Fraser Health Region - Indigenous Cultural Liaison Support Worker (Casual)

RainCity Housing operates on the stolen, unceded, ancestral, traditional homelands of the Xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ Nations in so-called Vancouver, the q̓íc̓əy̓, qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm, qiqéyt, SEMYOME, Stó꞉lō, and sc̓əwaθən məsteyəxʷ Nations in so-called Lower Mainland, and the shíshálh in so-called Sunshine Coast.

About Us – A home for every person
RainCity Housing is an organization that makes a difference in people’s lives. Our mission is to advance social equity by building upon the strengths of our community and of each individual. With a goal of providing a home for everyone, RainCity’s programs sustain relationships, strengthen communities, and make change for people experiencing homelessness, mental health, trauma, and substance use issues.

RainCity Housing has been developing emerging and promising practices for over 40 years in social services and healthcare, providing Housing First, harm reduction and supports for community members who access our services. To learn more, check out our innovations page. You can visit our Indeed page and click on the “Follow” button to be notified of new job openings: ca.indeed.com/cmp/Raincity-Housing-and-Support-Society/about. 

You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Benefits: 

• 5 days of paid leave for Indigenous Employees for Ceremonial, Cultural, and Spiritual events per year 
• 8 weeks of paid leave for gender affirming care for medical procedures for transgender and gender diverse employees, cumulative total 
• Employee and Family Assistance Program available to ALL employees, including 24-hour helpline, Personal counselling, Life Coaching, Financial Coaching, Legal Referral and Advisory Services, and Health Coaching: https://www.fseap.ca/
• Municipal Pension Plan with guaranteed lifetime monthly pension when you retire: https://mpp.pensionsbc.ca/
  
• Employer-paid benefits for regular Part-time and Full-time employees:
• Unlimited Physiotherapy and $1,000/year coverage for Massage
• Vision Care, Dental Care, Prescription Drugs, Naturopath, Acupuncture, Chiropract, Group Life Benefit $50,000, Long Term Disability, and Unlimited Out-of-Province and Out-of-Country Emergencies

Position Summary  
The Indigenous Cultural Liaison Support Worker​ ​(ICL) provides the Indigenous lens and consults with Indigenous clients to provide/connect them with a range of Indigenous specific supports in the community, while advocating for access and rights as needed. These can include but are not limited to liaising with and/or supporting cultural activities/programming; Indigenous-led and informed case planning for Indigenous clients; connecting clients with outside organizational supports/connecting to agencies that assist; and accompanying clients in navigating the health and/or court systems. In addition to these Indigenous specific supports, the ICL provides daily supports to all program participants, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, including medication administration, building security, crisis intervention, building maintenance, and front-line overdose response. Using a culturally informed model that is rooted in harm reduction, the ICL walks alongside clients in their self-identified and self-determined goals for culture, connection/reconnection, and community integration; while advocating for access, rights, and Cultural Safety as needed.  

Job Competition # cas2024.223
Closing Date: Midnight, September 21, 2024 
Job: Indigenous Cultural Liaison Support Worker, Fraser Health Region, Casual
Hourly Range: $31.56 – $33.28 (BCGEU, Grid 34)
Work Site: Fraser Health Region
Start Date: As soon as possible 

*Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, Metis, Native American) ancestry/identity is a bona fide occupational requirement for this position. 

*A clear British Columbia Vulnerable Sector Criminal Record Check for working with vulnerable adults and/or children is a condition of employment with RainCity Housing. Applicants must be willing and able to receive a clearance under the Criminal Record Review Act. 

Program Summary 

We are looking for people able to work on Fraser Health region in one of the programs bellow: 

The 3030 Shelter and Transitional Housing Team provides a range of supports, advocacy, cultural knowledge, and community involvement to tenants of 3030 – low-income people who may be coping with the realities of homelessness, substance use, and physical and mental health concerns. This new purpose-built building will provide 30 units of transitional housing, 30 emergency shelter rooms, and during extreme weather conditions, an additional 30 shelter beds in dormitory rooms. 

