Family Navigator

Family Navigator

Practicing Professional 2 (PS4)

Are you passionate about contributing to the community? Are you interested in working for an organization that is committed to learning and growing, puts people at the centre of our work, believes in a culture of belonging and builds on the strength of our community?

Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health supports individuals, families and communities as they work to strengthen their wellbeing and mental health. Our vision is to have a connected community where all people thrive.

WHAT’S THE OPPORTUNITY?

We are looking for a Full-Time, Permanent Family Navigator to join our Polaris team! In this role you will work with families from beginning to end of their treatment, coordinating aspects of the Polaris program from intake and assessment through to various interventions and eventual discharge and coordinate care among other Polaris team members to best serve each family. Additionally you will act as a service coordinator and advocate with families as they interact with various formal systems and help them utilize informal supports. This role works directly with families in their homes and in community settings, while being responsible for developing and reviewing a comprehensive treatment plan for each assigned family.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

• Meet with a variety of family members in their homes, in other community settings and in Camino office locations.
• Facilitate families’ engagement in the service through a variety of communication styles and therapeutic skills, including active listening, empathic support, honest and transparent communication, motivational interviewing, persistence, collaborative goal setting and a flexible approach.
• Administer Child and Youth Mental Health assessments and provide psychoeducation on a range of topics related to children’s mental health and trauma.
• In partnership with family members, identify and assess the strengths, needs, desires, goals, and risks of the family.
• Broker and coordinate specialist assessments, as required. These specialist assessments may include psychiatry, psychology, social work, occupational therapy, and speech and language therapy.
• In partnership with family members, design flexible plans that address their identified needs.
• Work in partnership with family members to explore and link them to the appropriate formal and informal services.
• Work in partnership with families to maintain and maximize the effectiveness of services, by communicating with service providers on families’ behalf, facilitating case conferences and other meetings, promoting collaborate problem solving and by advocating on the families’ behalf.
• Communicate the needs and progress of families to fellow members of our program, so that the team’s resources can be planned and mobilized to serve families.
• Take part in all therapeutic and administrative planning meetings.
• Complete all documentation and reporting as per the program standards in a timely manner
• Promote the services of Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health in a variety of settings.
• Complete weekly service indicator reports and meet mandated reporting expectations.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• 3-5 years of relevant experience.
• Diploma or degree in Child and Youth, social services, or social work or applicable relevant educational qualification.
• Experience working directly with families who have a child with mental health challenges.
• Knowledge of Trauma-Informed and Attachment-based approaches to working with vulnerable children, including the ARC model and Self-Reg model.
• First-Aid and CPR-C Certificate.
• Knowledge of, and sensitivity to, common challenges faced by families who are part of the children’s mental health system.
• Proven experience demonstrating a commitment to working in partnership with families, and familiarity with power imbalances that may arise in families’ relationships with professionals and commitment to redressing this balance.
• Ability to communicate with families in a natural, non-judgemental, and honest way that enables allyship.
• Detailed knowledge of local formal and informal support services.
• Flexibility and willingness to change work approach in order to meet the needs and desires of families.
• Openness to feedback from peers and leadership.
• Sound understanding of childhood adolescent development, children’s mental health and behaviours; including disruptive, defiant and aggressive behaviour.
• Ability to use child development, attachment, brain development and social learning theories in conjunction with trauma-informed therapeutic practices.
• Ability to work in a respectful but confident manner with families to model strategies for supporting their children and to become a consistent, compassionate, and effective coach to parents and family members.

ARE THERE BONUS POINTS?

You Bet! You are strongly encouraged to apply if you have:

• Training and experience working with ARC model and Self-Reg model highly desirable.

ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW?:

• This is a Full-Time, Permanent position requiring 37.5 hours of work per week
• Requires a reliable vehicle and the ability to travel throughout the Waterloo Region to different office and community locations and family homes.
• Shifts may include evenings and occasional Saturdays, depending on departmental need
• Must be legally eligible to work in Canada.
• Must complete a satisfactory Police Record with Vulnerable Sector check.
• Wage: $27.13 to $37.85 per hour.

OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUITY

Camino is an equal opportunity employer and supports workforce diversity. At Camino we believe that diversity enriches our performance, clients, services offered, the communities where we live and work, and the lives of our employees. Should you require accommodation during the recruitment process, please contact Human Resources ([email protected]). While we thank all applicants for their interest, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

As we continue to be responsive to the changing needs of our communities, we acknowledge the historical and present-day violence and systemic barriers that continue to harm members of our Region and that we must ask ourselves not if we are complicit, but how. 

Camino is committed to developing anti-oppressive practices and equitable outcomes for the families we serve while ensuring that our programs reflect and meet their needs. We recognize that we must work in collaboration with others to dismantle systems of oppression, discrimination, and violence that people face as a result of their diversity, beliefs and identities.

Building equity takes time, resources, intentional commitment and behavioural change. It is an ongoing process, and we start by recognizing the racism and discrimination faced by Indigenous people, Black people, Asian communities, racialized people, ethnic or linguistic groups, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, unhoused people, people with mental illness and people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

To help us create change and ensure that we can continue helping families thrive, Camino has invested in antiracism and anti-oppression training for all our employees. In addition, we have engaged in an organizational assessment to identify and address gaps. We have also created an Equity Leader position to help ensure our policies, processes, and practices eliminate any existence or influence of systemic racism across our organization. 

We have a lot of work to do and we are committed to keep moving forward on this learning journey. We will continue to listen, learn, and take action to ensure that everyone at Camino experiences true equity, empowerment, and inclusion.