Independent Living Specialist

About Us and Why We’re Hiring

‍The Dale House Project seeks Independent Living Specialists to provide relational, life-on-life support in our residential community of older adolescents learning skills for independent living.   The Dale House is a Christ-centered community of and for broken people doing life together.  

The Dale House Project is a community for at-risk youth. Youth participate in our programming to prepare for independents as adults.  Our community strives to be a safe and supportive environment where they can build skills, find sources of support, and discover a place where they belong.  Youth often come from the foster care/child welfare system, the juvenile justice system, or having experienced homelessness.  All of the youth have experience with trauma, abuse, and neglect.

As an independent living specialist, you join a team of between four and six staff who work with youth to build life skills, coping strategies, and regular habits that support independent living.  

The supportive housing specialist job has several key components:

• Focuses on building relationships.  Your goal is to build relationships with youth who have been harmed in their personal relationships, both within their own families and also by the ‘systems’ that care for them.  They often have issues extending trust to other people.  Over time, you ‘win the right to be heard’ in your life by creating genuine relationships with youth.  You’ll do that in a wide variety of ways: just hanging out with them (and “wasting time” with them), showing them that you do what you say you will do, and more.  
• Guiding youth towards independent living as they attempt to do critical tasks to becoming an adult: Building basic work readiness skills (like following instructions, showing a positive attitude at work, and showing up on time); finding (and keeping) a job; finishing (or starting) school, building up savings; and preparing to move into safe housing out in the community. Youth can name big goals but often struggle to stay motivated and on task on a daily basis: you are a key source of encouragement and motivation for them throughout this journey.
• Serving as part of a caring team and in community. The Dale House Project believes that communities are greater sources of healing than individuals. Youth must attend community activities that take place throughout the week, including evenings and weekends.  You’ll be part of a Supportive Housing team that collaborates together in investing in youth and in supporting their development.  That means you believe that , holding out faith, encouraging each other, and setting up the rest of the team to be as successful as they can in their own roles.  This takes emotional maturity, since youth often seek to “split” caregivers as a coping skill.

This job works an irregular schedule that includes some evening responsibilities.  Your job is to build relationships, and youth are expected to work or be at school out in the community much of the day. Our team schedule ensures that staff are available for youth when they’re around.  We change work schedules approximately every six months.  See the current schedule here. 

‍Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in related field, preferably in human services
• One-year experience with youth: in juvenile justice or in human services.  Must be over age 22.
• Basic knowledge and understanding of Google and Microsoft platforms. 
• Ability to take initiative and work independently. 
• Ability to learn how to take notes and document progress made in treatment. 
• Demonstrates spiritual maturity, a clear commitment to Christian faith, and seeks to serve Jesus among people at the margins of society.

‍What You’ll be Doing:

You work on a team of people who are in an intentional community of caring, mutual support, and Christian ministry.  We strive to do our best on the team, but as a training program, we acknowledge that we are all learning and growing in this place.  We commit to being honest and real with one another, to spend time together (and have fun together!), and, when we have issues, we clear the air with one another when we’ve let one another down. (We call that keeping “short accounts” with each other, so we don’t build long lists of grievances with each other.)  

You join other Independent Living Specialists as the “backbone” of our youth programs.  This Fall, we are re-starting our one-year discipleship program, and you’ll be working very closely with them throughout their year.  Discipleship staff work in an entry-level staff position to invest deeply in relational ministry on the block with youth.  They arrive from all over the country, learn on-the-job and via dedicated training how to be with and serve kids, and then experience all of the ups and downs of a very challenging job: learning how to hold lines of accountability with youth, getting yelled at by youth regularly, engaging in conflict, and discovering ones’ own conflict style and sense of personal gifts.  Alongside their investment in kids and community, they also participate in group and personal work to develop their own spiritual lives to become resilient as Christian ministers for the rest of their life. 

You are part of an intentional Christian community, where some staff live on the block alongside fellow staff. Not all of our staff live together - but we still value community and the importance of building relationships with each other.  

You are responsible for holding the lines that allow our Dale House culture to remain consistent.  Sometimes that means you engage in conflict with residents directly.  You might help youth negotiate roommate conflicts, suggesting ways to de-escalate youth when they have a hard time processing their emotions.  You will probably be cussed out, lied to, and mistreated by youth at one point or another - These are the kinds of survival techniques youth have learned to protect themselves in their upbringing. You’ll be asked to help youth go through the process of repairing / reconciling relationships, asking for forgiveness, and experiencing grace.  A lot of youth have a tendency to quit on relationships when things get hard.  At the Dale House, we show youth that conflict done well actually strengthens relationships - and you’ll play a wide variety of roles to make that possible

Many youth feel like the world is a scary place.  We seek to provide experiences and memories for youth to get a different glimpse of the world and their possibilities in it.  We provide new experiences (we describe ourselves as a “ministry of firsts”, because we provide first times for so many things).  We go on trips with youth to show them new ways of having “good, clean fun.”  We seek to show youth a greater window of possibilities for life, community, and their future. Some of those experiences include our annual trip to California, a week at summer camp, rafting trips, our version of Prom (called “winter banquet”) and more.

The ideal candidate will possess certain essential traits for success in this role:

• Authentic Faith. Has a heart for Jesus and seeks to live out their faith more deeply.  Often, that means exploring whether personal sacrifices are necessary to walk by faith.
• Relational. Has a heart for other people.  Is curious about other people and is always seeking to deepen relationships with others.
• Heart for Youth. Has compassion for youth who have faced difficulty in their lives.  Seeks to make connections with people who have very different life experiences - juvenile justice, homelessness, involvement in foster care, etc.
• Task Oriented. Has, or can create, a system for keeping tasks from slipping through the cracks. Asks for help when needed.
• Collaboration / Team Player. Communicates well with a team of people to keep everyone on the same page.  Seeks to help others grow. Uses coaching, training, and feedback to develop others and support problem-solving. Sees mistakes as learning opportunities. Seeks and engages well with feedback.
• Adaptability / Flexibility.  Every day at the Dale House is full of surprises, so this candidate can roll with new information, changing goals, and unexpected hiccups.  Can juggle competing demands and prioritize based on new information. Can problem solve and troubleshoot to find other ways to get across the finish line.

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Compensation:

This is a full-time position.  Salary Range: $35,000 to $40,000, with a full benefit package.

Dale House covers the cost for health coverage (monthly premiums) at no expense to you.  Other benefits come from Young Life, including: dental, vision, basic life insurance, and a match on 401(k) contributions up to 4%.  

‍How to apply:**Please submit your resume and cover letter as PDF attachments to independentliving@dalehouse.org. For the email subject heading line type: Independent Living Specialist, Your First Name, Your Last Name.