Career Center

The University of Minnesota, Student Parent HELP Center is a program of the Office for Student Affairs serving undergraduate and graduate/professional students who are pregnant or parenting through their U of M degree programs.  The SPHC is a nationally recognized student parent program, is one of the oldest student parent programs in the nation and has been involved in the formation of two higher education based, student parent professional organizations. 

The SPHC program provides a wide-range of academic, economic and family support services and programs to U of M student parents, utilizing a social work framed model and expertise that extends beyond the boundaries of campus. SPHC staff utilize the broadest spectrum of campus and community based resources and referrals to support the academic and parenting success of our students. SPHC staff are trained and licensed social workers with a background in family services, economic resource brokering, crises counseling, child development, and academic advising, mentoring and career coaching. The SPHC serves as a voice for student parents on campus and nationally, with advocacy being a primary component of our program mission. 

This position is a new position focused on graduate and professional students but will be a fully integrated SPHC team member and responsible for serving undergraduates when needed and assisting with all SPHC functions and activities.

Duties/Responsibilities include:
The primary role of this position is to be the frontline contact person for graduate and professional students who are pregnant or parenting and seeking assistance from, and wishing to register with, the Student Parent HELP Center.  The student population served is high functioning and committed to a high level of academic performance, but could be under significant stress due to economic and academic issues and due to their dual roles as students and parents. Screening for and assisting with management of the Post-Secondary Child Care and University Student Service Fees Child Care Grants is part of the first point of contact intake process. Examples of duties in which these skill sets will be utilized include but are not limited to:

• Graduate Student Parent Focused Activities. The SPHC occasionally hosts events specifically designed for parenting Graduate and Professional Students. The SPC/Graduate Focus will be expected to continue to evolve and expand the scope and attendance at, these events and activities.  Occasionally, this may involve facilitating smaller format discussion groups.

• Direct Student Appointments and Walk-ins:  One of the primary duties of this position is to be the first contact point for students seeking assistance from the SPHC. Screening for the Post-Secondary Child Care Grant tends to be a primary goal/need for most graduate and professional students seeking services and scheduling first intake.  These student contacts can result in: on-going work between SPHC Student Parent Counselors or triage referrals to other campus or community based programs. All SPHC Student Parent Counselors must have enough professional, mental health training to be able to identify and respond to any crises needs or situations that may arise in these contacts, even though the ultimate goal is to refer out to campus and community based clinical programs when mental health related issues are disclosed.

• The broadest scope of academic and family based knowledge and skill set must be utilized by the SPHC SPC, including but not limited to:
o Academic coaching, advocacy and advising
o Career/job/resume assistance
o Child Development and parenting techniques
o Crises triage counseling and referral
o Public assistance advocacy
o Title IX student parent protections awareness

• Advocacy and Social Justice Awareness: The SPHC serves a typically vulnerable population of students who are under-presented at 4 year institutions nationally. SPHC students frequently present multiple risk factors for academic difficulty which can include teen pregnancy, single parent status, first generation college attendee status, and generational poverty. Though this specific position will be focused primarily on more economically stable, older graduate and professional students, as part of the SPHC team each staff member must be familiar with social justice principles.
o The SPC must be trained and willing to advocate for students and to coach them on appropriate techniques for self-advocacy.
o The SPC must be trained in a framework where issues of social justice are readily understood and addressed in day to day work with students.

• Multi-cultural training and awareness: SPHC students are diverse in terms of race, spiritual beliefs, ethnicity and sexual orientation. The center serves both mothers and fathers; married and single, GLBT, adoptive and biological parents and we also have a large population of immigrant students. It is critical for the SPC to not just possess multi-cultural awareness, but to have specific training in multicultural understanding and the myriad associated social justice issues.  Additionally, the SPC/GF position specifically has the highest degree of International Students or any position on the team, which requires a keen interest in understanding the highly diverse cultures represented in this student population.

• Event Planning and Program Design
o The SPC/GF will be actively engaged in the planning and implementation of all SPHC events and programming including but not limited to;
 SPHC End of Year Celebration and Grad Party
 Student Parent Visibility Day
 Smaller Group Term Based Events
 Graduate Student Parent Support Group
 A wide range of outreach events across campus
 Annual Homecoming Party and Parade

• Supervision of Graduate Interns and Undergraduate Student Employees: The SPHC heavily utilizes graduate social work interns to expand their direct services to students and overall programming. An UG student employee is also a key part of the SPHC team. 
o The SPC/GF may be asked to serve as Task Supervisor and provide the day to day oversight to graduate interns in their direct work with students and as they assist with all aspects of SPHC programs.
o A small percentage (1-8 hour day per week)  of the SPC/GF time is shared with a Health Sciences Majors specific student parent support role in AHC CHIP/ISPC. These hours are primarily designated to conducting intakes with health majors students and acting as Field Instructor for the ISPC program intern.
o SPC must be able to provide direct oversight and task assignment to undergraduate students employed by the SPHC as needed to assist with their assigned projects.

• Shared time with Academic Health Center/CHIP/ISPC Student Parent Program

• This position shares one day per week of work time with a Health Majors specific student parent program that the SPHC helped launch and has an on-going relationship with (AHC/CHIP/ISPC). During the CHIP/ISPC hours the SPHC/SPC/GF will provide one hour per week direct supervision for a graduate MSW intern placed with ISPC, conduct intakes specifically for Health Majors students and assist CHIP/ISPC director, intern and other staff in planning ISPC focused student events and programming.

• Other Duties as Assigned

This is a full-time, 12 month appointment with benefits.

Essential Qualifications for Student Parent Counselor/Graduate Student Focus:
• BA/BS degree.and 4 years of experience
• Experience in school based programming and services, public health, family and child services, or related field. 
o Familiarity with community resources serving families and children in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota.
o Previous experience working with low-income children and families.
o Familiarity with public policy issues related to low-families and higher ed access for under-represented populations.
o Demonstrated familiarity with life circumstances, cultural experiences and development of resources for low-income families and diverse populations.
• Child development and parenting
o Ability to provide detailed child development information and coaching to what can be first time, inexperienced parents with limited knowledge of same.
o Ability to coach parents on appropriate and effective discipline techniques and other parenting practices.
o Knowledge of child abuse reporting laws.

• Experience working with high achieving students in an educational setting.
o Evidence of effective written and oral communication skills.
• Documented experience working in a cooperative team setting.
• Computer competency with Excel, Word, Access, Social Media and related.
o Willingness to learn new technologies such as electronic databases, electronic scheduling systems and related.
• Counseling and crises intervention experience
o Experience with basic mental health screening and crisis identification and referral strategies.  Examples: suicide screening, identification of depression, post-partum, and other mental health issues.
o Experience facilitating non-therapeutic support or educational groups.
• Proven experience advocating for individuals and families.
o Position may have to advocate for graduate and professional students with faculty to create a more family supportive environment for students.
• Documented ability to work in a fast-paced, walk-in academic and family service delivery setting.
o Documented experience multi-tasking and functioning in a change based setting.
o Effective organizational skills.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and an ability to build relationships across a wide range of campus and external community based teen parent and other programs.

Preferred Qualifications
• Masters degree in social work strongly preferred, other child and family, mental health related masters degrees considered.
• Licensure in social work.
• Program development and evaluation exposure.
• At least one year post-grad experience.
• Familiarity with post-secondary education institutions and current trends in higher education.
• Experience with group dynamics and facilitation processes particularly around academic and parenting topics.
• Background and experience in a higher education setting doing direct service work with students, particularly non-traditional and under-represented populations.
• Skilled in rapport building and a proven awareness of interviewing and solid intake processes.