Salary: $47.01 - $59.59 Hourly
Location : Chinook Building, 401 5th Avenue - Seattle, WA
Job Type: Career Service (Exec)
Job Number: 2026AO27587
Department: DPH - Public Health
Division: Community Health Services
Opening Date: 07/20/2026
Closing Date: 8/7/2026 11:59 PM Pacific
FLSA: Non-Exempt
Bargaining Unit: C9A : PROTEC17-DPH, DCHS-Health Prof
Full- or Part-Time: Full Time
Hours/Week: 40 hours/week

Summary
The Child Care Health Program (enter CCHP Website) provides health consultation, training, and education to child care and early learning educators to elevate their skills in guiding, nurturing, and supporting the health, safety, social and emotional development, nutrition, and learning of all children in their care. The CCHP is an interdisciplinary team of nurse, mental health, nutrition, and educator consultants who collaborate to offer in-person and virtual services and trainings to those educators. The successful candidate for this position will have excellent communication, relationship, and trust-building skills; knowledge of early childhood development and attachment; and the ability to work with diverse educators and families.

Consultation focuses on the behavioral, developmental, and socioemotional needs of children from infancy through school-age. In addition to consulting with early learning educators about the children in their care, the MHC may also consult with parents/family members to provide information about managing behavior and mental health and offer referrals for behavioral or developmental services as needed. In partnership with other mental health staff on the Child Care team, the MHC will be responsible for leading the mental health work of the unit, consulting with partners at the City of Seattle and the rest of the Child Care Health Team.

Within the interdisciplinary team of Public Health Nurses, Mental Health Consultants, Educator Consultants, and Nutritionist, this Mental Health Consultant (MHC) will provide on-site consultation services to child care and early learning programs. Following the model of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC), the CCHP MHCs strive to build the capacity of educators, families, programs, and systems to prevent, identify, and reduce the impact of behavioral problems among children.
Note: This recruitment will be used to create an eligibility pool to fill additional Career Service, Term-Limited Temporary (TLT), or Special Duty Assignment (SDA) vacancies that may occur over the next six months.
Work Schedule

This position has a regular schedule of Monday through Friday, generally 8 AM to 5 PM, with some limited flexibility. It may require that you work occasional evenings and Saturday hours, as well for trainings and meetings. This position is subject to the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and is eligible for overtime pay.
Remote and Onsite Work

The Child Care Health team works in a hybrid model, with days in the office as well as telecommuting. The ratio of remote to onsite work will be dependent on business needs and is subject to change. The primary onsite location is (Chinook Building - 401 5th Ave. Seattle, WA).
Employees must reside in Washington state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements.
King County has a robust collection of to support working remotely. The individual selected for this opportunity will join an innovative and progressive team that is redefining how we work as we transition to the department's hybrid environment. Employees will be provided with a County-issued laptop and must maintain a home workspace with an internet connection where they can reliably perform work and remain available and responsive during scheduled work hours.
Job Duties

• Engage in on-site, individual child observations and assessments, and give educators behavior management strategies and behavioral health care plans, as well as promote socioemotional and behavioral health for children in early learning settings.
• Establish and maintain supportive relationships with community child care centers, Family Child Care homes, and other community supports for children birth to five.
• Maintain knowledge of community services and resources to address the developmental, behavioral, and socioemotional needs of children birth to five, and make necessary referrals for services.
• Provide technical assistance to educators and families for children who are referred for further assessment.
• Train and support early learning educators to identify at risk children by using standardized developmental screening tools (e.g. ASQ3), including those for socioemotional/behavioral health.
• Participate in community groups and coalitions that address the behavioral, developmental, and socioemotional needs of children in early learning settings.
• As a member of the CCHP Mental Health Consultant group, collaboratively manage difficult cases and provide training and technical assistance around your areas of expertise.
• With your Child Care Health Program colleagues, provide interdisciplinary consultation, training, and advocacy for how to manage complex cases, attend to cultural and systemic dynamics, and facilitate the integration of care for child health and behavioral concerns.
• Develop and lead trainings for educators as requested to facilitate understanding and support of child development and behavioral health, as well as to prevent behavioral health risks in children.
• Professionally document interventions and supports to record completed work.
• Engage with the CCHP in continuous quality improvement and evaluation processes to elevate its work with those it serves.

Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills

Ideal Candidate:

• Master's degree in Social Work or Counseling or related field from an accredited university.
• Ability to successfully obtain agency affiliated counselor status within probationary period.
• Demonstrated experience working with young children, including clinical evaluation and assessment of behavioral, developmental, and mental health concerns.
• Knowledge of professional social work principles, methodologies, and ethics.
• Knowledge of and skill in the use of the therapeutic relationship to foster client engagement and self-determination.
• Knowledge of human psychosocial development within the context of the family, community, and culture.
• Knowledge of brief therapy theories and techniques and understanding of therapeutic process.
• Knowledge of techniques for facilitating client motivation to manage behavior problems.
• Knowledge of health, social, and systemic issues, as well as of equity and social justice, that impact client and community well-being.
• Skills in crisis intervention, client advocacy, and case management.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully apply appropriate and best practice models of care based on diverse client presentations.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and respectfully, both orally and in writing.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and foster a variety of strong interpersonal relationships in a multidisciplinary team, and with outside partners and organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain a high level of organization to meet a high-volume workload and documentation demands.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 applications
• Ability to travel in a timely manner within King County to engage in work at locations that may have limited access to public transportation.

Desired Candidate:

• Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) or Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) preferred.
• Bilingual or multilingual candidates highly desired.
• At least three years of post-graduate professional experience providing independent behavioral health counseling service for children and families in a healthcare or educational setting.
• Previous experience with Parent-Child Psychotherapy, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Attachment, Regulation, Competency (ARC), play and family therapy, and/or other trauma-informed therapeutic modalities.

Supplemental Information