Child and Youth Counsellor

KEY FUNCTION:
Assess patient needs and develop individualized treatment plans in collaboration with interdisciplinary team members and utilize specialized skills and knowledge to work with children and adolescents experiencing mental health, emotional and behavioural issues. Educate patients and their families, provide crisis intervention using least restraint philosophy and promote a therapeutic and healing environment using both individualized and group format.

REPORTING:
Under the general direction of the Clinical Manager, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Program.

DUTIES:
1. Assist in the development of required programming and participate in interdisciplinary rounds, case conferences, planning sessions, and assist in the education of staff and students to best meet the knowledge/care needs of the youth.
2. Develop the skills of patients through individual and group sessions.
3. Teach parenting skills to parents through individual counselling.
4. Assist in teaching and facilitating improved communication between parents/guardian and child.
5. De-escalate crises with patients and families by using the least restraint approach by applying the Non-Violent Crisis Intervention (NVCI) guidelines.
6. Respond to patients who intend to harm themselves or who have harmed themselves.
7. Apply suicide intervention techniques with high-risk patients.
8. Conduct personal body and room searches for dangerous items.
9. Deal with suicidal patients over the phone (e.g. patients on passes).
10. Monitor patients who may be suffering from medication side effects and relay observations to the Registered Practical Nurse (RPN)/Registered Nurse (RN) and the Medical Doctor (MD).
11. Deal with patients who are attempting to or have gone Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) from the HSN.
12. Respond to all “Code White” situations and take the lead as required.
13. Conduct routine safety checks on patients.
14. Provide a safe and structured environment to encourage patients to express their feelings and emotions.
15. Provide support to patients to develop new skills in the areas of self-esteem, anger management, healthy lifestyles, community resources, and coping and discharge planning.
16. Extract clinical information from patient/family interactions and pass on to the rest of the team.
17. Participate in shift change reporting and communication, feedback sessions, and case conferences.
18. Teach skills to new staff, including Child and Youth Workers, RPNs, RNs, Social Workers, college and university students, medical students, psychiatric residents, and paediatric residents.
19. Provide supervision and feedback to students.
20. Determine and align improvement projects with HSN’s Strategic Plan; monitor and adjust to achieve goal outcomes.
21. Evaluate patient care and satisfaction on an ongoing basis and formulate solutions for improvement.
22. Educate and promote health, safety and wellness in the work place.
23. Participate in education and training specific to current, relevant federal and provincial health and safety legislation, standards and guidelines.
24. Represent the department or program on various committees and in meetings as required.
25. Perform other duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS
EDUCATION AND TRAINING:
1. Minimum of a three (3) year Diploma in Child and Youth Counselling, from an accredited college.
2. Current Certificate of Registration with the Ontario Association of Child and Youth Counsellors (OACYC) or Le Regroupment francophone des techniciennes et techniciene en éducation specialisée de l’Ontario (RFTESO) is required.
3. Certification in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention (NVCI) is required.
4. Ministry of Labour “Worker Health and Safety Awareness in 4 Steps” training certificate is required.

EXPERIENCE:
1. Minimum of one (1) year experience working in a Child and Youth department within a health care environment.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES:
1. Demonstrated ability to counsel with empathy and respect for clients and members of the community.
2. Demonstrated training, experience or utilization of quality improvement methodology for process improvement.
3. Demonstrated ability to independently identify issues, plan improvements, measure success and continue improvement.
4. Demonstrated excellent computer skills with proficiency in Microsoft Office software, (e.g. Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook) and patient information systems.
5. Demonstrated superior interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal.
6. Demonstrated ability to manage routine correspondence, multiple tasks/projects, diversified workload and rapidly changing priorities and challenging deadlines.
7. Demonstrated discretion and maturity when handling confidential information.
8. Demonstrated commitment to the safety of co-workers and patients.

PERSONAL SUITABILITY:
1. Ability to use tact and discretion in dealing with health care providers and patients.
2. Successful criminal reference check is required for vulnerable sector.
3. Demonstrated commitment to ongoing professional development.
4. Demonstrated professionalism in dealing with confidential and sensitive issues.
5. Demonstrated positive work record and excellent attendance record.
6. Ability to meet the physical and sensory demands of the job.
7. Ability to travel between local sites.

Selection Process: Candidates will be selected for this position on the basis of their skill, ability, experience and qualifications as identified in the resume and completed Application Form submitted. The Hospital reserves the right to conduct a formal interview where required.

Health Sciences North is committed to providing accommodations to applicants with disabilities to enable their participation in the recruitment, assessment, selection and hiring stages of employment.

HSN THANKS ALL APPLICANTS.
ONLY THOSE SELECTED FOR INTERVIEWS WILL BE CONTACTED.
WE WILL NOT ACCEPT APPLICATIONS AFTER THE CLOSING DATE AND TIME.