independently and as part of a team
- Aptitude to work under pressure in an empathetic and professional manner
- Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to work effectively with diverse client groups, including people in crisis, seniors, people with disabilities including mental health, people of color, people who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness, immigrants, non-English speakers, service providers, government employees, and community partners
- An interest in being part of an interdisciplinary team working with attorneys to support clients to prevent homelessness
- Must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (including boosters) unless the applicant has a valid medical reason for not being fully vaccinated or a sincerely held religious belief preventing vaccination.
HIGHLY DESIRABLE
- A familiarity with the San Francisco network of social services
- A familiarity and comfortability with San Francisco neighborhoods, including Tenderloin, South of Market, Bayview/Hunters Point, Mission Bay and the Mission
- A familiarity with San Francisco Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Hotels and Supportive Housing buildings, both private and those managed by non-profit housing providers.
- Bilingual in English and Spanish, Cantonese and/or Mandarin
- Experience working with elderly, veterans, adults with disabilities and/or unhoused individuals or those experiencing a crisis
- Experience working or volunteering with social service or non-profit organizations
- A commitment to contributing to your community and advancing justice for seniors and adults with disabilities
- Work collaboratively with attorneys and LAE Licensed Clinical Social Worker in assessing and meeting the psychosocial and legal needs of clients
- Support clients through the CARE Court process including accompanying them to San Francisco Superior Court and helping them to make required appointments
- Work with CARE Court system and DPH (Department of Public Health of SF county) to develop CARE plans that our clients agree to and set them up for success
- Meet clients in various settings, such as at home, shelters, court, and other community-based settings.
- Clients may be unhoused and/or difficult to locate, this position may require locating clients and helping them get to Court or other required meetings or hearings
- Help clients connect with appropriate social services and support, including housing support services, physical and mental health services and substance abuse treatment
- Provide housing resources to clients and stay current with available housing waitlists
- Provide direct assistance in completing housing applications
- Provide case management, crisis intervention and support to clients, with support and supervision from LAE Licensed Clinical Social Worker
- Work with clients to evaluate and articulate their responses to SFDPH developed CARE plans.
- Meet clients in various settings, such as at home, court, and other community-based settings
- Develop relationships with local social service organizations and agencies
- Provide advocacy for clients in non-legal settings (i.e., local housing authorities, social service offices, community-based organizations)
- Advocate on clients' behalf with housing providers
- Provide referrals to and collaborate with community-based organizations such as In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) and Adult Protective Services (APS)
- Work with clients to access rental assistance and on-going subsidies
- Complete administrative tasks, such as those related to data collection, grant management, reporting, and client case management
- Additional tasks as assigned by Supervisor
We offer a family friendly environment, and compensation based on competitive public interest salaries along with a generous benefits package. The salary based on Union Scale starting at $61,000 to $71,000 (placement on scale is primarily determined by years of related experience). There is a salary stipend for fluency in a second language that is regularly used in LAE’s legal practice and an additional stipend after two years working at LAE. LAE’s benefits package includes 100% employer covered medical, dental, and life insurance for employees and dependent children and up 75% for spouses; LAE student debt reimbursement program; employer paid CA Bar license and/or social work license fees; 401k retirement plan with annual LAE contribution; and a Staff Wellness Fund. LAE has a generous paid leave policy which includes: sick leave; parental leave; compensation time, 19 holidays each year; and vacation (starting at 15 days and increasing with additional years of employment).
WORKING CONDITIONS
The position requires working with individuals during moments of extreme stress and instability. The position also requires the provision of culturally-sensitive and empathetic services. It also requires traveling to different neighborhoods and meeting clients in various settings, including at home, Single Room Occupancy Hotels, shelters, court, and other community-based settings. Some evening and weekend work may also be required.
UNION MEMBERSHIP
After successful completion of a probationary period (90 days), membership in the National Organization of Legal Services Workers becomes a condition of employment.
TO APPLY
E-MAIL RESUME AND COVER LETTER TO: [email protected]
If you find that you meet many of the qualifications in the job description, we encourage you to apply and explain in your cover letter why your experience would make you a good fit for the position. We recognize that organizations may miss out on strong applicants who screen themselves out of the process because they do not meet every qualification and that disproportionately impacts people from historically marginalized backgrounds. We know that our greatest strengths come from the people who make up our team and a welcoming, inclusive and culturally diverse staff allows us to best serve our community. We look forward to your application.
LAE seeks to fill all positions with people who share our values, including our organizational commitment to diversity. We encourage all interested individuals to apply—especially people of color; women; people from low-income backgrounds; people with disabilities; people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary; or anyone belonging to any other federal or state protected category. We believe that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunity, and are committed to not discriminating on any basis prohibited by applicable law.
APPLICATIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED UNTIL THE POSITION IS FILLED. THOSE SELECTED FOR AN INTERVIEW WILL BE NOTIFIED.
