Youth Counselor

Class Concept

Positions in this class provide counseling and therapeutic intervention while supervising juvenile offenders housed in a youth development center. These residential facilities are the most restrictive, intensive dispositional option available to North Carolina's juvenile courts. Positions are responsible for safeguarding juveniles from each other at all times. Work includes utilizing a range of counseling techniques and skills in crisis interventions to effect individual treatment plans and facilitate group interaction processes. Positions administer, score, and interpret a variety of assessment tools to evaluate treatment progress, and review treatment strategies to achieve rehabilitation goals. Positions function as a member of the therapeutic treatment team and participate in the development of individual treatment, educational, vocational, and community reintegration programs. Work also involves planning, orchestrating, and supervising juvenile movement; monitoring juveniles to maintain safety; and providing behavioral intervention and restraint as needed.

Recruitment Requirements

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Intermediate knowledge and understanding of various group cultures, techniques of communicating with adolescents, and behavioral and developmental challenges and their treatment
• Intermediate knowledge of the organization and operation of treatment programs for juvenile offenders, basic assessment principles, and practical application of a variety of counseling techniques and approaches
• Thorough knowledge of the methods and procedures of discipline and rehabilitation of juveniles
• Thorough knowledge of individual and group behavior, child and adolescent development, family systems, individual and group counseling techniques, crisis intervention techniques, the etiology of juvenile delinquency, and empirically based methods of treatment
• Ability to assess clients to develop appropriate, clear, goal-oriented treatment plans and document progress of juveniles

Minimum Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree from an appropriately accredited institution and two years of experience working with the juvenile/family client population and/or related human services experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Necessary Special Requirements

Applicants for positions designated as Juvenile Justice Officers are subject to and must meet the hiring and training standards established by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission, as defined in Title 12, Chapter 9 of the NC Administrative Code, by the statutory authority of GS 17C.