Metro Drug Coalition 

Mental Health Coordinator

The Mental Health Coordinator at Metro Drug Coalition (MDC) is a full-time position that serves on the prevention team and reports to the Director of Primary Prevention Services. The primary duty of the Mental Health Coordinator is to facilitate Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) trainings to Knox and surrounding counties, both in-person and virtually. MHFA is an internationally recognized curriculum that teaches individuals how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. To ensure continued success of this program, this position is also responsible for overseeing recruitment, advertising, partnerships, data collection, and grant reporting. The Mental Health Coordinator also delivers other mental health related presentations, trainings, and activities as needed. Mental health promotion and education are vital components of MDC’s prevention and recovery support work, so collaboration with other team members is frequent. To thrive in this position, the ideal candidate will be organized, have a basic of understanding of mental health, enjoy coordinating and teaching trainings, is comfortable operating technology, and feels confident taking initiative.

Primary Duties: 

  • Provide the National Council for Mental Wellbeing’s Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training curriculum to community members, organizations, businesses, and other diverse stakeholder groups in Knox and surrounding counties. 
  • Establish and maintain partnerships and relationships with community members, organizations, businesses, and other diverse stakeholder groups in Knox and surrounding counties. 
  • Recruit, coordinate, and identify individuals interested in becoming certified MHFA trainers. 
  • Schedule and adequately promote all training dates. 
  • Track efforts to ensure project goals, objectives, activities, and evaluations are successfully completed in a timely manner. 
  • Develop and maintain mechanisms to gather data for grant reporting purposes. 
  • Provide mental health related trainings and represent MDC at community events/meetings, as needed. 
  • Develop and facilitate mental health related activities that will be implemented at The Gateway. 
  • Continually upgrade and revise marketing, development, and research collateral to support the project’s goals and objectives. 
  • Attend required grantee meetings. 
  • Other duties as assigned by the Director of Primary Prevention Services and the Executive Director. 

Skills and Knowledge Requirements: 

  • Excellent communication, organization, and decision-making skills. 
  • Comfortable presenting to groups of all sizes and ages, both in-person and virtual. 
  • Great time management skills and the ability to manage numerous projects. 
  • Ability to develop and maintain relationships with community partners. 
  • Able to work both independently and as a team.

Minimum Qualifications: 

  • Bachelor’s degree in health education, public health, social work, psychology, or related field. 
  • Minimum of 2 years’ experience working in the field of mental health and/or with community groups preferred. 
  • Experience providing group trainings to diverse stakeholders preferred. 
  • Experience planning, scheduling, and facilitating events/activities preferred. 
  • Must be able to work a flexible schedule (occasional evenings/weekends expected). 
  • Must have strong presentation, written, and verbal communication skills. 
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office software. 
  • Must possess a valid Tennessee Driver’s license and have reliable transportation with the ability to produce evidence of auto insurance coverage. 
  • Mental Health First Aid Adult, Youth, and Teen Instructor Certifications or ability to obtain after hire. 
  • Certified Prevention Specialist (CPS) credential or ability to obtain after hire. 

Compensation: 

Salary commensurate with experience. Minimum starting salary is $40,000. This is a full-time position with benefits. 

The MDC is an equal opportunity employer and a drug-free/tobacco-free workplace. A background check will be required as a condition of employment.  

To apply for this position, please submit a resume and three professional references to Misty McPhetridge at mmcphetridge@metrodrug.org by May 23, 2024. No phone calls please.

Organization Information:

The Metro Drug Coalition (MDC) is a non-profit organization that has served the greater Knoxville area for over 38 years. MDC’s mission is to improve the health of the greater Knoxville community by reducing the use/misuse of alcohol and other substances through prevention, harm reduction, and recovery support.  

MDC’s prevention work consists of a community coalition, various forms of community education, mental health promotion, youth programming, facilitation of medication take back events, among a variety of other activities. Although MDC started off as a prevention organization, it has expanded to provide harm reduction and recovery support services due to the vast need in the community. For harm reduction, MDC employs the Regional Overdose Prevention Specialists for Knox County that provide Overdose Prevention and Naloxone Trainings, Naloxone kits, wound care supplies, safer sex supplies, fentanyl test strips, and respond to other community needs as they arise. The Gateway, which opened in September 2022, is MDC’s largest recovery support accomplishment so far. The Gateway is the first and only Recovery Community Center in East Tennessee and has delivered over 45,000 services since opening. The Gateway houses an art room, music room, rec room, gym, coffee shop, several meeting spaces, staff offices, and hosts various programming throughout the week to support individuals seeking or that are in recovery. All of MDC’s work aims to reduce stigma and get Knoxville closer to the vision of a healthy and safe community, free of substance misuse.