Housing Support Worker (with Food Security) – 6 month contract – Full Time
King William Flats- 257 King William St., Hamilton, ON
24 units of Specialized Supportive Housing
Compensation: $22.50-$26.77
Position Description: Reporting to the Program Supervisor, you will work alongside residents who have experienced mental health concerns and/or substance use to maintain housing stability. You will support individuals in developing and working through their personal service plans striving towards health, wellness and belonging. Promoting and demonstrating the vision, mission, and values of Indwell within the workplace and community. Also, working within the context of a collaborative interdisciplinary team reflecting the principles of person-centered and evidence-based care by assisting with coordinating and delivering mental health and addiction services to tenants with a specific focus on housing support and food security. This program serves individuals who have experienced long term housing instability and/or long stay hospitalizations. This position will require a high level of resilience and willingness to work in close proximity to challenging situations.
As this program will be supporting tenants from Black and racialized communities, we are seeking a Housing Support Worker (with Food Security) who self-identifies as a visible minority or Black, understanding the challenges faced by the BIPOC community (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color).
About Indwell: Founded in 1974, our Christian charity continues to thrive and grow exponentially as we serve people impacted by poverty and homelessness through our vision of HOPE and HOMES for All. We are the fastest growing developer in Ontario creating affordable high quality efficient housing communities coupled with supportive programs to over 1200 tenants to meet their needs of health, wellness, and belonging. To learn more, go to: indwell.ca/our-model
Hours of Work: 40 hours per week. The program operates 7 days a week. This position includes working evening and weekend hours, including some public holidays. Participation in the on-call schedule rotation is required which consists of carrying a work cell phone 24/7 for that one week, responding to urgent needs. The Housing Support Worker with a food security focus will work with the scheduler to ensure that there is adequate staff support during the meal program, which is a dinner meal. At times, this position will also require substantial flexibility to meet program needs.
WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING:
- Building therapeutic relationships with tenants with a recovery-oriented, trauma-informed approach, promoting hope and trust
- Knowledge and understanding of psychosocial rehabilitation, recovery models, including harm reduction strategies around substance use.
- Support with daily hot meals for 24 residents along with skills and knowledge to prepare daily hot meal, if required.
- Has the ability to contribute to and prepare culturally diverse meals or programming to meet all tenants’ needs.
- Coordinate, lead and/or participate in case conferences with outside supports.
- Assist residents in developing and practicing the skills defined in their service plans in consultation with resident and interdisciplinary team.
- Demonstrate understanding and ability to assess the food security and nutrition needs of program population related to cultural significance and general health.
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the relationship between food and community building.
- Confident in utilizing crisis management and intervention skills.
- Reinforce residents’ life skills, including spiritual, social, and coping skills.
- Ability to engage in skill building activities with residents with dignity.
- Assist with intake and orientation of new residents.
- Develop and facilitate relevant group programming related to food and nutrition.
- Complete required documentation in a thorough and timely manner with a focus on maintaining and protecting health records.
- Consistently show initiative and engage in creative problem solving.
- Engaging and establishing external community partnerships to meet and improve housing support needs or food security of residents.
- Reinforce a positive workplace culture and tone through your skilled verbal and written communication.
- Keep the interdisciplinary team informed of community opportunities and emerging trends related to best practices in housing support activities, food security and nutrition.
- Comfort with landlord responsibilities such as apartment checks, pest management and rent collection.
- Work as part of an interdisciplinary team to provide direct and indirect support to residents, encouraging housing stability and food security. These supports may include medication administration, apartment checks, oversight and implementation of pest management protocols, community events, meal program, and other supports as necessary.
- Support and collaborate with Volunteer Coordinator to integrate program volunteers into housing support activities and food programming. Complete volunteer logs as required.
- Work in close collaboration with other Housing Support Staff & Food Program Facilitators in the region to ensure smooth operations and that resident feedback is incorporated into the execution of the meal program.
- Assist in the orientation and support of staff, students and volunteers.
- Keep apprised of new research and developments relevant to your role, through workshops, journals, websites, and literature. Transfer knowledge back to the team and residents in the most effective manner available.
- Follow applicable regulations, policies and procedures.
- Work collaboratively with Indwell’s Facilities Team, supporting and reporting maintenance needs to ensure upkeep of buildings and resident units.
- Maintaining a safe and healthy working environment
- Upholding organizational policy and procedures
- Using appropriate procedures when responding to emergency situations
- Complete required safety checks and inspections as assigned.
- Attending and participating in all required training to maintain and develop new skills
- Other duties as required
- Post Secondary education in related field or equivalent.
- Experience working in mental health and/or addictions sector is beneficial.
- A Safe Food Handling Certification or be willing to complete the course to become certified.
- A warm, sensitive and caring approach with a genuine interest in supporting a diverse population of people living with mental illness and/or substance use.
- Demonstrate ongoing commitment to learning and supporting diverse individuals and communities (i.e. cultural safety, anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice).
- Ability to work independently, be flexible, organized, responsible and take initiative.
- Must have physical capability to lift and maneuver heavy objects (i.e. dish racks, bulk food items and occasional appliances).
- A client centered approach, using trauma-informed strategies to support residents
- Strong communication, listening, interview and assessment skills, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving abilities
- Effective crisis intervention and conflict management skills
- Ability to work effectively in a high stress environment, work independently, be flexible, organized, responsible and take initiative
- Excellent written, verbal, time management and organizational skills
- A commitment to interpersonal collaborative teamwork and care and continuous professional development
- Familiarity with SPDAT/ the Ontario Common Assessment of Need is an asset
- Committed to upholding and modeling the standards set out in the organization’s Mission Statement, Statement of Faith, Code of Conduct and other operating standards and policies
- Vacation: 7.5 days paid with 4 HEAL days (sick and personal appointments)
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)- primary care and professional consulting services
- New Staff Orientation Days
- Professional and Personal Development- annual Leadership Conference (themed with speaker) + Spiritual Ranch Retreat (reflection and recharge with various outdoor activities). Clifton Strengths Finder Assessment facilitated by People Developer for mentoring opportunities, Lunch and Learn Webinars, Indigenous Cultural Competency and 2SLGBTQ Awareness. Non-Violent Crisis Intervention (NVCI), Applied Suicide Intervention (ASIST), First Aid & CPR, Medication Administration, Therapeutic Relationships and Trauma Informed Care.
- Social Events: Indwell’s Hope and Homes Banquet yearly to celebrate the important work we do + team gatherings
Inspired to JOIN OUR TEAM? We invite you…
To APPLY: Please forward your cover letter and resume to our website: www.indwell.ca/careers. We thank all for your interest; however, only those applicants that are being considered will be notified.
Personal information submitted will be used only for employment opportunities within Indwell in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act.
Accommodation will be provided to applicants who make their needs known in advance for the duration of the hiring process as required under Indwell’s Employment policy.