Health Navigator, Harm Reduction

**JOB POSTING**

**Contract Peer Worker**
**Queen West Site
**Health Navigator, Harm Reduction (Peer)**
**One vacancy. 1-year contract, with the possibility of extension (21 hours/week)**

**Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre** (Parkdale Queen West CHC) is a dynamic, community-based
health care organization serving mid-west downtown Toronto. Offering a broad range of services, including
primary health care, dental care, harm reduction, health promotion, counselling, and community development
programming, we are also committed to serving people who face barriers to health care, and we strive to reduce
these barriers. PQWCHC is a multi-sited organization.

**General Responsibilities**: The Health Navigator (HN) is an entry level role responsible for short-term task
focused client work for individuals who use drugs. HN’s are expected to collaborate with interdisciplinary harm
reduction team to facilitate health and social care attachments for people who use drugs through supportive
conversations, education, advocacy, and accompaniments.

**Reporting Manager**:Manager of Urban Health - Harm Reduction Services***

**Program and Service Delivery**

1. Build professional and trusting relationships with clients and service users who use drugs, provide
supportive conversations.

2. Use brief assessment, crisis response, and just-listening skills to help meet immediate, basic needs and
make appropriate referrals to other health and support services.

3. Collaborate with Harm Reduction Fixed Site Coordinator to identify clients and service users who are
seeking access to support and referrals.

4. Provide client accompaniment support, as identified (HIV testing, medical, legal, housing etc. ).

5. Practice client advocacy when needed and support clients in being active in their care.

6. Support client transitions to independence by encouraging self-reliance around tasks of daily living.

7. Facilitate attachments to health and social care.

8. In partnership with Fixed Site Coordinator, develop and facilitate client engagement initiatives such as
Drop-Ins, One-on-One activities, Surveying etc.

9. Provide clients with needed harm reduction supplies.

10. Providing educational opportunities for people who use drugs including safer drug use, HIV, Hep C

preventions and overdose prevention.

11. Support the development of program structure and activities to increase capacity and develop a strong

program model.

12. Complete administrative tasks in a timely manner

13. Maintain healthy and professional relationships with community partners and program stakeholders.

14. Participate in evaluation activities.

15. Employ creative problem solving to address client related issues.

16. Respond to client crisis and employ de-escalation interventions, respond to overdose.

**QUALIFICATIONS**

1. You bring substantial knowledge of drug use, specifically injection drug use, acquired through a

combination of work experience, lived experience and/or education or training, are familiar with

community services and resources, and respect and value the diversity of communities and individuals.

2. Experience with health navigation and client support

3. 2 years of harm reduction experience in a community setting working with homeless and marginalized

populations including people who inject drugs.

4. Experience working with staff and service users who come from diverse racial, gender, ethnic, and

cultural backgrounds and who may have lived experienced of homelessness, living in poverty, mental

health, social isolation, and substance use.

5. Working with people who use drugs, racialized populations, Indigenous peoples, people who engage in
sex work, prisoners/ex-prisoners, people with mental health challenges, and people who have
experienced trauma.

6. Strong understanding of and commitment to harm reduction, trauma-informed, and anti-oppression

practices.

7. Confident in asserting and maintaining strong boundaries.

8. Advocacy, crisis intervention and prevention, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills.

9. Knowledge of community-based resources.

10. Excellent written and oral communication skills.

11. Computer literacy.
- PQWCHC is committed to the principles of access and equity. PQWCHC is committed to reflecting the diversity of the communities it serves _
- and we encourage applicants who reflect Toronto’s Indigenous, LGBTQ2, racial, and cultural diversity. We welcome and encourage _
- CHC is in full compliance of the Ontario Human Rights Code and does not discriminate on the ground of records of offenses. _

Page **1** of **2**

**JOB POSTING**

**Contract Peer Worker**
**Queen West Site
The Harm Reduction team at Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre is committed to representing the

racialized people, people from the LGBTT2SQQIA community, people living with HIV, people with experiences of

incarceration and institutionalization, people who have experienced trauma, and people who have experie