Consultant, Mental Health & Suicide Prevention District Programs (MT, WY, UT, CO

The Consultant, Mental Health & Suicide Prevention is a member of JED’s School Programs and Consulting division, and is an excellent opportunity for experienced education leaders and/or mental health clinicians who are seeking to utilize their talents on a national level. The Consultant supports District Programs, aiding in the creation and implementation of strategic plans for partner districts, which support student mental health, substance use, and suicide prevention efforts. The Consultant will engage in reviewing partner processes, programs and protocols and analyze partner-specific data to inform the strategies and guidance they provide. The Consultant’s experience and knowledge of mental health, and educational environments and systems, will be utilized in the implementation and development of program delivery to partner leadership. This role is skilled in relationship management, problem-identification and problem-solving, and resource development, while also providing guidance and technical assistance in school mental health. The Consultant will report to a Senior Consultant, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (or the Senior Director, as needed) and work collaboratively with the entire JED team.
The Consultant, Mental Health & Suicide Prevention District Programs should reside within the states of Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming, and within an easy (approx. 60 min) commuting distance from an airport to facilitate transit to various regional and national districts. The Consultant, Mental Health & Suicide Prevention District Programs must have the ability and desire to travel to partner districts, conferences, regional internal meetings, and to the JED headquarters office in NYC regularly (up to 40% travel).

Key Responsibilities

Program Implementation and Technical Assistance Provision

• Manage a consulting portfolio of partner districts in various JED program phases and locations, as assigned by JED leadership (supports a portfolio of approximately 15-20 districts nationwide).
• Guide partners through the full cycle of JED’s programs with an emphasis on collaboration through consultation and coaching.
• Leveraging school mental health expertise, provide direct technical assistance to partners on best practices in mental health practices, programming, and policies.
• Analyze and synthesize data from a variety of sources to inform development of feedback reports, strategic plans, and other support resources for partners, and help partners draw meaningful conclusions from data.
• Lead collaboration with partner personnel to develop a data-informed strategic plan to improve their practices, procedures, and policies around mental health support and suicide prevention, including the related fields encompassing student support.
• Support partner personnel and leadership in communications planning in their efforts to leverage community engagement throughout various phases of JED’s programs.
• Assist in the curation and development of mental health support and suicide prevention activities, materials, presentations, and other related resources for partner professional development, community meetings, etc.
• Recommend evidence-based strategies and creative solutions to meet individual partner challenges throughout multi-year project execution.
• Leverage expertise to assist with other school mental health and related consulting projects, as assigned.
• Collaborate with other internal teams to develop high quality materials, activities, and other collateral to support program delivery.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Motivate and advise partners in completion of baseline assessment protocols, surveys, and other program activities and data collection methods.
• Lead partners through a continuous evaluation process to review progress and measure effectiveness.
• Regularly update strategic plans to include measurable progress made on JED assigned action items.
• Utilize Salesforce and comply with other JED procedures to record and track program metrics for quality assurance and evaluation.

Project Management

• Build and maintain positive and effective working relationships with partner leaders to ensure success throughout the duration of program engagement.
• Monitor partner progress throughout the engagement lifecycle.
• Oversee project timelines and ensure partners are meeting program milestones in a timely manner.
• Assist partners with internal project management related to accomplishing goals in the implementation phase of programming.

Content Expertise

• Serve as content expert regarding best practice in policies, procedures, and practices related to JED’s comprehensive approach core domains.
• Act as both an advisor and subject matter expert during all phases of the program.
• Maintain current knowledge about best practices related to school mental health, guiding district leadership through JED’s PK-12 programming with a focus on systems-wide school mental health transformation.
• Support content development of and facilitate convenings, learning series, and related activities surrounding specific topics affecting partners to provide guidance, JED stances, and facilitated communication between partners.
• Collaborate with leadership to update programmatic materials such as assessment tools, measurement tools, deliverables, and implementation tools to align with best practices.

Consulting Support

• Work closely with the Senior Consultants, Senior Directors, and other leadership of JED’s School Programs and Consulting Division on assigned projects, team culture, and other key areas related to program delivery.
• As needed, provide technical and analytical support to Senior Consultants and other team members conducting external consulting projects; assignments may include landscape analyses, report generation, and bespoke consulting initiatives related to mental health and suicide prevention.
• Assist in the curation and development of mental health support and suicide prevention activities, materials, presentations, and other related resources for professional development, community meetings, etc.
• Support internal JED functions by leveraging expertise to assist with other mental health and related projects, as assigned. May include content development for other JED offerings; training and development of new Consultants; support for other functions such as advocacy, recruiting, and community engagement teams.
• Assist with the delivery of training, workshops, and other educational programming for partners, as assigned.

Functional Ownership

• Owns a portfolio of districts, guiding them through JED’s program lifecycle (strategic assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation) and providing direct technical assistance on school mental health and suicide prevention practices.

Decision Rights & Collaboration

• Decides day-to-day technical assistance approach and strategic recommendations for assigned partners independently.
• Requires input from the Senior Consultant or Senior Director on cross-partner strategy and complex escalations.
• Collaborates with internal teams on shared materials and resources.

Skills Knowledge and Expertise

Required

• Minimum of master’s level training in education, educational leadership, counseling, psychology, social work, or related field required; LPC, MSW, MPH, MED, and early to mid-career PhD degree-holders are encouraged to apply.
• At least 5-7 years professional experience working within, or in direct partnership with, PK-12 or higher education systems in ID, MT, or WY with experience in campus, district, or organizational level leadership preferred.
• Strong technical knowledge of school based mental health, Social Emotional Learning, suicide prevention, and substance use prevention, required.
• Deep knowledge of the relevant education systems and systems-level change, including data, daily operations, and the current educational landscape, required.
• Self-driven and results-oriented with a positive outlook and strong problem-solving skills.
• Strong research, analytical, and critical thinking abilities, and the ability to analyze and apply data to draw meaningful conclusions.
• Experience leading, building, and managing education programs and collaborating with education leaders.
• Experience in research and evaluation methodology, strongly preferred.
• Excellent verbal communication.
• Excellent written communication with experience in drafting report-style formats, with attention to detail.
• Excellent presentation skills with experience and comfort presenting to large groups, including senior leadership.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship management skills, including comfort with establishing new partnerships, identifying new business opportunities, and a history of maintaining high partner engagement.
• Experience working with Salesforce, Asana, or other CRM/project management systems strongly preferred.
• Ability to travel to partner sites, conferences, and other JED engagements nationwide, as well as JED headquarters in NYC regularly (up to 40% travel).

Success Metrics

• Partners meet program milestones and engagement goals on schedule.
• Strategic plans and feedback reports are data-informed and delivered on time.
• Strong partner satisfaction and continued engagement.

Originally posted on Himalayas