Help Navigator

**HELP NAVIGATOR (COTT)**

**Job description**

Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society is a non-profit organization which provides unique programs and services to Edmonton’s urban Aboriginal population. Our Society was incorporated in Alberta in 1994 assisting Aboriginal children/youth and families in the Greater Edmonton Region.

Position Summary

The HELP(Community) Navigator is committed to helping people experiencing homelessness and poverty transition toward and maintain sustainable and healthy lifestyles. The purpose of this position is to work with the Edmonton Police Service’s HELP (Human - Centered Engagement Liaison Partnership) initiative.

Program

The Human-center Engagement Liaison Partnership (HELP) is a new initiative by the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) to partner with social agencies to reduce the overrepresentation of vulnerable and marginalized community within the judicial system. The program works by having frontline social agency workers (navigators) partner with uniformed EPS members, deploying to calls for service within a fully integrated model.

The overarching goal of HELP is to divert the vulnerable and marginalized community members away from the justice system by first identifying the absent basic needs of that individual and to then navigate them to the appropriate resource. This will help reduce the likelihood of them coming to police attention again whilst increasing their well-being, quality of life and social determinants of health.

Role of a navigator:
Working in tandem with their EPS partner, navigators will assess referrals made by frontline police officers and assist them in supporting vulnerable people, either through information sharing and problem solving with the police member, or by directly working with the vulnerable person on a case plan and assisting with service coordination and system navigation.

Navigators work intensively in a small team consisting of a variety of social service workers and EPS members; engaging regularly with both government and non-government agencies. These include: Edmonton Crown Prosecution Service, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton Remand Centre, Government of Alberta and a multitude of non government (social) agencies.

**Responsibilities**:

- Engage with clients at the scene of a call, at the HELP building or via telephone
- Facilitate provision of services by navigating and/or delegating tasks to various agencies
- Work collaboratively with HELP Constables and other EPS members as required, other team members and community partners to develop and manage individual case plans
- Meet, transport, and attend (as required) client meetings and appointments (medical appointments, housing appointments, professional appointments, etc.)
- Visit clients in jail/hospitals and implement transition plans to ensure smooth transfer back into the community
- Provide crisis intervention should a client be in distress
- Ensure ongoing follow up for clients by connecting with various agencies to ensure completion of tasks
- Educate and empower community participants to understand and achieve their rights and responsibilities, as participating members of society;
- Report to the HELP Sergeants (or agency delegate) on daily activities and whereabouts
- Liaise with internal and external resources that will help community participants increase their assets. This includes maintaining existing partnerships as well as developing new partnerships;
- For community participants who have a caseworker (either internally or externally), complement existing caseworkers by acting as a consultant and liaison for issues that require community participants access to external resources;
- For community participants who do not have a caseworker, refer these community participants directly to internal and external resources as needed;
- Advocate for community participants as needed both to access resources within and outside the organization;
- Ensure community participants accessed external resources by completing follow up with community participants and agencies;
- Provide input into program evaluation upon request;
- Other related duties required.

Administration
- Build a comprehensive library and knowledge base on community resources;
- Share and disseminate community resource information;
- Track assigned community participants’ progress with external resources;
- Communicate relevant information to involved caseworkers and staff about interactions with community participants and observed behavior when appropriate;
- Document community participants interactions, community participants referrals and community participants progress on ETO;
- Track statistics and prepare reports, as required;
- Attend meetings and training, as assigned;
- Serve on internal and external committees, as requested;
- Provide input into the development of policies and procedures for designated programs;
- Keep community participants’ records and information confidential, updat