Clinical Counsellor-GBV

DEPARTMENT: Shock Proofing – Gender Based Violence Project
COMPANY: Skills for Change
LOCATION: Employment Ontario East & West
REPORTS TO: Supervisor, Mental Health, and Counselling Services
CONTRACT TYPE: Contract (Union)
HOURS: 35 hours per week (Monday-Friday) with occasional evenings/weekends
PAY RATE: $26.39
START DATE: Immediately
END DATE: March 31, 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE: (Position open until filled)

GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITY:
With 40 years of operations, Skills for Change is a highly respected non-profit charity with a province wide reputation for pioneering programs that respond to shifting immigration and workplace trends and lead to employment. We offer a range of accelerated programs including mentoring, employment, settlement, language training, together with specialized programs for trades, women, and youth.

PROGRAM NATURE AND SCOPE:
To provide high quality and responsive mental health and wellness services to support women, girls, refugees, immigrants, and low-income vulnerable clients within Skills for Change. With the impact of COVID-19 and the increasing need for mental health supports, this role will work primarily with implementing programs and projects to improve the mental and physical health and well-being of immigrants, refugees, vulnerable groups (youth, women, girls, LGBTQ2S+), create a safe space for survivors of gender-based violence, social and professional mentoring, networking, settlement, and employment. In addition, Clinical Counsellor assists individuals with disorders of thought, cognition, emotional regulation, perception, or memory that may seriously disrupt their judgment, insight, behavior, communication, interpersonal relationships, and social/professional functioning. Individual and group therapy is provided according to assessed needs and best practices in counseling and psychotherapy.

IDEAL CANDIDATE HAS:

• Skilled at supporting broader career counselling concerns as it relates to mental health and trauma (stress management, confidence self-worth, assertiveness, boundary setting, emotional well-being)
• Knowledge of community resources and services relating to mental health services
• Knowledge of social issues, immigrant issues, social isolation, sexual assault and VAW, and extensive experience in crisis response
• Experience and sensitivity in dealing with members of different cultural and racial backgrounds, including visible and invisible dimensions of diversity
• Demonstrated commitment to high standards of culturally responsive service delivery within an anti-racism and anti-oppression framework
• Demonstrated ability in using discretion in dealing with highly sensitive and confidential issues
• Proven experience in developing and delivering relevant mental health and wellness workshops that meet the needs of clients
• Good organizational skills, ability to multitask while maintaining a high level of accuracy
• Demonstrated high degree of initiative, judgment, and problem-solving ability
• Intermediate to master level skills in Microsoft and Google Suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Responsible for providing support/services to clients from both EO East and West. Travel between locations required.
• Provide individual short-term problem-solving support and long-term stability plan for women and girls and populations including newcomers, immigrants, refugees, racialized groups, LGBTQ2S+, victims of violence, low-income communities through identifying the presenting problems, goals, and available options
• Provide individual and family counselling based on evidence-based assessment and treatment
• Provide crisis intervention, psychoeducation (individual or group setting), and evaluation to clients as necessary through telephone, video conferencing or face-to-face contact, in the client’s preferred environment
• Provide counselling and intervention supports for clients who are victims of sexual assault/domestic violence through active listening, debriefing experiences, validating feelings, and respecting client choices and decisions
• Design, promote and organize various online and in-person workshops, information sessions and webinars related to issues due to COVID-19 pandemic, dealing with trauma, mental wellness, stress management, employment supports, building confidence, etc.
• Conduct external referrals by matching client needs with available community resources as appropriate
• Document assessment, intervention, client interactions, referral correspondences, clinical consultations, education, safety planning, outreach accurately, and in a timely manner, according to college, funder, and accreditation requirements
• Maintain strict confidentiality as outlined in agency privacy and confidentiality policy; behave ethically
• Participate in ongoing training & development in areas related to abuse & counselling, either self-directed or formal, as well as related topics, such as mental health, addictions, or coping strategies
• Conduct client intake by performing duties such as obtaining demographic information, providing information regarding services offered through programs, assisting clients in completing intake forms, assessing needs, level of risk, and suitability for the program, and explaining issues related to confidentiality
• Maintain program and participants records and statistics, and is accountable for inputting accurate data into SkeduleX, Salesforce and designated databases; produce narrative/statistical reports are requested
• Evaluate the effectiveness of counselling programs and interventions, and clients’ progress in resolving identified problems and progress of defined objectives
• Conduct support groups, peer networking and wellness checks
• Make appropriate referrals to longer term community support services and/or mental health services as required
• Outreach and partnership development with various community agencies, business, and individual sponsors of refugees to recruit clients and to establish partnerships with respect to program delivery (workshops), itinerant services and client referrals
• Service coordination with internal programs and other agencies to meet client needs
• Distribute survey and collect data related to the client satisfaction
• Case manages client files; document activities in client files, follow up on action plans, additional counselling, etc.
• Maintain files organized and available for review by the funder and program supervisor and management
• Participate in team meetings, as well as other internal and external committees as required
• Develop, document and report on client outcomes, and provide timely reporting/statics as required
• Prepare and submit monthly statistical reports, progress reports and evaluation of program results as required
• Work collaboratively with other programs within Skills for Change
• Attend staff and committee meetings as required
• Other duties as required by the Supervisor and Management

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES:

• Masters’ Degree in Social Work, Counselling Psychology or related field is required
• 2-3 years of experience working with survivors of gender-based violence is required
• Minimum 2 years of experience in group and individual counselling and workshop development and delivery
• Minimum 2 years of experience with crisis support for families, with an emphasis on refugee/newcomer/immigrant women and girls required
• Familiarity with suicide/risk assessment and crisis support
• Experience operating from ant-racism, anti-islamophobia and anti-black racism lens is critical
• Must be registered as a certified counsellor with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA)
• Current registration with a regulatory body under the Regulated Health Professions Act
• Must hold a valid First Aid Certificate
• A clear, mandatory vulnerable sector check must be presented prior to employment
• Fluent in Dari, Farsi or Pashto is considered an asset
• Ability to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends

PLEASE SEND YOUR APPLICATION TO:hr@skillsforchange.org

Skills for Change provides learning and training opportunities for immigrants, refugees and equity seeking groups to access and fully participate in the workplace and wider community to persons with disabilities to newcomers to Canada (including refugees) to Indigenous peoples to members of a visible minority to children or youth to seniors to the LGBTQ2 community. Skills for Change offers accommodation for applicants with disabilities in each stage of the hiring process. If you are contacted regarding a job opportunity, please advise if you require accommodation. This document is available in alternate format on request. We thank all applicants for their interest in this position, however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.