THE ORGANIZATION:
Take a Hike empowers youth who experience vulnerability to change the trajectory of their lives with a full-time mental health and emotional well-being program embedded in an alternate education classroom. Take a Hike engages youth with intentional, continuous clinical counselling, experiential land-based learning, and community. Our public school district partners provide high quality education, and together, we empower youth with the skills and resilience they need to graduate high school, build healthy relationships, and achieve success – however they define it.
For more information on the program, please visit www.takeahikefoundation.org (http://www.takeahikefoundation.org/).
THE OPPORTUNITY:
Each Take a Hike program has one full-time Mental Health Clinician to support vulnerable youth in changing their lives. The Mental Health Clinician will work regular classroom hours on designated Take a Hike school days, typically 5 days a week, and will accompany the team on all the program field trips (once a week).
This role requires full participation in weekly field trips learning from the land as well as multi-day camping trips; typically, two multi-day trips per year ranging in length.
We are seeking a Mental Health Clinician who is an adventurer at heart and truly values the positive impact of spending time in nature; someone who recognizes that impactful therapeutic breakthroughs can happen outside of an office setting, perhaps in a canoe or on a hiking trail.
Key Competencies:
- Ability to apply counselling modalities for youth outside of a traditional office.
- Comfort with attachment-based and trauma-informed therapeutic models of support.
- Grounded in anti-oppressive practice with a commitment to Indigenous Reconciliation and Anti-Black Racism.
- Knowledge of or experience with couples and family therapy.
- Collaborative team player, able to establish and maintain positive working relationships within a multi-disciplinary team.
- Must be comfortable in the outdoors, able to care for self and others regardless of the weather and conditions.
- A willingness to grow in their skills and comfort through weekly out trips hiking, paddling, and regular time in nature.
- Ability and skills to camp overnight on self-propelled outdoor experiences.
- A passion for supporting vulnerable youth.
- Identity-affirming Individual therapy with youth during school hours.
- Family therapy sessions to support parents / guardians of youth.
- Supportive group counselling sessions addressing relevant youth issues.
- Work as part of the classroom team providing leadership in mental health learning and mental health practices.
- Participate in all parts of the program including multi-day camping trips, volunteering, and events
- Liaise with the entire staff team, and external agencies that can provide additional support to youth
- Build relationships with school district and community partners to ensure Take a Hike’s success within the community.
- Facilitate youth assessments to enhance care, support engagement and collaboration on treatment goals and for metric and data collection purposes.
- Supporting land-based learning programming.
- Must have one of the following: a Master’s in Counselling Psychology, a Master’s in Social Work (clinical focus).
- Registered member in good standing with appropriate Regulatory College.
- 3 years of experience with youth and people in crisis and confident with group facilitation processes
- Previous experience in an educational setting is an asset
- Valid driver’s license and access to a vehicle is an asset
We offer a salary of 75K-85K, commensurate with experience, based on a 37.5-hour work week. The ideal start date for this position is August 2025.
This is a full-time, 1 year contract position located in West Vancouver, BC.
HOW TO APPLY:
If this position is of interest to you, please submit your cover letter and resume to our online portal, Collage, by July 2, 2025.
Take a Hike values the diversity of the people it hires and serves. Diversity at Take a Hike means fostering a workplace in which individual differences are recognized, appreciated, respected, and responded to in ways that fully develop and utilize each person’s talents and strengths. Individuals who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Black, people of color, people living with disabilities and candidates with lived experience in mental health are encouraged to consider this opportunity. In accordance with provincial Accessibility Acts, reasonable accommodation will be provided upon request throughout the recruitment process.
Our Commitment to Reconciliation can be found on our website here (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b594bd32971143f390da926/t/61f1de4a2157ee2239ac1293/1643241034977/Take+a+Hike+Foundation+Endorsement+of+Reconciliation_2022.pdf)
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