Educational Counsellor I

The **Student Services** department’s role in student success is to create a culture and environment that unleashes the full potential of all the students at SAIT. Our primary goal is to support Student-First Culture, by focusing on student success and mobilizing all campus community members in this shared goal.

**The Opportunity**

Reporting to the Manager of Student Development and Counselling (SDC), the Educational Counsellor I is part of the SAIT Academic Faculty Association (SAFA) working 7.25 hours per day, **5 days per week** and **fully on-campus**. SDC Counsellors provide a variety of services to SAIT students including personal, career, educational and crisis counselling, debriefings to student community groups affected by a critical-incidents as well as increasing the capacity of the community to support student well-being. Counsellors attend department meetings, and offer and attend professional development sessions. While this position offers generalized counselling supports related to the variety of student needs presenting to SAIT’s Student Development and Counselling, this position serves the function of specializing in the delivery of crisis counselling and intervention so as to increase the team’s capacity in the area of crisis intervention and critical incident response, offering clinical consultation around complex student situations and working with the Manager to lead debriefings around critical incidents and tragedies affecting the campus and student groups. As a result, this position is expected to be flexible in responding to drop-in counselling requests, working on campus during designated work hours and travelling to satellite campus to offer support when needed. This position may work during SDC’s extended hours and takes a lead role in clinical consultations around complex student situations and critical incidents when the Manager is unavailable

**The Role**:
- Provides academic, career, personal and crisis counselling to SAIT students.
- Conducts risk assessment, crisis incident intervention and referral, on an as-needed basis, as part of SAIT’s professional team. This position takes a leadership role in increasing the Student Development and Counselling Team and community’s capacity in crisis support, responding to complex student situations and in the delivery of debriefings
- Counsels current students, through a directed career planning process.
- Designs and delivers psycho-educational workshops, presentations, and outreach programs that enhance student success.
- Provides general and formal consultation to SAIT faculty and staff on student issues involving psychological or mental health difficulties.
- Liaises with Schools, departments and other student services regarding the provision of programs, workshops and services that enhance student wellbeing and success.
- Provides assessment and referral within SAIT and to community resources as appropriate and performs other related duties as required.

**Qualifications**:
- Two to Five years of experience in post-secondary counseling or related experience working with adults from a wide range of ages and presenting with a variety of complex issues
- Experience in and a specialization in crisis intervention
- Strong therapeutic skills
- Strong psycho-educational presentation skills
- Significant understanding of the developmental needs and counselling concerns presented by a diverse postsecondary population
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic, and ever-changing environment is essential
- Serve as the alternate to the Manager in offering clinical leadership to the counselling team in the delivery of crisis response and debriefings to campus groups affected by an urgent crisis, tragedy or critical incident.
- Ability to problem solve and make decisions quickly with minimum supervision
- Proactive approach, flexible and positive attitude
- Ability to work well within a team and in a larger inter-disciplinary organization
- Excellent organizational skills and strong initiative
- Experience providing counselling support to groups or individuals who are traditionally reluctant to access support
- **Qualifications, Certifications or Designations**:

- Master’s or PhD in Psychology, Clinical Social Work or a related field with additional career, crisis or learning development training or certification
- Active Registration as a Psychologist, Provisional Psychologist, Clinical Social Worker or an equivalent designation along with relevant liability insurance
- ** Skills Required**:

- Strong skills in crisis intervention
- Leadership in offering debriefings to community groups, crisis intervention, and counsellor consultation
- Strong therapeutic skills
- The ability to listen with empathy and understanding, without prejudice or judgment
- Strong psycho-educational presentation/workshop skills
- The ability to keep clear, ethical boundaries
- Innovative and creative with a keen desire to learn
- Strong ability to collaborate in