Family Support Worker

**The Position**

**The Family Support Worker (FSW)** provides in-home support to children youth and families who participate in the Supportive Family Housing program (at Kwatamus and other designated locations). Under the supervision of the Program Coordinator, the FSW collaborates with the Strengthening Families team and other Nation staff and departments to promote the health, safety and well-being of families.

The Family Support Worker assists and supports parents in their role as caregivers, with the goal of promoting parental competency and strengthening family life, leading to healthy child and family development. The FSW also fosters skills development so caregivers can maintain stable housing and a healthy home environment. The FSW will develop culturally relevant group training programs for families and will model hands-on life skills in client homes such as establishing healthy daily routines for children, household management, meal planning, financial planning/budgeting, and organizational skills.

The FSW will work families (under the direction of the Program Coordinator) to create housing stability plans and agreements with each family. The FSW will help ensure that program participants (families) are aware of their rights and responsibilities and that any breach of policy or conflicts are resolved in a timely, safe and effective manner.

The FSW will play an important role in the lives of shíshálh Nation families, by offering compassionate, strengths and culturally based support services that empower families as the experts in their own lives. The FSW will support families with self-advocacy skills, involving them in speaking out for themselves about the things that are important to them. The FSW may also engage with extended family and community volunteers to help support families. The focus of this position is preventative in nature and may also include crisis intervention and response.

This position is expected to be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances on-site.

**Duties Include**:

- **General, Administration and Reporting**_
- Responsible for report writing including case notes, quarterly reports, tracking and recording service hours, maintain statistical records of types of referrals made to outside agencies and other types of information as required.
- Work with families (under the direction of the Program Coordinator) to create housing stability plans and agreements.
- **Care Coordination and Collaboration**_
- Collaborate daily with the Supportive Family Housing Program Coordinator, Strengthening Families Team and other nation staff.
- Work with the Strengthening Families Worker on matters related to child safety and short/long term care planning for Shishalh Nation children.
- Gain and sustain participation of families in the program by providing flexible **in-home**support and establishing a good rapport with all community members.
- Connect with parents, families and assist them in accessing programs and services that may be useful to the child, youth and or family; this includes making formal, verbal, or informal referrals to appropriate service providers or agencies.
- Engage and motivate families to be accountable to themselves and their family members.
- Promote and support cultural teachings and practices for our families and community.
- Support skill development such as positive parenting, household management, grocery shopping and food preparation, and other practical skills.
- Create and implement culturally based support groups, activities and skills-training for parents and children.
- Assist caregivers to develop plans and identify strategies or techniques for managing challenging behaviors and collaborate with other supports.
- Work with families to accomplish goals as identified with family and professionals.
- Work with families in assessing their needs to determine type of program required, (e.g., infant development/parent groups/recreation/culture) and supports with enrolment.
- May be required to help move families from one house to another.
- Develop effective working relationships and partnerships with coworkers, community members, and representatives of other departments and agencies.
- Ensure ongoing management of assigned cases and all documentation is completed as required (i.e. Mustimuhw database).
- Problem solving using sound judgement.
- Work collaboratively as a member of an interdisciplinary team.
- Effectively deal with conflict resolution.
- Adjust to new or unexpected events.
- Participate in job related training.
- Other duties as assigned.
- Participates in working groups, meetings, and information sessions internally or with external groups.
- Maintain flexibility in schedule and respond to unexpected emergencies and changes in workload in order to fulfill responsibilities.
- Attend and participate in scheduled staff meetings and client care meetings as requested.
- **Interpersonal**_
- Provides help/guidance to on-site program