Lead Shelter Counselor (NH STAFF ONLY APPLY)

Lead Shelter Counselor - Current New Horizons Staff Only eligible to apply

New Horizons’ shelter strives to provide a safe, welcoming, and hospitable space for vulnerable young adults to build positive mentorship relationships and work towards stabilization. Through a relational, personalized, and Trauma-Informed approach, we partner with young adults to meet their needs in an enthusiastic, timely and equitable manner.

In cooperation with Shelter Management and other Leads, Lead Shelter Counselors are the end-accountability for ensuring New Horizons’ overnight shelter operations run smoothly and in alignment with the culture we intend to set as a team.

Alongside Shelter Management, Lead Shelter Counselors share the responsibility of the collective success in the following areas:

• Investment in the Betterment of New Horizons’ Shelter: The Lead cares to ensure that the shelter is the best that it can be, and actively takes initiative towards its ongoing improvement


• Administrative/Operational: Not only does the Lead know all the administrative/operational tasks at a high level, but they ensure their on-shift colleagues do too


• Young Adult (YA) Facing: The Lead is invested in creating a positive experience for all clients and they go above and beyond to meet their needs


• Staff Facing: The Lead cares not only about their own successful performance, but that of the whole team

Essential Duties

• Investment in the Betterment of New Horizons’ Shelter


• Beyond completing assigned tasks of the shift, the Lead position requires initiative. The Lead should demonstrate a commitment to the holistic health of the shelter, and interest in pursuing opportunities for continuous improvement.


• Operate with unconditional hospitality to ensure that every young adult has a positive experience at New Horizons


• Take initiative on shift to leave the physical space better than you found it


• Identify areas of improvement for shelter practices and offer solutions


• Collaborate with Shelter Management on and off shift to brainstorm and strategize


• Administrative/Operational


• Leads are end-accountability for ensuring administrative and operational nightly tasks are executed correctly and at a high-level. Including but not limited to:


• HMIS Data


• Intakes, enrollments and re-enrollments


• Communication logs, notes, attendance trackers and reports


• Cleaning, organization and facilities-related tasks


• Spearheading communication with management while on shift


• Maintaining safety


• On-shift coaching of colleagues to ensure that every team member can perform these administrative tasks


• Collaborate with other Leads on oversight of operations such as but not limited to locker assignment process, pod checks, etc.


• Support with facilitation of meetings as necessary


• Execute special administrative tasks as assigned


• Young Adult (YA) Facing
  


• Leads are end-accountability for ensuring young adult facing duties are carried out in line with New Horizons’ ethos
  


• Ensure all young adults are welcomed and well-oriented
  


• Ensure ongoing hospitable and equitable treatment of young adults
  


• Work with young adults and team to ensure that all needs are met
  


• Ensure policies and protocols are upheld consistently and exercise good judgment to know when exceptions should be made
  


• Stay up to date with new policies, procedures, suspensions and other YA facing data points
  


• Consistent proactive communication about expectations to young adults
  


• Facilitate discussions with on-shift colleagues to land on and communicate equitable bars in alignment with the Consequence Matrix
  


• Lead the on-shift team to resolve YA issues based on our ethos
  


• Stay up to date on YA resources shared internally to make referrals and connect YA to appropriate support
  Staff Facing
  


• While Leads are not directly supervising staff, they are end-accountability for the shift, which includes upholding the expectation of colleagues performing well. This includes:
  
  
  
  
  • Model professionalism and upholding New Horizons expectations
    
  
  
  • Ensure that you have a thorough understanding of all aspects of the job to accurately train and support on-shift colleagues
    
  
  
  • Provide ongoing, on-the-job coaching to on-shift colleagues
    
  
  
  • In-the-moment redirection of colleagues who are performing in a manner out of alignment with our culture
    
  
  
  • Proactive reporting of personnel issues or concerns to management
    
  
  
  • Training new staff as assigned
    
  
  
  • Have a working knowledge of Trauma Informed Care, Harm Reduction and Positive Youth Development and help the team make decisions through this lens
    
  
  
  • Consideration of teamwork and communication in defining success
    
  
  
  • Ensure there is an equitable distribution of responsibilities on shift and each shelter staff takes an equal turn with every aspect of the job (roll call, attendance tracker, intakes, HMIS attendance, program note, downstairs runs, de-escalation, etc...)  
  
  
  
  


• Other Duties
  
  
  
  • Attend and actively contribute to meetings
    
  
  
  • Attend monthly Shelter Lead Meetings
    
  
  
  • Flexibility in schedule to maximize Lead presence throughout days of the week
    
  
  
  • Providing Staffing coverage as assigned