BAM Youth Counselor

We are excited to announce our Becoming a Man (BAM) Program expansion to Waukegan Public School District #60!

At Youth Guidance, we believe that no matter what challenges young person faces, they are more likely to succeed when they have caring adults in their lives. Our highly-trained staff guides kids to overcome the life and academic challenges facing youth. We meet kids where they are — physically and emotionally — to help them focus on their education, make positive choices, and remain on the right path toward life success. Founded in 1924 today Youth Guidance is a leading provider of outcomes-driven programs serving more than 11,000 youth while touching the lives of more than 14,000 youth, parents, teachers, and community members.

Position Summary

Becoming a Man (BAM) Counselors are responsible for guiding young men in grades 7 – 12 to learn, internalize, and practice social skills, make responsible decisions for their future, and become positive members of their school and community. BAM Counselors do this by providing young men with the mindsets, values, and abilities they need to develop into healthy, responsible young men and thrive!

Essential Duties/Responsibilities

• Work in collaboration with BAM Supervisor and school administration to recruit and build relationships with up to 60 school-based youth to participate in the BAM program.
• Lead and facilitate 4 – 5 weekly BAM groups during the school day, utilizing youth engagement, clinical counseling, and men’s rites of passage skills.
• Provide individualized support to all BAM participants, and provide individual, family, and crisis counseling sessions to students on an as-needed basis.
• Participate in monthly staff development training(s) and team meetings on the evidence-based BAM curriculum and other topics relevant to working with youth.
• Participate in supervision and coaching to ensure fidelity of program delivery.
• Document all interactions with youth, including group and individual case notes, clinical assessments, brief encounters, special events, program consents, pre/post surveys, and monthly program narratives based on program protocol.
• Work jointly with the BAM supervisor to manage an annual program budget to plan and execute field trips and special events for students throughout the school year and summer.
• Collaborate with school administration, teachers, and other Youth Guidance programs to provide, and participate in professional development sessions.
• Collaborate and/or coordinate services with the Local School Council, other Youth Guidance programs, and the school parent engagement team.

Minimum Qualifications

Education/Experience/Training

• Bachelor’s degree from an approved accredited university and a minimum of two years of youth engagement experience.
• A Master’s Degree in social work, counseling or a related human service field from an approved accredited university and one year of youth engagement experience preferred
• Minimum of two years of experience providing supervised group counseling.

Skills/Abilities

• Completion of BAM curriculum training.
• Ability to commit to the continuous improvement of service quality and the organization’s mission.
• Ability to maintain positive relationships with various stakeholders.
• Concise written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to function well in a group and team settings.
• Ability to demonstrate interpersonal skills that excel in cultural sensitivity and respect for differences.
• Ability to pass criminal background and sex offender checks.
• Willingness to occasionally participate in youth sports activities.
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office products (Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
• Knowledge of advanced psychological concepts (e.g. CBT, Clinical Processing, Modeling, and Group Development) is preferred.

Your Greatness Shines Through - Competencies:

• Leadership
• Mission-driven
• Critical Thinking
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Conflict Resolution

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit and stand for sustained periods of time, frequently talk, hear, use hands and fingers to feel, handle and operate objects or controls, and occasionally stand, bend, stoop, kneel and crouch.
• The employee is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures, transcribing, and viewing a computer terminal.
• The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions—the ability to spend extended time on a computer in a workstation.

*The duties performed are primarily in a school setting, vaccination is required. Occasional local travel is required.

What Youth Guidance offers:

We offer a robust package for eligible candidates including:

• A hiring bonus of $250 for part-time and $750 for full-time
• A retention bonus of $250 after 90 days of continuous service.
• A competitive benefit package. Even though healthcare costs have gone up, we have not passed along those increases to our staff.
• If you are pursuing your social services licensure, we can help you by providing licensure test study support. Licensing test reimbursement. Assistance in attaining licensure supervision hours.

DEI Statement

At Youth Guidance, we understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are fundamental to realizing our vision of bright and successful futures for all young people. We celebrate the diversity of youth and recognize them as empowered leaders, problem-solvers, and experts of their own experiences. At the same time, we acknowledge that many systems and institutions meant to support youth are inequitable and unjust.

As such, we are committed to advancing DE&I through our words and our actions, both internally and externally, by:

• Strengthening cultural competence as well as policies, practices, and organizational structures that foster belonging and leverage the unique backgrounds and talents of staff;
• Offering youth-centered programs that are accessible and responsive to people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, sexual identity, gender identity and expression, language, and cultural and religious beliefs and practices;
• Influencing systems that youth, their families, and communities are impacted by, such as schools, organizational networks, governmental bodies, researchers, and the funding community, to apply approaches that embrace DEI in addressing the needs and supporting the aspirations of young people.

Youth Guidance is an equal-opportunity employer and proudly values diversity. Youth Guidance does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law and is committed to creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity along all of these lines. People of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply. EOE/M/F/D/V/SO