BAM Youth Counselor

Are you a caring leader? Do you believe in serving the community? Do you enjoy helping youth connect the dots of life? If so, then working as a BAM Mentor at Youth Guidance might be the job for you! Youth Guidance creates and implements school-based programs that enable children to overcome obstacles, focus on their education, and, ultimately, succeed in school and in life.

Take a moment to watch a video highlighting the impact of our Becoming a Man (BAM) programs.

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.

We are seeking motivated individuals to join our team and anchor the expansion of our work in Kansas City. Could this person, be you?

These positions will be assigned to one of the following school districts:

• Hickman Mills C-1 School District (Kansas City, MO)

Our BAM Counselor is responsible for:

Guiding young men in grades 6 – 12 to learn, internalize, and practice social skills, make responsible decisions for their future, and become positive members of their school and community.

Our BAM Counselor provides:

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 Program Supervisor, Curriculum Specialist, and school administration to identify, recruit and build relationships with up to 60 school-based youth to participate in the BAM.
• 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 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 BAM Program 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, Youth Guidance Parent Family Engagement team, and school-parent engagement team.

Our BAM Counselor has been equipped for this impactful work with at least a:

• 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.

• Bilingual – Spanish (preferred)

Our BAM Counselor exemplifies:

• Communication: Able to use effective written and oral communication with internal and external audiences and stakeholders; demonstrates empathy and listening.
• Equity mindset: Understands and is committed to goals of equity; consistently brings an equity mindset to the organization’s work and workplace.
• Growth mindset: Views growth as important for personal and professional development; seeks out opportunities to expand skills, even if the change is required; demonstrates curiosity and eagerness to learn.
• Ownership and quality of work: Effectively manages own work ensuring delivery of high-quality work.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to 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 need for local travel.*

What Youth Guidance offers:

We offer a robust package for eligible candidates including:

• Hiring Range of $48,000.00 - $62,000.00
• A hiring bonus of $500 for part-time and $1,000.00 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.

The above is intended to describe the general content and requirements for this job's performance. It is not intended to be an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at-will” relationship.

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.