Children's Counsellor

CHILDREN’S COUNSELLOR

YELLOW BRICK HOUSE/PROJECT HOSTEL

Purpose of PositionThe Children’s Counsellor works directly with children who have been exposed to domestic violence.  The Children’s Counsellor works closely with the mother/caregiver in addressing children’s needs and supporting the mother/caregiver in utilizing her parenting skills to address her children’s needs

Reporting to:  Supervisor of Direct Services

Hours of Work:      37.5 hours per week

Responsibilities:

  • Provides counselling to children and youth who have been impacted by the presence of violence in their home
  • Conducts intake and discharge interviews with clients as required
  • Consults with other clinical staff as needed regarding children’s behaviour and needs
  • Makes appropriate referrals to agencies within York Region and Metropolitan Toronto (eg. Ontario Works, Housing, Legal Aid, CAS, Police)
  • Promotes a flexible, culturally sensitive and supportive intervention, focused directly on children coming from homes with domestic violence
  • Facilitates family’s capacity to make decisions in an effort to strengthen family life
  • Assists mothers/caregivers to identify and develop plans that will meet the needs of child and family as a whole, including safety plans
  • Implements case plans sensitive to the needs of clients
  • Assists mothers/caregivers to understand the cycle of violence and the effects of violence on children
  • This role works with children who reside temporarily in our emergency shelters as well as children living in the community.
  • Liaison with Children’s Aid Societies, to facilitate referrals, and maintain a positive relationship
  • Presentations as required to educate about YBH and about the effect of witnessing violence on children

Case Management:

  • Liaises and advocates with community agencies to facilitate an awareness and understanding of children’s needs
  • Identifies geographically based referral bases, develops referring relationships
  • Facilitates families’ connection to ethno-specific services

Maintenance and Administration:

  • Maintains daily confidential, pertinent, accurate and non-judgemental logging on WISH (agency database) of all client contacts
  • Ensures that intake/discharge and all other appropriate information is complete
  • Ensures that stats and client notes are completed at the end of each week
  • Provides quarterly reports on program delivery, effectiveness and initiatives
  • Ensures health and safety standards of the office are met
  • Plans programming expenditure within budget allocations
  • Participates in ongoing program evaluation

General:

  • Reads, understands and adheres to policies and procedures of PROJECT HOSTEL O/A Yellow Brick House
  • Engages fully and openly in supervision; keeping Supervisor fully informed at all times
  • Attends staff training sessions as required
  • Identifies and sets professional development goals annually
  • Works within a team environment; provides support and information to team members and assists other staff when required
  • Maintains a positive approach and a professional manner at all times
  • Fosters and maintains an anti-oppression working environment
  • Performs any other duties as required
  • Able to offer a combination of in person and virtual counselling sessions

Minimum Education/Experience Requirements:

  • Completion of a clinically supervised undergraduate or graduate degree from an accredited university (e.g. BSW, MSW)
  • Fluency/competency in a second language either spoken by a large number of clients or that is required by Project Hostel
  • 2 to 3 years counselling experience
  • Experience working with children
  • A specialized certificate in working with children would be an asset
  • In depth knowledge of the dynamics of woman abuse and its effect on children is required
  • Ability to work under pressure and within the context of the team structure
  • Ability to work independently
  • Ability to deal effectively with job related stress and handle crisis situations
  • Ability to work within an anti-oppression framework
  • Knowledge and understanding of trauma, mental health issues, advocacy, substance abuse, employment, child development and parenting would be an asset
  • Ability to multi-task and prioritize workload
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Presentation skills
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Word, e-mail and the Internet

Please submit covering letter and resume, providing your interest in applying to this position  in confidence to Robinc@yellowbrickhouse.org

No phone calls please.  Yellow Brick House would like to thank all applicants for their interest; however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

NOTE:   This position is full-time. Staff are represented by CUPE and compensation is determined by the collective agreement.  After successfully completing probation, staff receive a comprehensive benefits package.