REACH Care Navigator -Valley Medical Center (UW Medicine, Renton)

Description

Title: REACH Care Navigator -Sited at Valley Medical Center

This is a non-exempt salaried position

Hours: 8:30-5:00 M-F

Annual salary is $79K to $81K

ETS strives to achieve pay equity and transparency as part of our goal to create an equitable workplace.

Working at Evergreen Treatment Services makes a big difference in our community!

• ETS has been working to transform the lives of individuals and their communities through innovative and effective addiction and social services in Western Washington for over 50 years. Learn more about our mission and values.
• Change begins within. We strive to foster and sustain a diverse and inclusive community within our organization. Find out how we are working to achieve racial equity, health equity, and community justice.
• Our Clinic Services and REACH teams bring critical professional expertise and heartfelt compassion to the work they do every day to serve our most vulnerable community members. Check out the compelling stories told by our patients, clients, and staff members that provide more information and a clear picture regarding our organization’s essential work.
  
  

REACH Mission and Values

The REACH Program of Evergreen Treatment Services works with individuals experiencing homelessness and behavioral health conditions to help them achieve stability and improved quality of life. The REACH mission is to foster community health and safety through outreach, relationship, healing interventions and systems advocacy for people who use drugs.

REACH provides outreach-based-care coordination, multidisciplinary clinical services, and supports to access and maintain housing. All services are based in principles of harm reduction that offer respect and dignity to individuals moving through stages of change in their lives.

REACH incorporates a racial equity lens that includes naming the impact and actively dismantling systems of oppression rooted in White Supremacy, while addressing the root causes perpetuating historical trauma and immense suffering in individuals’ lives. We are committed to building a robust behavioral health response that diverts people away from jail by rebuilding community and providing services to ensure those presently marginalized aren’t just surviving, but able to thrive.

REACH offers an array of services ranging from survival support provided where folks are living outside to linkages to essential resources such as housing, assistance to resolve legal issues, health care, entitlements and easily accessible treatment for substance use disorders and mental health conditions.

The REACH team is passionate about creating a hospitable and welcoming environment for all people while providing quality services on an individually tailored basis to our clientele.

REACH values diversity of lived experience, is committed to racial equity and social justice, and appreciates hard work, creativity, and a good sense of humor. People who have been impacted by the criminal legal system are encouraged to apply.

This dynamic position plays an important role in helping ETS accomplish our mission!

Linkage To Care Program

The REACH Care Navigator role supports ETS’ mission by providing care coordination, outreach, engagement, and case management services to adults experiencing behavioral health challenges, homelessness, and substance use disorders who end up in the Harborview Emergency Room.

Despite recent increases in the availability of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) in King County, systemic barriers to MOUD treatment access remain, particularly for South King County residents and communities. This Linkage to Care program at ETS-REACH seeks to mitigate rapidly rising rates of overdose by linking individuals with Opioid Use Disorder, as identified via the hospital sector, directly to MOUD care and harm reduction services.

Through the use of Care Navigation staff, the initiative will:

• Extend the continuum of care for those with Opioid Use Disorder by enhancing hospital-based MOUD coordination.
• Retain and re-engage patients in the OUD care continuum via harm reduction and MOUD services.
  
  

Job Summary

Care Navigation staff, embedded in the Addiction Medicine Consult Services at Valley Medical Center (UW Medicine, Renton):

• Identify and engage patients with MOUD; provide relevant harm reduction services and overdose prevention resources and education; and directly link patients to MOUD care via Evergreen Treatment Services upon hospital discharge.
• Provide general case management services to address patient barriers to initiating and/or maintaining MOUD care and provide ongoing support to retain patients in care. Care Navigators also re-engage patients who have disengaged from MOUD care to support care re-initiation as needed.
• Participate in the Care Navigation Hub (along with supervisory staff and partner agency staff) – this is a collaborative workgroup of agencies implementing Linkage to Care programs. Evergreen Treatment Services then collects, shares, and reports programmatic data and aggregated patient data relevant to the Linkage to Care program.
• The position will primarily work within the Harborview hospital setting but also requires outreach and travel to ETS Clinic Services Sites, REACH, community centers, shelters, clinics, and/or other partner organizations.
  
  

Clinical Support And Engagement

What you contribute to this role – Responsibilities:

• Build trusting relationships with clients who are having frequent contact with emergency systems due to high-risk drug use, emphasizing harm reduction practices.
• Conduct comprehensive assessments to understand clients' substance use patterns, mental health status, and social determinants of health.
• Develop individualized harm reduction plans in collaboration with clients and care team, focusing on reducing risks associated with drug use.
• Conduct street outreach to meet discharged clients where they are and/or to re-engage with individuals who may be hesitant to access traditional services.
  
  

Resources and Referrals (emphasis on Linkage to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder [MOUD]):

• Accompany clients from hospital to outpatient MOUD care.
• Provide linkage, referrals, and warm handoffs to needed services.
• Assist patients in overcoming barriers to engaging in MOUD care – including barriers related to insurance, transportation, communication (e.g., Language barriers and cell phone access), housing, and medical and/or psychiatric co-morbidities.
• Provide support to facilitate ongoing patient engagement with their MOUD service providers. This includes regular follow-ups, addressing barriers to care, and coordinating with service providers.
• Connect patients to community resources and additional healthcare or mental health services.
• Work with patients to address psychosocial needs that may impact their ability to remain engaged with MOUD care, including transportation, shelter, food, access to phone / communication devices, medical care outside of the MOUD provider scope, employment, counselling, sober recreation resources, etc.
  
  

Harm Reduction Education And Supplies

• Provide drug user health resources, including overdose prevention/reversal kits, Narcan education, fentanyl test strips, syringes, and other supplies.
• Educate patients on safer drug use practices, overdose prevention, and options for accessing evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders.
• Support the expansion and enhancement of overdose prevention practices.
  