Foxglove Shelter have 30 beds which consists of separate sides for woman-identified participants and male participants on the other side. Staff provide three meals a day, there is a few rooms that can be used for non-binary folks. There’s staff on site twenty-four hours a day over three separate shifts in the building. The folks in this space have access to indigenous cultural liaisons who creates programing connected to culture and build relationships with participants. There’s peer support specialist available seven days a week as well. There’s a medication program for the residents of the shelter for those who chose to use this service. The shelter has a wide range of referral streams that are not just limited to the coordinated access through BCH. 

Chilliwack Yale and Trethewey sites are RainCity Housing’s first and second modular supported housing facility in Chilliwack. It is located at 45944 Yale Road and provide 46 units of single room occupancy (SRO) housing to low-income individuals 19 years of age or older who live in the community, have a history of homelessness and who need additional support services to maintain housing. This supported housing programs are staffed by a combination of support workers, including an Indigenous Cultural Support Worker and a Peer Services Support Worker. The support workers oversee the front desk, assisting with program area upkeep, managing guests and providing community supports. The buildings also have custodial, home support and facilities management staff. Each unit contains a private bathroom with toilet, shower, and sink, as well as a kitchenette. The buildings have 24/7 staffing, with a minimum of two staff working on site to maintain the buildings, deliver programs, support tenants, and ensure a safe environment within the building. The program includes one meal a day, with kitchen facilities and a cook to prepare the dinner meal. 

QUALIFICATIONS
Many forms of education and experience are valued, including volunteering, and lived experience of mental illness/addiction/homelessness. Minimum education and experience include: 

• A Diploma in community social services. 
• Two (2) years of recent, related work experience with an emphasis on mental health, addictions, homelessness and/or social services. 
• Or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience. 
• Current First Aid and CPR certification. 
• Naloxone Certification. 

Support Worker – Key Skills and Abilities – for supporting people receiving our services 

• Establish a dignifying and purposeful relationship with the client, contacting and getting to know the client as a unique individual, and clarifying the role of the PSS and client in the service planning process. 
• Ability to identify and work to increase client strengths, including the use of hope inducing strategies and assisting the client in self-managing their illness and other aspects of their life.  
• Informally teach harm reduction, life skills. 
• Respond to problematic behaviour using an understanding of the behaviour's context and function. 
• Knowledge of the integrated concurrent disorders recovery model for working with chronically homeless individuals. 
• Knowledge of mental health diagnoses, medications, treatment, and support resources. 
• Knowledge of the bio-psychosocial addictions model, including stages of change and harm reduction 
• Knowledge of diagnoses, treatment, and support resources in the areas of substance use, physical health, HIV and Hepatitis C. 
• Knowledge of the housing continuum, including supported housing systems and program models for special needs populations. 
• Demonstrates understanding of oppression and marginalization as related to chronically homeless individuals. 
• Ability to resolve crisis situations effectively and safely.  
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team. 
• Ability to establish workload priorities, adjust to new or unexpected events, problem solve, and deal effectively with conflict situations. 
• Physical ability to perform the duties of the position.  

Indigenous Cultural Liaison – Key Skills and Abilities – for supporting people receiving our services 

• Experience navigating paths to client-centered/client-focused Indigenous work with tenants using culturally informed strategies. 
• Knowledge of the holistic addictions model including stages of change and harm reduction, cultural pillars of healing and cultural forms of medicine, Indigenous-led/informed case planning 
• Knowledge of legislation and regulations related to Indigenous persons, including residential schools, the 60’s scoop, child and family welfare system, knowledge of Indigenous cultures, services, ways of holism and recovery.  
• Fostering awareness and understanding of the cultural context of trauma related addiction/MH among Indigenous community members – work to create paths to holism. 
• Perform other duties as assigned.  

