Milieu Counselor - Inpatient Pediatric Cognitive Development

Location: CHA Somerville Campus

Department: Child and Adolescent Neurodevelopment 

Shift: 8 hour shifts, days and evenings, from 7am-3:30pm and 3pm-11:30pm, with every other weekend rotation and holidays as assigned

Hours/Week: 40.00 

CHA is offering a $5,000 sign on bonus for all Milieu Counselor positions that are 32-40 hours per week.

Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a vibrant, innovative health system dedicated to providing essential services to all members of the community. With almost 140,000 patients in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston’s Metro North region, CHA is a local provider of choice for primary care, specialty care, emergency services, hospital care, maternity care and behavioral health.

Cambridge Health Alliance's Child and Adolescent inpatient Neurodevelopment Unit provides services for children experiencing complex and persistent emotional and behavioral difficulties due to various neurodevelopmental challenges, such as Autism. We care for our patients in a newly renovated secured 8 bed unit at the CHA Somerville Campus. Our unit offers private rooms, communal eating and living areas, an outdoor activity space, an active sensory room, quiet ‘calming’ spaces for both individual and group play and learning.

Job Purpose

The Milieu Counselor is a member of the multidisciplinary team who, under the supervision of a registered nurse, is responsible for a safe and structured service as well as attending to the individual needs of patients in crisis in an inpatient psychiatric setting.

The role of a Milieu Counselor will assist with ADL's (Activities of Daily Living), lead or co-lead groups, perform safety checks, 1:1 meetings with patients, and will accurately chart patients B/P, TPR & weight. Notifies RN of any changes in vital signs. Accurately measures and documents patient's intake and output. Assists patients following through with ADL's, maintaining nutritional and hydration needs, and assisting and monitoring the patient’s needs and other tasks as assigned by the charge RN.

Qualifications/Experience: 

• High school diploma required; B.A, B.S., or M.A. preferred or equivalent years of human service experience.
• Current American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) certification
• Prior human services, behavioral or psychiatric experience strongly preferred. Inpatient psychiatric experience is preferred.
• All newly hired candidates must successfully complete a job specific physical test.