Jobs

State Policy Manager

Manager, State Policy

Formerly the Mental Health Association of New York City (MHA-NYC), Vibrant
Emotional Health’s groundbreaking solutions have delivered high quality services and
support, when, where and how people need it for over 50 years. Through our state-of-
the-art technology-enabled services, community wellness programs, and advocacy and
education work, we are building a society in which emotional wellness can be a reality
for everyone.

Position Objective:  The Manager, State Policy position will be responsible for
coordinating local and state-level policy related to the interests of Vibrant Emotional
Health, including the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline program. This work entails
providing members of state legislatures with information on Vibrant and Vibrant
programs, coordinating with local and state mental health agency officials, local and
state mental health organizations and other stakeholders. The position also entails
tracking suicide prevention legislation, crisis line funding trends, and policy hearings of
relevance to the Lifeline.  In this role, the position will work with and report to the
Director, National and State Policy to identify key state legislature committees and
mental health agency contacts in order to leverage legislative and regulatory
opportunities to advance priorities and raise awareness of programs within Vibrant.  The
ultimate goal of this position is to ensure that state-level stakeholders, committees and
agencies are better positioned to support Lifeline-affiliated call centers, as well as the
overall mission of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The Manager, State Policy
position will be responsible for a subset of states across the country with other staff in
the Department.

The Lifeline is a national network of independently operated, independently funded
crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal
crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Primary Program:              Vibrant Emotional Health
Reports to:                          Director, National and State Policy

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
 Identify and monitor state legislative and regulatory initiatives using Vibrant
legislative tracking platform
 Analyze, summarize and determine viability of state legislation and state
regulations
 Communicate with elected officials, policymakers and relevant stakeholders on
Vibrant policy priorities

 Build relationships with entities within organization’s network to strengthen state-
based policy activities
 Coordinate with state organizations to advance policy priorities
 Collaborate with appropriate stakeholders and coalitions on state legislative days
 Maintain working knowledge of state government processes, resources,
information and policy trends
 Write newsletter articles and web updates on state level policy updates
 Work closely with the Director, National and State Policy to execute and advance
organization goals
 Other duties as assigned
Required Skills:
 Exceptional working knowledge of state legislative processes.
 Demonstrated expertise in creating policy briefings.
 A strong ability to communicate the essence of complex legislation in a way that
is concise, relevant to an individual constituent or legislators’ concerns, and that
never loses sight of the highly personal and societal impact of Lifeline’s work.
 Strong customer-service orientation.
 Demonstrated ability to communicate to diverse stakeholders across political,
social and geographic spectrums.
 Excellent organizational, time management, verbal, written and computer skills.
 Self-motivated approach to work and a strong ability to initiate problem-solving
tasks without direction.
 Ability to work effectively, collaboratively and positively in a team environment.
 Comfort in both asking for direction and initiating quality improvement
recommendations within the context of remote based supervision.
 Intermediate to advanced skills with MS Office Suite, Slack, Zoom, Google and
other technology platforms
 Ability to be flexible and versatile, while maintaining a positive attitude, in an
ever-changing work environment.

Qualifications:
 Must has a very strong background in state legislative affairs as well as experience
tracking and engaging on policy efforts that have an impact on state and local level
mental health programs.
 The candidate is curious, takes great pride in their work, finds public health policy
intriguing, and approaches their job from a friendly, continuous quality improvement
perspective.
 Possesses great organizational skills
 Possesses a bachelor’s degree in public health, psychology, social work, counseling,
communications, or business.
 Experience working within the National Suicide Prevention Network or in mental health /
public health legislative outreach is ideal.

 Interest and experience in Mental Health, Public Health or suicide prevention is desired
in the event the candidate does not have a Bachelors’ or Master’s degree in those
fields. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is based in New York City;
however, remote-based employment will be considered.
Ideal Candidate:
 Previously worked in state legislative office and/or as legislative liaison for a health
agency
 Comfortable working in a bipartisan fashion
 Self-motivated with attention to detail
 Strong analytical skills with ability to understand how proposals fit into larger system
 Willingness to travel as needed

*Excellent comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental, vision, supplemental
income insurance, pre-tax transit/parking, pre-tax FSA for medical and dependent care,
and 401K available. 4 weeks’ vacation, plum benefits, etc.

Vibrant Emotional Health is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants are
considered for positions without regard to veteran status, uniformed service
member status, race, creed, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual
orientation, citizenship status, national origin, marital status, age, physical or
mental disability, genetic information, caregiver status or any other category
protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

Apply here

Job posted: 2023-02-02