About Our Job

Family Advocate

With competitive pay, great benefits, and endless opportunities, working for the City and County of Denver means seeing yourself working with purpose — for you, and those who benefit from your passion, skills and expertise. Join our diverse, inclusive and talented workforce of more than 11,000 team members who are at the heart of what makes Denver, Denver.

This is a position with an expected end date of 8/31/2028, and the potential to be extended.

What We Offer

The City and County of Denver offers competitive pay commensurate with education and experience. New hires are typically brought into the organization between $26.84 and $33.55. We also offer generous benefits for full-time employees which include but are not limited to:

• A guaranteed life-long monthly pension, once vested after 5 years of service
• 457B Retirement Plan
• 140 hours of PTO earned within first year + 12 paid holidays, 1 personal holiday, 1 Wellness Day and 1 volunteer day per year
• Competitive medical, dental and vision plans effective within 1 month of start date

Location & Schedule

In this position, you can expect to work on site at the Office of the Medical Examiner, located at 500 Quivas St., Denver, CO 80204. This position is expected to be on-location for all shifts. Shift start and end times, and days, can vary. This position is eligible for a flexible schedule within city/department guidelines.

Who We Are & What You’ll Do

Denver's Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE) is dedicated to advancing Denver's environmental and public health goals. DDPHE works collaboratively with city, state and community partners to conduct education, community engagement, and enforcement to promote healthy people, healthy pets, and a sustainable environment. DDPHE oversees a number of services related to public health and the environment and is comprised of seven divisions: Division of Shared Services and Business Operations; Community & Behavioral Health; Public Health Investigations; Denver Animal Protection; the Office of Medical Examiner; Emergency Management and Medical Operations; and Environmental Quality. For more information on DDPHE’s programs and services, visit the DDPHE website at: Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.

We foster an inclusive culture by respecting the values, customs, and authenticity of everyone and by implementing equitable public health strategies so Denver communities can thrive.

As the Family Advocate, you will be working directly with the public to offer emotional support, guidance, information, and resources following a death due to overdose. The family advocate will work on a larger team of advocates and, while overdose deaths will be the primary case type, you’ll also be assisting on other types of death related cases.

The Family Advocate is a core position within the Family Advocate Support Team (FAST). As such, the person hired will participate in FAST functions, meetings, trainings, projects, and other assignments as needed. They will also be required to assist the Family Advocate Coordinator with various responsibilities including (and not limited to) mentoring and training interns within the internship program, public speaking engagements, development of program materials and child fatality review meetings.

Specifically, as the Family Advocate you will:

• With the support of your supervisor, you will implement and facilitate a preestablished grief support group on a rolling basis throughout the year.
• Provide advocacy and outreach to people impacted by traumatic deaths due to overdose. 
• Provide crisis intervention and implements de-escalation tools with care, compassion and understanding, and most importantly, without judgement.
• Provide information on the death process, including dissemination of autopsy reports, in an empathetic, supportive manner to the grieving person(s) and offer community resources as appropriate. 
• Develop and modify informational materials for dissemination to the public.
• Collaborate with all Medical Examiner units in the office, as well as agency partners.
• Along with all department staff, this position will actively participate on an emergency preparedness and response team to support DDPHE’s responsibilities outlined in the City’s Emergency Operations Plan.  This may require being ‘on-call’ from time to time to help respond to emergencies.  Additional training commensurate with assigned duties will be provided.
• Other duties as assigned.

What You’ll Bring

We value diversity of ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, gender, religion, language, ability, and experience and exemplify this through the makeup of our team at all levels. You'll be right at home here if you cultivate strong relationships and push yourself, your work, the people around you and Denver to the next level.

Our ideal candidate has some or all the following experience, skills, and characteristics:

• More than 5 years of experience working with traumatized individuals.
• Is a team player who embodies the values of cooperation and teamwork to achieve collective goals.
• Is fluent in Spanish.
• Is motivated by challenging casework.
• Is solutions oriented.

**It is important to understand this position requires you to work with bereaved individuals on a daily basis. Contact with bereaved individuals will be over the phone, via electronic communication, and in person. The work is focused on traumatic types of death and loss, including child deaths. Working within our office, you will be exposed to graphic information, photographs, physical bodies of deceased individuals, and unpleasant odors at times.

Required Minimum Qualifications

Education Requirement: Graduation from high school or possession of a GED, HiSET or TASC Certificate.

Experience Requirement: Three (3) years of experience performing technical or administrative work assisting in an environmental public health program as related to the assignment.

Education and Experience Equivalency: A combination of appropriate education and experience may be substituted for the minimum education and experience requirements.

License/Certification Requirement: Requires a valid Driver's License at the time of application.
Licenses and certifications must be kept current as a condition of employment.

Application Deadline

This position is expected to stay open until February 5. Please submit your application as soon as possible and no later than February 5 at 11:59 PM.

About Everything Else

Job Profile

To view the full job profile including position specifications, physical demands, and probationary period, click here.

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Agency

The City and County of Denver provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or any other status protected under federal, state, and/or local law. 

It is your right to access oral or written language assistance, sign language interpretation, real-time captioning via CART, or disability-related accommodations. To request any of these services at no cost to you, please contact [email protected] with three business days’ notice.

Applicants for employment with the City and County of Denver must have valid work authorization that does not require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the U.S.

For information about right to work, click here for English or here for Spanish.