Diversion Social Worker

The Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department has created a grant opportunity for
diversion social worker positions to be employed by the Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro
police departments and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

The Hillsborough Police Department employs 30 officers, serving a community of about 10,000. The department's purpose is to make the town safer using community-based policing and building partnerships. This position will be primarily responsible for serving as a diversion social worker with the Community Care and Diversion Response Team, a collaborative, pre-arrest and post-charge diversionary program in Orange County for individuals with a history of serious mental illness. The employee will work for the Hillsborough Police Department under its supervision.

The social worker will work in close collaboration with the department’s law enforcement officers and collaborate with Community Care and Diversion Response Team social workers in three other law enforcement agencies in Orange County as well as the clinical coordinator in the Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department. 

The position will seek to increase efforts to divert individuals in need of mental health interventions and treatment from law enforcement and the criminal justice system using:

• A warm hand-off.
• Individualized treatment and service plans.
• Case management services for up to 90 days.
• Treatment referrals to a dedicated response team clinician and peer support specialist at Freedom House Recovery Center.

A job flyer is available here: https://assets.hillsboroughnc.gov/media/documents/public/diversion-social-worker.pdf