Specific Job Duties 

• Research/connect individual and group support for Indigenous tenants regarding Indigenous ways of understanding holism and recovery, Indigenous services and resources, and Indigenous culture. To actively plan, arrange and seek out these relationships while on shift in coordination the program team and manager. 
• Walk beside Indigenous tenants as they connect with community and cultural events and build supports with the tenant such as Elders. Connect with supports available through the Cultural Safety Working Group and Indigenous Cultural Liaison Manager and ICL Community Building Groups at RainCity 
• Collaborate with additional ICL supports in the site around planning and running the programming. 
• Assist with creating an effective and supportive connection between the Indigenous/non-Indigenous service providers and community supports and tenants. Advocate for tenants as needed. 
• Assists to build connection to the greater community to promote healing and wellness beyond RCH building to foster connection circle of care and support. 
• Orientate new tenants to the role of the ICL and familiarize them with cultural services. 
• Perform related work as assigned. 

Please submit both a cover letter and resume to apply, describing your suitability for this position. We thank all applicants in advance for their interest. As part of the application process, you may be asked a short set of questions to provide further information about your experience and availability. Please note, only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.

Diversity
RainCity Housing serves a diverse group of people, and we need a staff group that reflects this diversity. People of diverse backgrounds and cultures are encouraged to apply.

As we work towards building a diverse staff team, we are particularly seeking applicants who identify as being Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, applicants with personal lived expertise, and 2SLGBTQ+ identified people.

Inclusion and creating a safer space
We are committed to making our organization a safer place for our staff, with steps taken to create space for learning and unlearning. RainCity’s department of Indigenous Cultural Services was created with the purpose to acknowledge the unique history and service needs of our Indigenous staff and tenants in respect to accessing culturally relevant and culturally sensitive care and support. RainCity’s Black Affinity Group was formed to provide support for Black staff by creating a safe space to support each other, network, debrief, and to heal from the impact of harm endured. Candidates are welcome to self-identifying in their cover letters as Black, First nations, Métis, or Inuit.

All of our employees are expected to develop and exhibit skills to contribute to safety in the workplace, including demonstrating anti-racism knowledge and skills to support racialized communities, including knowledge of Canada’s historical and on-going colonialism and its impact on Indigenous peoples, and commitment to learn and uphold the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and BC's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Employees are also expected to demonstrate anti-discrimination knowledge and skills to support equity seeking groups, including the 2SLGBTQA+ community, people who use drugs and alcohol, people living with mental health issues and sex workers.

Inclusivity and support for people with differing abilities
In our efforts to provide a barrier-free workplace, we invite you to let us know of any adjustments or accommodations that might be needed for you to participate in the interview or selection process by sending an email to hr.inbox@raincityhousing.org.

If you're having any difficulty creating an account or submitting your resume: Please email dfrecruitingsupport@raincityhousing.org for assistance.

Do you want to improve your chances of joining RainCity? Be sure to include a cover letter letting us know why the work that we do is important to you, and how your experiences make you a good fit for this role.

Do you need additional support with your application? Connect with our partners for assistance:

• ACCESS Futures provides free employment support for Indigenous people and can assist with career advising, resume and cover letter writing, and funding for training: https://www.accessfutures.com/employment-services
  
• PRISM Employment Support Service (ESS) provides free strengths-based, trauma-informed employment support program for 2SLGBTQIA+ people, including coaching sessions, workshops, personal counselling sessions, and financial assistance for transit, occupational training, clothing, and childcare: https://qmunity.ca/employment/
  
• WorkBC provides free employment services to all job seekers, providing with support in resume and cover letter writing, training, and financial support for childcare and transportation costs: https://www.workbc.ca/discover-employment-services/workbc-centres/employment-services
  
• MOSAIC provides free employment support for refugees, immigrants, and racialized women, with services in career readiness training, mentoring, and peer groups: https://mosaicbc.org/our-services/employment-services/

We are a Union

RainCity Housing is a unionized workplace. Along with the union, we support the principles of the Human Rights Code of BC. We promote a workplace that treats both staff and the people accessing services with dignity and respect.