Vancouver

Community Support Worker (casual)

PHS Community Services Society is hiring casual Community Support Workers.

Are you interested in a job where you can make an impact on the well-being of others in the community? Community Support Workers provide a unique cultural lens based on their own acute experience facing and overcoming barriers and stigma related to addiction, homelessness, poverty or incarceration.

Reporting to the Program Operations Manager, this position works as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide harm reduction services, overdose prevention, safer treatment alternatives, community in-reach and support, and access to community resources to program participants across the PHS harm reduction continuum.

Why work here?

PHS is recognized as North American leaders in low-barrier housing and harm reduction services. We are innovators, highly regarded across the sector, looking for people to join experienced, supportive multi-disciplinary teams.

You will be a valued member of the team, working with colleagues who respect your input.

We’re located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, in easy walking distance of Downtown, Chinatown, Gastown and the Seawall. There are good transit links – we’re a couple of blocks from the Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain station.

Responsibilities

Job duties include (but are not limited to):

  • Promotes a sense of community by creating a welcoming, encouraging and supportive environment for program participants.
  • Provides a variety of physical, emotional, social and life skills supports to program participants.
  • Maintains confidentiality about the personal information of program participants.
  • Performs overdose prevention and interventions within established guidelines.
  • Alerts other PHS staff of any program participant requiring acute medical care/intervention.
  • Works collaboratively and problem-solves with team members.
  • Actively listens and de-escalates confrontational situations. Engages and defers to other team members, or management, in circumstances that are not easily resolved.
  • Performs basic indoor and outdoor cleaning duties at PHS work sites.
  • Replenishes and restocks harm reduction supplies, office supplies and other site-specific supplies.
  • Communicates questions and concerns from program participants to PHS management, and actively engages in community needs assessment with PHS management.
  • Complies with all OH&S and PHS employee policies and procedures.

Education and experience

  • Lived experience of the challenges faced by program participants: homelessness, substance use, mental health issues, poverty, involvement with the criminal justice system, and racial and gender discrimination.
  • Grade 12 education or an equivalent combination of education, experience and training.
  • Basic verbal and written communication skills.
  • Must have access to and the ability to use basic digital technologies (smartphones, computers, email, apps).
  • Strong understanding of harm reduction principles.
  • Ability to maintain regular hours of work.
  • Ability to organize and prioritize tasks and duties.
  • Overdose prevention and intervention training.
  • CPR/AED certification.

Terms of employment

Job type: Casual.

Salary: $27.92 p/hr plus 10 per cent in lieu of benefits.

This is a unionized position under CUPE 5536.

Successful applicants will be required to complete a criminal records check.

PHS strives to create an inclusive and welcoming workplace that reflects the community we serve. We seek a diversity of skills, knowledge, backgrounds, and professional and lived experience in our staff. We particularly encourage applications from Indigenous individuals.

How to apply

Send your resume to  jobs@phs.ca  today! Please include a cover letter identifying the position title you are applying for, and the qualities and competencies that would make you a suitable candidate.

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