  

Documentation And Evaluation

• Maintain accurate and confidential client records in compliance with organizational policies and legal requirements; including documentation in multiple databases (AGENCY, EPIC, SAMMS).
• Collect data and prepare reports on activities per agency and contract requirements.
• Participate in program evaluation and quality improvement activities to enhance service delivery and outcomes.
• Provide services consistent with ETS/REACH policies and procedures.
  
  

Collaboration And Support

• Participate in regular supervision sessions with relevant Clinic Services and REACH supervisors to discuss participant cases, receive guidance, and ensure alignment with program goals.
• Engage in peer support and case conferencing with other ETS team members to share knowledge, strategies, and resources.
• Participate in relevant organizational, stakeholder, and community meetings.
  
  

Note: New and/or different duties and responsibilities may be assigned to this job at any time.

Requirements

What you bring to this role – Qualifications:

• Education and/or Relevant and Lived Experience (if applicable):
• High School Diploma or GED required; additional education preferred.
• Academic training in social services, substance use disorder, and mental health treatment desired.
• Lived experience is highly desirable and may substitute for some educational requirements if relevant project management and/or effective team-building experience is demonstrated and reflected in work history.
• Minimum of three years of experience in social work, outreach programs, or a related field.
• Knowledge of the medications used to treat opioid use disorder (e.g. methadone, buprenorphine, etc.) and ability to offer options counseling related to this service adapted to an individual’s stage of change.
• Experience providing services from a harm reduction perspective to individuals experiencing behavioral health challenges is highly desirable.
  
  

Knowledge And Skills

• Have an understanding of racial justice and social equity and a commitment to helping create an equitable environment for all ETS clients and patients as well as fellow staff.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with clients, patients, and staff from a wide variety of ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds.
• Strong interpersonal skills and verbal/ written communication skills. Ability to adhere closely to specific communication guidelines established by the ETS Communications Department concerning all interactions with partner organizations.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize workload, work independently, and complete tasks timely and efficiently.
• Dependable, able to work under pressure, receptive to change, willingness to learn, cooperative approach to problem solving.
• Flexible team player, with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and use discretion when handling highly sensitive information.
• Adhere to all the confidentiality requirements and guidelines outlined in the 42 CFR, Part 2 federal regulations pertaining to SUD treatment records.
• Ability to set boundaries, resolve conflict and de-escalate issues.
• Computer literate, with basic knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (or equivalent suites such as Google Workspace), as well as a high level of initiative in keeping current with technological changes. Skills needed include basic functions such as utilizing MS Outlook email and calendaring programs (or equivalent) and sending attachments, using MS Teams or equivalent chat, call, and videoconference features, and navigating search engines such as Edge or Google and carrying out browser searches and website benchmarking steps.
  
  

Additional Essential Information

Physical Conditions and Requirements:

• The employee may be exposed to illicit drug residues and fumes or other bio-hazardous materials when carrying out job functions. There is also potential for exposure to bloodborne pathogens. ETS will provide employees with appropriate training to limit the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. Policies and procedures are in place addressing each item specifically.
• The employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms and talk or hear; frequently required to stand, walk, and kneel; occasionally to climb balance, or stoop; rarely to crouch or crawl.
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close, color, and peripheral vision and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is moderate.
• Must be comfortable working within outside agency locations, such as hospitals, community centers, shelters, clinics, and/or other partner organizations.
  
  

Equipment Used

• Computer, photocopier, fax machine, phone, and appropriate equipment in hospital setting.
• Possible use of a program vehicle, for which a valid Driver’s License and acceptable driving would be required. Note that a driving record background check will occur initially and at periodic intervals.
  
  

Inclusivity And Reasonable Accommodations

Evergreen Treatment Services is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. Note that a Washington State Patrol criminal background check will be conducted periodically as a condition of ongoing employment, and candidates with prior criminal convictions will be invited to provide additional context as needed.

ETS will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability so that they can perform the essential functions of a job unless doing so causes a direct threat to these individuals or others in the workplace and the threat cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation, or if the accommodation creates an undue hardship for ETS. We also seek to provide reasonable accommodation for the interview process.

Check Out ETS’ Excellent Benefits - Part of Your Total Rewards Package in this Role!

Key Benefits

• Medical and Dental benefits, as well as voluntary Vision benefits.
• 403b Retirement Plan with employer match starting at 2% at 1 year, and Roth IRA.
• Basic Life/ADD/FSA tax saving accounts for health and dependent care.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP), voluntary long-term disability coverage.
• Vacation (2 weeks/year, access at 6 months), Sick leave (24 days/year, access at 30 days).
• Mental health leave (12 days/year, access at 30 days).
• Holidays (12 days/year) and one Floating Holiday per year.
  
  

Exceptional Perks

• Wellness stipend ($50/month) to use for wellness benefits such as massage, fitness classes, gym membership, meditation, therapy, park passes, etc.
• Transportation stipend or pass and mileage and parking reimbursement when traveling for work.
• License renewal reimbursement and tuition/training assistance.
• Referral bonus ($100/$250) and sign-on bonuses for some positions at certain times.
• Longevity awards ($50 - $750 over milestone anniversaries, and for REACH programs).
• Discounts for Woodland Park Zoo, Verizon Wireless, and Corporate Shopping.
• Professional development: ETS is committed to supporting all staff in fulfilling their continuing education requirements and on their career paths so that ETS is a place to thrive long-term.
  
  

Explore Working at ETS and Apply for This Position!

• To learn more about ETS, visit our website at www.evergreentreatment.org.
• Evergreen Treatment Services acknowledges that we are on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People past and present and honor with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.