DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY - SAMH

Requisition No: 815940

Agency: Children and Families

Working Title: DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY - SAMH - 60059103

Position Number: 60059103

Salary: $4,230.77- $5,000.00 Bi-weekly

Posting Closing Date: 11/07/2023

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is the state of Florida’s social services agency. The agency oversees services for child safety, fostering, adoption, domestic violence, adult protective services, refugees, homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, childcare providers, human trafficking and public assistance. The agency’s mission is to work in partnership with local communities to protect the vulnerable, promote strong and economically self-sufficient families, and advance personal and family recovery and resiliency.

Within DCF, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health (SAMH) Program office is recognized as the single state authority for substance abuse and mental health services. The Office of SAMH is statutorily responsible for the planning, evaluation, and implementation of a comprehensive statewide system of care for the prevention, treatment, and recovery of children and adults with serious mental illnesses or substance use disorders.

TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS POSITION RESPONSES TO THE QUALIFYING QUESTIONS ARE REQUIRED AND MUST BE VERIFIABLE BASED ON YOUR SUBMITTED APPLICATION.

THIS IS NOT A TELEWORK POSITION. CANDIDATE WILL BE REQUIRED TO WORK IN THE TALLAHASSEE OFFICE.

This is a highly responsible and professional position that will serve as the Deputy Assistant Secretary - SAMH within the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Program Office that leads and oversees the Programs Services Section. This position will collaborate with each section within the program office and be required to use independent judgement, take initiative in carrying out duties and responsibilities and should be extraordinarily detail oriented. Deputy Assistant Secretary is a highly responsible position who is tasked with being a visionary leader, strategic thinker and goals and outcome-oriented leader. The incumbent is required to focus on service delivery, operational improvement, efficiency, stakeholder engagement and innovation.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities include:

• Oversight of the three state-operated mental health treatment facilities.
• Liaise with the three-contracted mental health treatment facilities.
• Florida Civil Commitment Center - Sexually Violent Predator Program.
• Leading collaborating with other program offices to promptly and accurately respond to inquiries from members of the media, the Florida Legislature, and other stakeholders.
• Represents the Assistant Secretary of DCF and the Department in legislative committee meetings regarding areas of responsibilities including substance abuse, mental health, opioid recovery programs, state mental health treatment facilities, and the Sexually Violent Predator Program.
• Oversees the development of statewide legislative budget requests and other budget issues for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Program.
• Provides leadership related to program implementation, budgeting, contracting, plan development, statutory and rule interpretation, and resource allocation.
• Represents the Department on task forces, advisory councils, and work groups as assigned.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

An ideal candidate will:

• Be creative, flexible, innovative, and research oriented;
• Possess excellent research and writing skills;
• Have experience in designing and executing research to develop policy analyses, program evaluations, management reviews, budget analyses, and similar technical reviews;
• Understand and appreciate the principles of governmental organization, budgeting, and accountability;
• Have the ability to succeed both with and without extensive direction;
• Move cost-saving and cost-effective health policy forward; and
• Value SAMH’s vision and have the ability to execute projects, assignments, and updates timely and accurately within a fast-paced environment.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities required for the position:

• Knowledge of the methods of data collection and analysis.
• Knowledge of basic management principles and practices.
• Ability to collect, evaluate and analyze data to develop alternative recommendations, solve problems, document work and other activities relating to the improvement of operational and management practices.
• Ability to organize data into a logical format for presentation in reports, documents and other written materials.
• Ability to conduct fact-finding research.
• Ability to utilize problem-solving techniques.
• Ability to understand and apply applicable rules, regulations, policies and procedures relating to operational and management analysis activities.
• Ability to plan, organize and coordinate work assignments.
• Ability to communicate effectively.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with others.
• Ability to travel with or without accommodations.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Ten years of experience serving in a senior level management role.
• A master’s degree from a college or university in Social Work, Psychology, or Public Health and 10 years of professional experience.
• Professional experience as described above can substitute on a year-for-year basis for the preferred college education.

Benefits of Working for the State of Florida:

• Health insurance
• Life insurance; $25,000 policy is free plus option to purchase additional life insurance
• Dental, vision and supplemental insurance
• Retirement plan options, including employer contributions
  • (For more information, please click www.myfrs.com);
• Nine paid holidays and one Personal Holiday each year;
• Flexible Spending Accounts;
• Opportunities for career advancement;
• Tuition waiver for public college courses;
• And more!

For a more complete list of benefits, visit www.mybenefits.myflorida.com.

DCF EMPLOYMENT DISCLOSURES

US CITIZEN REQUIREMENT Only US citizens and lawfully authorized alien workers will be hired.

SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM REGISTRATION All selected male candidates born on or after October 1, 1962, will not be eligible for hire or promotion into an authorized position unless they are registered with the Selective Service System (SSS). Verification of Selective Service registration will be conducted prior to hire. For more information, please visit the SSS website: http://www.sss.gov.

RETIREE NOTICE If you are a retiree of the Florida Retirement System (FRS), please check with the FRS on how your current benefits will be affected if you are re-employed with the State of Florida. Your current retirement benefits may be suspended or voided, and you required to repay all benefits received depending upon the date of your retirement.

BACKGROUND SCREENING It is the policy of the Florida Department of Children and Families that any applicant being considered for employment must successfully complete a State and National criminal history check as a condition of employment before beginning employment, and, if applicable, also be screened in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 435, F.S., and Chapter 408, F.S. No applicant may begin employment until the background screening results are received, reviewed for any disqualifying offenses, and approved by the Agency. Background screening shall include, but not be limited to, fingerprinting for State and Federal criminal records checks through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and may include local criminal history checks through local law enforcement agencies.

#SAMH

The State of Florida is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action Employer, and does not tolerate discrimination or violence in the workplace.

Candidates requiring a reasonable accommodation, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, must notify the agency hiring authority and/or People First Service Center (1-866-663-4735). Notification to the hiring authority must be made in advance to allow sufficient time to provide the accommodation.

The State of Florida supports a Drug-Free workplace. All employees are subject to reasonable suspicion drug testing in accordance with Section 112.0455, F.S., Drug-Free Workplace Act.