Marcus Alert Coordinator

Do you have a passion for ensuring that persons experiencing a behavioral health crisis receive equitable, compassionate and appropriate community-based services? Are you committed to ensuring that crisis response services meet the needs of clients and families? Do you have a talent for bringing groups together and solving problems? Are you clinically licensed in Virginia and have experience working on initiatives that involve behavioral health and criminal justice services? If so, you might be the ideal candidate to become the City of Alexandria’s new Marcus Alert Coordinator.

The City of Alexandria offers more than a place to work; we are a dynamic, award winning, multicultural City with an ambitious blueprint to lead us into the next century. In City government, our MISSION defines what we do for our community, our VISION is where we are headed as an organization, and our VALUES guide our actions and decisions.

The Opportunity
The Marcus Alert Coordinator will be responsible for the implementation, coordination, oversight and monitoring of Virginia’s Marcus Alert legislation within the City of Alexandria. This position works closely with city, state and regional leadership, as well as local stakeholders, to ensure that all aspects of the Marcus Alert legislation are fully met and productive. This role requires close collaboration with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, and a number of other stakeholders across law enforcement, behavioral health, developmental services, emergency management, and racial equity services. The requirements of the Marcus Alert legislation include but are not limited to community engagement and input, research, evaluating existing services and programs, producing and monitoring written plans, etc. This position will be responsible for coordination and planning between state, regional, and local aspects of Virginia’s behavioral health crisis systems. The position will be responsible for reviewing minimum standards, best practices, and model protocols regarding police responses to behavioral health crises, as well evaluating, monitoring and improving the Marcus Alert initiatives over time.

Responsibilities include:

• Serves as the City’s key point of contact for the Marcus Alert system; ensures goals, timelines and outcomes of the Marcus Alert legislation are met;
• Develops and staffs a local stakeholder group; conducts research and discovery; gathers community input; assesses fit of options with goals and capacity;
• Develops and monitors a Marcus Alert implementation plan;
• Assists in developing a community understanding of public safety, justice, behavioral health processes and lines of business to further strategic collaborations;
• Develops and models cross system collaborative relationships with a broad group of stakeholders, organizations and the community;
• Manages data collection and analysis, to include use of the Sequential Intercept Model;
• Develops a communication plan to update community stakeholders on local and regional findings related to behavioral health, law enforcement, social services, racial equity, and social justice stakeholders;
• Promotes initiatives and educates community groups on awareness campaigns, public relations, services, etc;
• Takes a supporting role in facilitating the regional behavioral health crisis management system;
• Makes recommendations for contractual agreements and MOAs/MOUs with partner organizations to build client capacity and programs;
• Works closely with leadership across the region and State to leverage new collaborations and address identified needs;
• Prepares frequent presentations and coordinates communitywide speaking engagements around Marcus Alert system.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

The Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate should have thorough knowledge of complex Behavioral and Crisis Response Systems and the connections between Behavioral Health and Law Enforcement. Thorough knowledge of individual and group behavior including treatment issues related to psychiatric problems, dual-diagnosis, and chemical dependency; good knowledge of psychopharmacology, psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders; children and youth behavioral health; aging and adult behavioral health; ability to work successfully with a variety of clients; ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing with other professionals and with the public.

About the Department
The Department of Community and Human Services provides effective and essential safety net services that measurably improve or maintain the quality of life for Alexandrians. Additionally, the programs overseen by the Alexandria Community Services Board provide compassionate and effective services that support self-determination, recovery and resiliency for Alexandria residents affected by mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance use disorders.

If you’d like to learn more about the City of Alexandria, please click Here.

The City of Alexandria is committed to providing equal opportunity in all areas of employment, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, demotion, promotion, transfer, selection, lay-off, disciplinary action, termination, compensation and selection for training. The City of Alexandria will not discriminate against any employee or job applicant on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex (including sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, disability, age, marital status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, veteran/military service status, familial status, or membership on a local human rights commission, or lawful participation in the Minnesota Medical Cannabis Patient Registry, or any other legally-protected classification.

Minimum & Additional Requirements

Possession of Master’s degree in Social Work, Mental Health Counseling, Psychology, Education or related field; at least two years of post-graduate work experience in providing direct clinical services to consumers having one or more substance abuse, psychiatric, and emotional disorders; and licensure or license eligible (has completed all required education and supervision as required by applicable board) as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Licensed Substance Abuse Treatment Practitioner (LSATP) or Clinical Psychologist in the Commonwealth of Virginia at the time of appointment; if license eligible, the employee must obtain Virginia licensure at the first available opportunity, but no later than one year after appointment; or any equivalent combination of experience and training which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities. Employees must possess a valid driver's license issued by the state of their residence if they are in a position with driving responsibilities.

Preferred Qualifications

At least one year of experience working with law enforcement and behavioral health clinicians; Thorough knowledge of complex Behavioral and Crisis Response Systems and the connections between Behavioral Health and Law Enforcement; At least one year of experience working with programs and services that intersect the behavioral health and criminal justice systems; At least one year of experience managing community stakeholder groups; At least one year of experience working with culturally diverse populations and promoting social and racial equity; at least one year of experience working with law enforcement and behavioral health clinicians; At least one year of experience gathering data, community input, and other resources to develop a workplan for the community.