Behavioral Health Specialist

Summary

Join the National Adoption Association (NAA) as a Part-Time Behavioral Health Specialist and contribute to improving the US foster care system. This role supports the National Center for Adoption-Competent Mental Health Services, focusing on behavioral health expertise, community engagement, and technical assistance. You will ensure the inclusion of lived experience voices in program strategies. Responsibilities include community engagement, outreach and advocacy, administrative support, and research and data collection. The position requires a Bachelor's degree (or equivalent experience) in a related field and at least 3 years of relevant experience. Remote work is expected with occasional travel. Benefits include competitive pay, employer retirement plan contribution, and professional development opportunities.

Requirements

• Possess a Bachelor’s degree in behavioral health, social work, psychology, or a related field
• Have at least 3 years of related work experience with a proven track record of administrative support and behavioral health or trauma-informed care
• Be able to travel 1-2 times per year within the United States

Responsibilities

• Participate in planning meetings and notetaking for the Mental Health Center team meetings to stay informed on activities and initiatives
• Build relationships with community-based organizations, behavioral health providers, and non-traditional support networks (e.g., faith-based organizations) in states, territories, and tribes (STTs)
• Foster relationships with site teams to recruit additional LEx participants for focus and affinity groups
• Support team in recruiting 3-5 LEx participants for each STT to join site-specific TA teams
• Organize six monthly virtual affinity groups categorized by LEx types (youth, foster, adoptive, kin, and birth families)
• Ensure meaningful engagement by providing updates on the Mental Health Center activities and gathering feedback
• Support sustainability planning by assisting in identifying long-term community engagement strategies and partnerships that enhance LEx involvement in ongoing TA efforts
• Maintain cross-collaborative communication and partnerships within the Mental Health Center to support the collaborative
• Conduct outreach to recruit participants for focus groups, ensuring diverse representation (8-10 participants per focus group)
• Coordinate documentation and report preparation, ensuring reports are completed within 10 days post-focus group
• Represent the National Center at webinars, conference presentations, and community events (up to three annually) to promote program initiatives and support recruitment
• Contribute original content to the Mental Health Center's Knowledge Hub, including six articles over the course of the year highlighting diverse community experiences
• Participate in the Editorial Committee to ensure that content aligns with Mental Health Center goals
• Assist the team with organizing and process-tracking webinar and project development, creation, and implementation
• Prepare discussion guides to gather participant feedback on mental health services, including cultural competency, trauma-informed care, and linguistic inclusivity
• Support the development of briefing documents for each site outlining areas for improved LEx representation to inform child welfare and behavioral health practices
• Ensure a high level of customer service to internal and external stakeholders
• Support the Mental Health Center by providing high quality customer service and support to States, Tribes and Territories
• Research and review existing secondary data (articles, reports, surveys) to inform community engagement activities
• Assist in the collection and coordination of the compilation of the Mental Health Center’s data as needed for the Data Dashboard, state profiles, agency audits, response to requests from the Children’s Bureau, and other data shared externally

Preferred Qualifications

• Have prior non-profit or child welfare experience
• Have experience with technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives
• Be familiar with culturally specific and linguistically inclusive service practices
• Possess exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and organizational skills
• Have high level proficiency in Microsoft Office—MS Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams, Access, and PowerPoint
• Be proficient with MS Suite, Zoom, Trint, Google Workspace, Airtable, project management tools and have overall familiarity and comfort with navigating and learning new technology
• Be results-oriented with a high attention to detail, ability to multi-task, and meet deadlines in a demanding, fast-paced environment
• Be passionate about the children, families and jurisdictions served by National Center for Adoption-Competent Mental Health Services with a commitment to National Adoption Association’s mission
• Be able to contribute to a strong team-based environment
• Be able to work effectively with diverse teams and agency partners

Benefits

• Hourly pay rate is $25 - $28 per hour
• Employer retirement plan contribution
• Professional development opportunities