POSITION DETAILS
Student Counsellor – Counselling Service (1 position)

Program: Counselling Service

Time commitment: September 2025 start date; 3 days per week (450 – 500 hours)

Location: This position will work mainly from the FST office located at 355 Church Street, Toronto, and home-based office as required

Application Deadline: Open until filled

File Number: ST-COU #17-25 – with cover letter and resume

E-Mail: [email protected]

Mail: HR, 355 Church Street, Toronto ON M5B 0B2

Web: familyservicetoronto.org

Learn with us!

Family Service Toronto (FST) helps people face a wide variety of life challenges. For over 100 years, we have worked with individuals and families destabilized by precarious mental health and/or socioeconomic circumstances, to achieve greater resilience and stability in more just and supportive communities. We achieve this through our direct service work of intervention and prevention which includes counselling, peer support and education; knowledge building; and system-level work including social action, advocacy, community building and working with partners to strengthen the sector.

We’re proud of our people and culture! We are constantly evolving what we do and how we do it. Our work is grounded in the lived experience of the clients and the community. We celebrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and excellence. We are agile, learning and always willing to try new things.

Program Summary:

FST Counselling Service Program provides trauma informed and trauma specific mental health counselling to a diverse range of people facing a variety of issues. This is a unique opportunity to work as part of the Counselling Service and to also provide counselling to clients referred directly by the Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS). TCCS provides an alternative to police enforcement, creating a community-based, client centred, trauma-informed response to mental health crisis calls and wellness checks. FST is partnering with Gerstein Centre, one of four agencies providing this program. The student counsellor will provide time limited, goal-focused strengths based anti-oppressive psychotherapy to clients who have accessed TCCS in a mental health crisis. Along with this, the student counsellor will also have the opportunity to work with the Counselling team in our walk-in counselling program. The student counsellor will be part of an outstanding team using a range of therapeutic modalities, participating in clinical consultations.

The Opportunity!

To provide counselling and psychotherapy support services to adults and couples, using culturally competent, trauma informed and evidence-based interventions, including single session and short-term therapies to clients from diverse ethno-cultural communities, diverse sexual orientation, and gender identities, and to clients who are marginalized by a range of systemic issues. Students are offered a wide variety of experiences, including:

• Opportunity to gain clinical experience, skills, and knowledge in counselling through collaboration with a clinical team.
• Opportunity to develop knowledge of community resources and clinical resources materials.
• Gain clinical experience with diverse clients and issues.
• References may be provided upon successful completion of the student commitment.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct initial and post-therapy assessments (initial interviews to identify client’s symptomatic presentation and baseline, therapeutic goals, setting clinical boundaries, timeframe and to identify therapeutical outcomes).
• Complete clinical documentation including assessment summaries, session notes, closing summaries and communication records, in a timely manner, using a computer database program.
• Work collaboratively with other members of the clinical team, including staff, other students, and volunteers through informal case consultation, and attending clinical team meetings.
• Meet regularly (weekly) with clinical supervisor to review clinical work and pursue learning goals.
• Participate in student training and clinical skill-building activities to determine readiness for and to enhance counselling practice. Activities include shadowing, role-playing exercises, presentations, meet-ups, and to complete relevant reading or view training videos to determine readiness for independent counselling practice.

Qualifications:

• Advanced graduate level enrolled in one of the following: MA Counselling Psychology, M.Ed. Counselling Psychology, M.Psy., or Bridging Program for Internationally trained social workers or mental health professionals.
• Demonstrated commitment to practicing within an anti-racist and anti-oppression, trauma-informed framework.
• Ability to work with marginalized persons from a client-directed, empowering, and strengths-based approach.
• Ability to maintain boundaries with clients and provide time-limited counselling services.
• Excellent oral communication skills in English and/or French and good writing abilities.
• Demonstrated commitment to, and understanding of the principles of social justice, cultural competency and equity and inclusion.
• Ability to empathize and maintain mindful awareness of one’s own internal experience while conducting therapy as well as demonstrated creativity, flexibility, and excellence in therapeutic engagement.
• Successful Criminal Record and Vulnerable Sector Checks required.

Skills that would be an asset:

• Fluency in another language.
• ASIST Training
• Clinical training in integrating clinical modalities into practice (e.g., Psychodynamic, CBT, DBT, Solution Focused Therapy, Narrative Therapy, EMDR)
• Current knowledge of best practices in mental health (e.g., crisis de-escalation, suicide prevention, harm reduction, child abuse, and gender-based violence).

Interested?

Please indicate file number ST-COU #17-25 on your application and submit cover letter and resume to [email protected] or through our website at Student Placements - Family Service Toronto.

Our goal is to attract, develop, and retain highly talented students from diverse backgrounds allowing us to benefit from a wide variety of experiences and perspectives.

We actively encourage applicants from all equity seeking groups. First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Black and People of Colour, people with disabilities, people of diverse gender expression, and people with lived experience of poverty are encouraged to apply.

In accordance with Ontario Human Rights Code, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, and FST’s Equity and Inclusion policy, accommodation will be provided in all parts of the hiring process. Applicants need to make their needs known in advance.

We thank all applicants and will contact the individuals selected for an interview.