Assistant Director - Mental Health Promotion

Central Washington University is recruiting an Assistant Director of Mental Health Promotion to join our Office of Health Promotion team in Ellensburg, Washington. This role is an important member of our team as they enhance the vision for the University. The role is a campus-based position, which means you get to see the lives you are impacting. We're offering a salary, depending on experience, from $49,833 - $59,800 annually plus the awesome CWU benefits.

Who we are:

We are a team of individuals committed to Changing Students' Lives. No matter what job, each of us plays a part in supporting and empowering our students to fulfill their dreams.

Working in higher education provides career growth and career choice. Think of a university campus like a mini city, operating across 380 acres. You'll find diverse academics, libraries, athletics and sporting events, full service and quick serve dining, conferences and events from small to large, recreation centers, housing, health services, police and public safety for the campus population of ~10,000 students.

Central Washington University has been named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Top Producing Institution for the 2022-2023 academic year. In addition, for the seventh time in eight years, CWU is a recipient of the prestigious Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. Come join us on our journey to encourage, inspire, and create spaces where all identities thrive on campus.

Tour our campus in Ellensburg here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjdhOegDa9A

What we offer:

Our investment in you begins the day you join our team, a healthy and successful future for you is important to us. We offer medical, dental, life and disability insurance, retirement and optional savings plans, tuition assistance for you and your dependents, discounts across town, an employee assistance program for individualized counseling, and a wellness incentive program. Learn more: Benefits, Perks, and Leave.

The Role:

The Assistant Director for Mental Health is part of the CWU Health Promotion team. This position, in tandem with their counterpart Assistant Directors within the Health Promotion, co-leads the student engagement components of CWU wellbeing efforts. This person will also work closely with the health promotion staff to assist and support the team in all aspects of the work, including, but not limited to, staff and faculty engagement, training and capacity building efforts, community development and data and assessment needs. The Assistant will initiate, develop and manage mental health promotion activities that maximize and maintain holistic wellbeing of students at CWU. They also serve multiple functions within the campus and greater community; focusing on the prevention, education, and recommended response to issues related to mental illness and mental health problems. This position collaborates with faculty on issues relating to curriculum infusion and assists in classroom instruction as appropriate; represents CWU and the Office of Health Promotion on various community coalitions/organizations and makes commitments that affect departmental operations. They assist the Director of Health Promotion/Health and Wellness unit in federal, state and university compliance and policy consultation and grant writing and coordination. This position has budgetary responsibility for program budgets and assists in managing daily programming responsibilities in the office. The Office of Health Promotion supports CWU's mission to bring together individuals of diverse backgrounds and perspectives in an inclusive, student-centered university that develops the potential for success. This position will exercise delegated authority and apply evidence informed methods and innovative approaches to accomplish the objectives of the unit. This position will address socioecological and bio-behavioral health issues with awareness, prevention and intervention strategies specific to positive mental health, resilience and other aspects of mental health management and promotion. All employees are expected to support CWU's commitment to diversity and to bring and support inclusion into the university environment.

University Representation and Policy Management
- Work towards enhancing public health and communal well-being by serving as a member of the backbone organization for health promotion and serving as a member of higher administrator's management team.
- Use a systems and settings approach to address well-being inequities that affect marginalized groups.
- Advance equitable policies and practices. Center marginalized voices by pairing disaggregated data with narrative of students' lived experiences.
- Provides leadership, guidance, technical assistance, and policy development to the campus on significant policy domain related to mental health promotion and well-being, represents the campus to external agencies and county-wide committees to accomplish the objectives of the unit.
- Support faculty/staff/administrators with engagement strategies, conduct literature reviews, develop best practice toolkits, present relevant frameworks.
- Delegated authority as representative of Health & Wellbeing unit on campuswide, state-wide and regional committees dealing with issues of suicide prevention, resilience and mental health promotion, and in other roles in Director's absence.
- Serve as project manager of at least one cross-campus working group: in collaboration with working group leadership, identify relevant stakeholders, including community members, draft agendas, prepare presentations, take meeting minutes, communicate with working group members, track and report on progress related to suicide prevention and mental health support efforts.
- Lead high level management in strategic thinking and planning for campus suicide prevention policy domain as it relates to university policies and initiatives.
- Develop recommendations and proposals to guide strategic direction of Health and Wellbeing unit and more broadly for executive level administration.
- Ensure compliance with University policies as well as local, state, and federal legal requirements and professional/ethical standards pertaining to the work of suicide prevention, resilience and mental health promotion.
- Manage compliance with any associated federal reporting requirements, including collecting and maintaining any statistics as required by the Department of Education.
- Lead CWU initiatives within multidisciplinary Suicide Prevention Team and similar groups on campus to assure high programmatic and recommended standards are being practiced.
- Create strategic plan for positive mental health and suicide prevention and response based on American College Health Association Guidelines, CAS Standards, Jed Campus Framework and other nationally benchmarked guidelines.
- Engage in regular assessment/quality improvement: produce reports on engagement strategies and identify areas of growth, including a focus on embedding equitable practices. Continuously modify engagement strategies based on research, best/wise practices from the field, community feedback.

Prevention and Training Programs
- Develop strategic plan and provide oversight management of positive mental health education programs to support student needs, divisional mission and goals, and university mission and goals. Includes budgetary authority for program areas and designing fiscal priorities to achieve strategic plan.
- Present workshops, and trainings (live, virtual or recorded) on various mental health and wellness topics including, but not limited to, psychological and emotional well-being, stress management, relationships, family issues, managing change, and communication skills.
- Lead all JED campus community efforts including community partnerships, recruitment, budget/funds allocation and ensuring compliance with all grants, state and federal program requirements.
- Train and collaborate with faculty on issues relating to curriculum infusion and assist in classroom instruction as appropriate; educate about environmental prevention, behavioral indicators and student norms related to mental health, stigma reduction, help-seeking behaviors, and resilience.
- Create, update, and maintain educational materials, including printed and electronic/web content.
- Organize and develop ongoing awareness campaigns and programs about positive mental health and wellbeing.
- Design, assess, and evaluate student learning outcomes and overall program evaluation reports.
- Coordinate and facilitate annual large-scale events and support campus-wide event and training planning committees.

