Job Opportunities in Canada

JOB TITLE: Family Support Worker, Ubuntu Program (Temporary Full-Time, Maternity Leave Coverage)
REPORTS TO: Ubuntu Manager
HOURS: 37.5 hours/week including weekends and evenings to meet families’ needs
This position is based out of the C5’s North East Hub – 14023 Victoria Trail.


JOB BACKGROUND:
Connecting children and families through shared humanity.
Partnership is at the heart of the Ubuntu Collaborative Service Delivery Model. This collaboration includes the children, youth, and families involved with Northeast / Clareview Edmonton Child & Family Services, Ubuntu staff, CFS staff, C5 community partners, external service providers (contractors, organizations, and community volunteers), community and kin. Everyone on the team has an equal voice, but the Ubuntu CSD Model upholds the importance of voice and choice of central members of the team: children, youth and families. Ubuntu staff work to seek the root causes of family issues, are strengths based, are critical thinkers and advocates, and value the idea that families are the experts in their own lives. Additionally, they actively utilize tools and evidence-based concepts in order to address the root causes of CFS involvement, including wider determinants of healthy families, Signs of Safety model, the Wraparound approach, and various outcomes tools and measures.


JOB PURPOSE:
Working closely with Clareview Children’s Services, the program provides a continuum of services to improve the outcomes for young adults and youth in Northeast Edmonton. The Ubuntu Family Support Worker/Youth Specialist will assist youth and young adults in stabilizing their lives, decreasing barriers, and increasing opportunities for success.
The Family Support Worker/Youth Specialist will:

• Work closely with Child Intervention Practitioners (CIP) at Clareview Children’s Services to create an individualized service plan for high youth and young adults in northeast Edmonton.
• Actively build and establish relationships with youth/young adults.
• Be willing and able to support the youth/young adults to meet their individualized needs and goals, whatever they may be, as well as to respond quickly in times of crisis.
• Build a support team around the youth/young adults, with the CIP, using a wraparound approach, to help ensure that they are able to succeed in meeting their goals.
• Have a deep understanding of the barriers faced by youth/young adults and a willingness to meet them where they are at, and to be relentless and unconditional in their support and positive regard.
• Understand that every youth/young adult is different and has different needs and be willing to be flexible and to work from a client-centered and relationship-based approach that puts the youth/young adults at the centre of their own service plan and allows the youth/young adults to be in the “driver’s seat.”
• Coordinate appropriate services and helps connect with youth/young adults to resources in the community and reduces barriers for that youth or young adults by helping them to make and schedule appointments, understanding that youth/young adults struggle to remember scheduled appointments and often live in a chaos that prevents them from following through despite their best intentions.
• Be willing and able to assist with transportation to appointments when deemed appropriate by the service team.
• Use a harm-reduction model when making decisions about how best to support their youth/young adults, recognizing that baby steps towards a healthier lifestyle may be all that the youth is capable of at the time.
• Believes unrelentingly in the potential for positive change in the youth/young adults, no matter the current circumstances or challenges, and refuses to give up on the youth/young adults no matter how hard they are to work with.
• Provide a sympathetic listening ear to the youth/young adults’ struggles and frustrations and provide a healthy mentoring adult relationship in their life.
• Recognize that sometimes youth/young adults are not able to accept the supports or services that the Service Team may want to give them and is still willing to engage with them where they are at.
• Be a strong advocate for their youth/young adults to other service providers, standing up for their rights and sometimes not taking “no” for an answer if a youth cannot get their needs met. (Obviously with a strong sensitivity to professional boundaries and respect for other workers)

Administration

• Update work hours/days off/sick time/vacation requests DAILY through ADP program
• Monitor Slack throughout the day for important information.
• Respond appropriately and professionally to emails in a timely manner.

Additional Expectations and Possible Accreditations Standards

• Work in collaboration with CS partners, the C5, and all relevant community resources.
• Complete and upload case notes within 24 hours of contact.
• Coordinate and facilitate monthly STMs.
• Ensure that progress, goals, and tasks are accurately documented.
• Attend all relevant trainings and share information with the team (including all staff).

Qualifications
Education:
Diploma or Degree in Human Services; minimum of two years of relevant related experience. Must have knowledge and experience working with youth/young adults and families.
Skills, Abilities and Attitudes:

• Ability to work in a highly stressful and ever-changing environment.
• Must have excellent boundaries.
• Mental resiliency is key.
• Demonstrate knowledge of philosophies and approaches related to working with youth/young adults, including harm reduction, trauma-informed practices and relationship-based practices.
• Demonstrate knowledge of addictions, gangs, sexual exploitation, homelessness, poverty, abuse and neglect.
• Knowledge of Indigenous Culture, historical trauma, and anti-oppressive practice
• Exhibit an exceptional ability in connecting with youth/young adults and understanding barriers encountered by youth/young adults.
• Knowledge of the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act and the Protection of Sexually Exploited Children Act.
• Demonstrate effective time management skills, strong professional boundaries and quick and efficient problem-solving skills.
• Basic computer and report writing skills, including Microsoft Office and experience working with a database (e.g. Share Point).
• Strong ability to collaborate with multi-disciplinary service teams, and varied perspectives.

Experience and other requirements:

• Minimum of two years of relevant related experience. Must have knowledge and experience working with high-risk youth and families.
• Supporting people of Indigenous, newcomers, ethnocultural groups, LGBTQ2S+ and vulnerable/marginalized populations.
• Valid (Non-GDL or GDL for more than 3 years) Class 5 driver’s license with no major license suspensions and reliable vehicle and comfortable transporting families
• Current Standard First Aid/CPR certification
• Criminal Record, Child Intervention Checks, and Driver’s Abstract (results will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis)

Boyle Street Community Services (BSCS) is a values-driven organization that believes our clients are the experts in their own life. Your job will be to foster innovation with your team alongside our clients.