Jail Diversion Clinician II

Statement of Duties:

The Jail Diversion Clinician II will work primarily in Somerville providing direct services to individuals who are justice involved or at risk of becoming justice involved. This position will work with across the criminal justice system to advocate and develop treatment focused diversion plans. Diversions are voluntary and will be based on psychosocial assessment.

The position may also support police calls for service by providing an assessment or co-responding as requested. In addition, the position will gather information on how calls for service are labeled to provide feedback on ways to better identify cases appropriate for diversion within the records management system.

Clients very regularly present with long histories of trauma and co-occurring physical and psychiatric disorders. While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be exposed to client trauma, vulnerability, and active substance abuse. Further, the nature of work in this field involves various uncertain, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous situations. The employee may be asked to participate in police responses in the Somerville community and be expected to interact with police, EMT, and Fire in crisis situations.

Essential Functions:

The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various type of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.

• Review all Somerville Police Department calls for service daily to identify possible cases for diversion. Maintain documentation on follow-up and intervention, including diversion document when applicable.
• Develop and monitor diversion plans and engage in long-term follow-up with participants and provide relevant reports on progress to the courts.
• Conduct outreach and follow-up on any cases that do not involve a criminal complaint but in which the individual’s behavior puts them at risk of future criminal involvement. This will include consulting with responding officers and other collaterals to conduct an assessment to determine intervention needed.
• Accompany individuals to court for a variety of issues as needed.
• Use research and experiential learning derived from the activities described above to develop best practice criminal diversion assessment criteria, protocols, and procedures that can be replicated throughout the region and utilized to inform policy.
• Serve as a liaison to police within the Metro Boston CIT region to pilot systems and use technical assistance to present learnings that could assist with replicating the systems throughout the region.
• Provide on-scene assessments for police calls for service as necessary.
• Other duties as assigned.

Recommended Minimum Qualifications:

Education and Experience: Master’s Degree and 2-5 years of experience in clinical social work, counseling, or psychology; or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Special Requirements

• Valid Massachusetts driver’s license.
• Bi-lingual in Portuguese, Spanish and/or Haitian Creole preferred.
• Licensure eligible preferred.
• Experience providing supports in a community setting preferred.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skill

Knowledge:

• Knowledge and familiarity with evidence-based practices, trauma-informed treatments, and wellness/self-care practices.
• Familiarity with Excel, Power Point and Microsoft Office software and ability to learn QED and CAD police-specific database systems.

Ability:

• Ability to follow and enforce the policies and procedures of the program.
• Ability to work independently and responsibly.

Skill:

• Strong written and verbal skills.
• Good computer skills.
• Good record keeping and organizational skills.

Work Environment:

The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of offices, with occasional exposure to outside elements. Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant. Employee may be required to work beyond normal business hours in response to attend evening meetings or complete work assignments.

Physical and Mental Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position’s essential functions.

Physical Skills

Few physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, walking, and standing. May also be some occasional lifting of objects such as office equipment and computer paper (up to 30 lbs.)

Motor Skills

Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job may occasionally require minimal motor skills for activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone, personal computer and/or most other office equipment including word processing, filing and sorting of papers.

Visual Skills

Visual demands require constantly reading documents for general understanding and analytical purposes.

Hours: Full-Time
Salary: $75,000 annualized, plus benefits
Union: Non-Union
FMLA: Exempt
Date Posted: April 1st, 2025

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The City of Somerville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities free of charge, upon request. Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact Adrienne Pomeroy at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or apomeroy@somervillema.gov.

Pre-Employment Requirements for All Employees:

• MA Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) clearance
• Completion of Conflict-of-Interest Law Education training for municipal employees

Overview of Total Rewards:

• 4 weeks annual vacation for non-union positions. Union positions vary by contract. Please note, police officers are members of the SPEA union.
• Medical insurance through the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) - 80% of premium costs paid by City
• Dental coverage low and high plans through Cigna
• Vision care through Vision Service Plan (VSP)
• Long term disability through Sun Life
• Group and voluntary life insurance through Boston Mutual
• Health Care and Dependent Care flexible spending through Benefit Strategies
• Deferred compensation plans through a choice of three vendors
• Free, confidential services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by E4Health
• Annual cancer screening & wellness release
• Somerville Retirement Pension System
• Tuition reimbursement
• MBTA pass program
• FREE Blue Bikes membership
• Eligible employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

Benefits listed are for benefits-eligible positions and the above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the City of Somerville and not a binding contract.