Case Manager – Afghan Program
The Marjorie Kovler Center is a Chicago-based program of Heartland Alliance International. Since 1987, the Kovler Center has been dedicated to providing survivors of torture with opportunities to heal, access justice, and rebuild their lives with dignity. Today, the Kovler Center is an expert leader in trauma-informed care for survivors of torture and serves as a trusted resource of integrated treatment and services to reach vulnerable populations – asylee, immigrant and refugee adults, children and families, unaccompanied minors, survivors of forced displacement and trafficking, and immigrant and refugee survivors of crime once in the US. The Kovler Center also trains and educates service providers locally and globally and advocates for the end of torture worldwide.
Summary:
Since August 2021, the Kovler Center has expanded programming to care for individuals and families arriving from Afghanistan after fleeing the Taliban Takeover of Kabul and for whom overcoming the severe, pervasive, and long-lasting effects of combat-related trauma is of great urgency. Through the Afghan Alliance of Greater Chicago, the Kovler Center partners with a robust network of providers to offer medical, psychological, and social work services to facilitate sustained physical, social, emotional, and economic well-being, and lead stable and prosperous lives in their new home.
The case manager ensures record keeping about client visits, conducts regular meetings with clients and their families to provide support, answer questions and obtains general and clinical-related information, works with supervisors to develop strategies for helping clients and communities, and helps clients gain access to beneficial social programs, such as Medicaid, food stamps, etcetera.
This Position is a Union Position.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
· Keep accurate case files; organize records after every client visit to ensure that there are no undocumented breaks between treatments or visits
· Answer questions about benefits available to participants, or refer them to the correct organization to get help.
· Have comprehensive knowledge of benefits like Medicaid, childcare, food stamps, and money management to determine needs.
· Assist participants in making referrals for various services including: legal, psychiatry, therapy, primary care, dentistry, housing support and employment services.
· Build and maintain relationships with partner agencies and perform outreach for more resources and connections in the community
· Meet weekly with supervisor to brainstorm and develop ways to improve programs for individual families within the community and determine better ways to serve participants.
· Interview family members or individuals to obtain a complete family history to more closely determine which services are appropriate and needed.
· Participate in group activities daily and attend regular internal meetings with the team and external meetings as appropriate.
· Other duties may be assigned.
Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
· This position only requires an associate degree, although higher education may be valuable.
· The Case Manager should be comfortable communicating with clients, their families, and leadership teams. Candidates for this position also should be willing to work a flexible schedule.
· Second language preferred.
Education and/or Experience: May give credit towards years of experience if attained a degree higher than a Bachelor's Degree.
Other Skills and Qualifications:
· Language Skills : Excellent oral and written communication skills. Demonstrated competency in public speaking and strong interpersonal skills required.
· Computer Skills: Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Outlook/Exchange; Windows operating systems; and other software routinely used by Heartland Alliance.
· Mathematical Skills : Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide into all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
· Reasoning Ability: Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form. Ability to problem solve.
Competencies: To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies.
Strategic Agility : Sets the direction and objectives of the direct reports, ability to takes action focused on driving towards accomplishing the organization's vision, Looks ahead and anticipates the need one month at a time, to begins to recognize areas requiring organizational improvement and communicates to leaders, the ability to distinguish the work their group does from the others within the organization.
Teamwork and Collaboration : Develops relationships with peers and direct reports, acknowledges the diverse perspectives of others in the group, Shares information that is pertinent to others in accomplishing their jobs, Solicits thoughts from the team.
Talent Development: Continuously seeks to learn and improve own performance, Understand skills, as well as staff's career interests/goals, Begins to deliver feedback to staff and identify development opportunities, Begins to understand career progression and expectations at each level.
Communication: Writes using concrete, specific language relevant to the purpose and audience, Demonstrates effective verbal (oral) communication skills in meetings and presentations, Utilizes one consistent style of communication, working to adapt to different audiences.
Managerial Courage: Creates an environment for a diversity of thought; Encourages employees to share their point of view, regardless of personal stance, willing to speak up when witnesses unethical, unsafe, or uncomfortable situations or reports to appropriate leadership, Promotes organizational values and exemplifies model behavior.
Physical Demands: The physical demands described here represent those that an employee must meet to perform the essential functions of this job successfully. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
· While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear.
· While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit; use hands to handle or feel and reach with hands and arms.
· While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
· The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.
Work Environment : 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 the essential functions.
· The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
· The employee may be required to remain on Organization premises during breaks and/or meal periods and may be required to stay on Organization premises until their replacement arrives.
Heartland Alliance makes all hiring and employment decisions and operates all programs, services, and functions without regard to race, receipt of an order of protection, creed, color, age, gender, gender identity, marital or parental status, religion, ancestry, national origin, amnesty, physical or mental disability, protected veterans status, genetic information, sexual orientation, immigrant status, political affiliation or belief, use of FMLA, VESSA, military, and military family rights, ex-offender status (depending on the offense and position to be filled), unfavorable military discharge, membership in an organization whose primary purpose is the protection of civil rights or improvement of living conditions and human relations, height, weight, or HIV infection, in accord with the organization's AIDS Policy Statement of September 1987.