Position Title: Prevention Educator
Reports to: Executive Director
FLSA Status: Contractor
Supervises: N/A
Work Schedule: Generally, 20 hours per week with some work hour(s) flexibility due to scheduled activities. This is a 10-month position which follows the academic school year calendar.
Location/Remote Work: Area schools in Buncombe County
Travel: Locally
Job Summary:
Mountain Child Advocacy Center’s Prevention Educator provides trauma-informed, evidence-based abuse prevention education to all K-5th grade students in Buncombe County and facilitates student disclosures in a sensitive manner. The school-based program is a research-based, highly interactive engaging program using a curriculum from The Second Step® Child Protection Unit for Early Learning through Grade 5. The lessons in the Child Protection Unit help students recognize, report, and refuse unsafe situations. It is a very age-appropriate, non-threatening way to educate and empower children with skills to protect themselves and to develop support systems.
Essential Job Functions:
Establish and execute the Vision, Mission and Core Values by:
- Ensuring agency adherence to NCA Child Advocacy Center Accreditation standards, laws, policies and accompanying procedures
- Developing a cohesive forensic/medical/advocacy documentation per grant source, United States, North Carolina, and MCAC standards
- Ensuring confidentiality of sensitive information
- Supporting an equitably, culturally and linguistically competent organization through thoughts, actions and words
- Following state mandated reporting requirements for all child abuse and neglect allegations
Provides high quality abuse prevention education to elementary students in Buncombe County by:
- Communicating with counselors and district level employees to schedule prevention education to as many K-5 schools as possible each year and meeting goals of teaching 8,000 children every school year
- Staying up to date on research and curriculum. Adjusting curriculum as necessary to meet the needs of students so that all students receive high quality, trauma-informed education
- Providing age-appropriate lessons to each classroom in a fun, nonjudgmental manner & communicating expectations to counselors and teachers so that students can have the highest opportunity to feel safe and successful in their participation
Responds to student disclosures in a sensitive, trauma-informed way by:
- Paying attention to how kids are responding to the lesson, adjusting the education as appropriate to meet needs of students, and creating space for follow up at the end for all students who have questions or want to talk
- Responding to disclosures of abuse or neglect in a trauma-informed, child-centered, compassionate way with empathy and validation
- Following up on disclosures by making reports to Buncombe County Child Protective Services when needed, following up with the family when needed, or checking in with the school counselor so that they can make sure the child and family receives appropriate support
Keeps careful records of data by:
- Maintaining records and reporting data on prevention education activities in order to meet grant statistical goals
- Keeping track of what schools have received prevention education each year, prioritizing schools who haven’t received it the previous year in scheduling and reaching out directly to schools who haven’t received abuse prevention education at least once every 2 years in order to ensure that all students in Buncombe County are receiving education multiple times in grades K-5
Collaborates with stakeholders on abuse prevention by:
- Working with prevention educators at other local organizations (Our Voice & Helpmate)
- Working closely with the Community Educator on providing parent & family educational opportunities and training to school staff on recognizing and reporting child abuse
- Developing and maintaining positive working relationships with school counselors, staff, administrators and families
- Providing support and always being available by email or phone during working hours to answer questions about disclosures or trauma informed practice that arise in the schools
Strategic planning by:
- Working within the Mountain Child Advocacy Center to ensure that our prevention education program reflects the mission and values of the agency
- Working with community partners (Our Voice, Helpmate, YWCA and others) to make sure that all prevention curriculum builds off one another and that students receive cohesive K-12 prevention education programming
- Developing larger goals of prevention education and violence prevention
- Working with other local organizations on ways to minimize harm to children and families
Maintains credentials by:
- Engaging in professional development activities
- Submitting CEUs or professional development documentation prior to the deadline
- Providing a copy of current credentials for personnel files
Conserves supervisors time by:
- Problem solving and performing well
- Leading self and contributing to team effort
Physical Demands Related to Essential Job Functions:
- Proficient and professional in oral and written communication
- Mastery of client database, or equivalent
- Mastery of forensic interview equipment and encrypted file management
- Keyboard and voice-to-text abilities
- Ability to interact with additional variable computer programs
- Ability to physically perform the basic life operational functions
- Ability to perform sedentary work exerting up to ten (10) pounds of force occasionally
- Proficient visual acuity to read, analyze data and figures, operate a computer
Mental Demands Related to Essential Job Functions:
- Ability to work directly with children and adults in crisis situations
- Proficient in ethical decision-making
- Excellent oral communication and interpersonal skills
- Emotional intelligence within individuals and colleagues.
- Ability to manage difficult or emotional situations related to trauma
- Maintain professional relationships with ethical and appropriate boundaries
- Excellent organization and time management skills
- Highly self-motivated but works well in a team setting
- Competent in working with people of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds
- Intermediate computer skills required including knowledge of Microsoft Office products and ability to use electronic health records
Education and Experience Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree
- Successful completion of a pre-employment criminal record, sex offender registry and drug screen
- Access to reliable transportation, have a valid operator’s license and proof of vehicle insurance
- Hands on, independent self-starter, work solo, yet team and results oriented, and see the “big picture”
- Present well, be able to plan and organize, take initiative and be conscientious, reliable, and dependable
- Dynamic, energetic, enthusiastic, professional yet easy going, have ability to engage children, and also interact with counselors, teachers, and parents
Preferred Education and Experience:
- Degree in Social / Behavioral Sciences or Education
- One year of related experience working with children
Please email your cover letter and resume to advocacy@mtncac.org. Thank you.