Supervision and Management of Staff and Services
- Supervise professional and student staff.
- Actively engage in recruitment and hiring new employees
- Clearly define performance expectations, ensure accountability, and provide ongoing informal feedback, coaching, and mentoring. Conduct formal performance evaluations.
- Independently responsible for ensuring all staff exercise discretion and maintain strict confidentiality and privilege as dictated by state, federal, and professional ethics codes, and university policy.
- Advise faculty, administrators and off-campus community agencies as expert resource for drug use, prevention and recovery support utilizing expert in-depth knowledge of these topics and the impact on diverse communities.
- Attend institutional student conduct meetings and consultation team(s) for student case management and support when necessary.
- Develop, create, and maintain fiscal responsibility for mental health promotion or connected initiatives.
- Create quarterly and yearly reports regarding number of referrals and client/student satisfaction.

Intervention and Direct Service
- Direct, facilitate and evaluate CareCalls (and similar) belonging and retention initiatives. Maintain program protocols and evaluation, provide timely follow-up and reporting to Director and broader university community.
- Design, implement and evaluate initiative for individual mental health promotion coaching, using dimensions of wellbeing or similar assessment tool to offer appropriate referral and resource navigation.
- Serve as backup advocate when necessary, including meeting one on one with students to discuss reporting options and services including safety planning, no-contact requests, SANE and other referral and follow up care.

- Performs other duties as assigned.

• A master's degree in public health, counseling/mental health, social work or similar field, and/or a minimum of two years of work experience in higher education, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, or similar setting. However, as research demonstrates that education requirements can be a deterrent for qualified candidates to apply and can perpetuate gender and racial disparities, we encourage all candidates with the professional experiences and leadership qualities outlined in this position specification to apply.
• Experience working one on one with individuals providing crisis response and/or emotional and mental health support.
• Able to effectively use independent judgment and make professional decisions and recommendations in situations that require highly individualized planning and in implementing campus prevention work.
• Deep understanding of racism, ableism, classism, and other forms of structural privilege and oppression and their manifestations in a higher education setting.
• Excellent project management skills including ability and willingness to manage flexible workload, multiple tasks, and to work some evening and weekend hours.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build authentic relationships with a diverse set of colleagues, partners and community members.
• Demonstrated ability and/or experience working with students and/or co-workers from a wide range of abilities, backgrounds and experiences.
• OR applicable combination of education and/or experience which demonstrates the ability to perform the essential functions of the position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated professional experience, including supervision of staff, ideally using a public health model of environmental prevention programs for the traditional college age population.
• Two years of experience in mental health support, crisis intervention, growth and resiliency-related education or similar.
• Experience with ASIST, AMSR, QPR or other suicide prevention models or trainings. Mental Health First Aid (or similar) instructor, or ability to obtain instructor certification within six months of employment.
• Experience with budget management, contracting and program development.
• Proficient and knowledgeable in all laws and ethical guidelines related to mental health services and suicide prevention.
• Demonstrated experience working with an issue based multidisciplinary coalition, preferably in a leadership or staffing role.
• A record of promoting inclusivity in the work environment.
• Experience or interest in mentoring students from a variety of backgrounds.

Competencies

• Accountability/Dependability: Accepts responsibility for quality of own work; acknowledges and corrects mistakes. Shows up on time, meets standards, deadlines and work schedules.
• Judgement: Makes timely, informed decisions. Analyzes options and determines appropriate course of action.
• Teamwork: Promotes cooperation and mutual support to achieve goals. Encourages participation and mutual support.
• Adaptability/Flexibility: Responds positively to changing business needs and responsibilities. Adapts approach and methods to achieve results; recovers quickly from setbacks and finds alternatives.
• Commitment to Diversity: Recognizes the value of diversity and helps create environment that supports and embraces diversity.

Don't meet every single requirement? At CWU we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement, we encourage you to apply anyway. This may be the job for you!

Salary: This position has a minimum annual salary of $49,833 and maximum annual salary of $69,766. The Hiring Department's expected hiring range is $49,833 - $59,800. In accordance with RCW 49.58.110, the above salary reflects the full salary range for this position. Individual placement within the hiring range is based on the candidate's current experience, education, skills, and abilities related to the position.

Schedule/Appointment: Monday - Friday, 8:00am-5:00pm (1 hour lunch)

Working Conditions: Work is performed in the Health Promotion office. Some classroom workshops and lectures are presented in conference rooms, residence halls, and other locations as necessary. Some evening and weekend work will be required. Working conditions can be stressful and some work duties are urgent in nature or may present as a crisis. Certain situations may exist that require conflict-resolution and dispute resolution skills. Set-up for workshops occasionally requires carrying and lifting of heavy equipment and materials. Required training for this position includes 40-hour Washington State Core Advocacy training (if not already obtained) and annual voluntary and mandatory campus trainings.

Benefits: CWU offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical and dental insurance, retirement and optional savings plans, life and disability insurance, along with vacation and sick leave plans depending on employment classification. For additional information please visit Benefits, Perks, and Leave.

An employee of CWU may be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program if the employee has student loans. To learn more, visit: https://ofm.wa.gov/state-human-resources/public-service-loan-forgiveness-program.