Community Mental Health Ambassador

The Afghan Women’s Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services is a settlement agency providing a wide range of services to immigrants and a SAH (sponsorship agreement holder). Our vision is of refugees and immigrants, especially those who have experienced wars and persecution and those who are marginalized, leading self-sufficient and dignified lives in a socially inclusive society. AWO works with refugees and immigrants, with a special focus on women and their families. Our mission is to improve immigrant and refugees' quality of life and to promote their social and economic inclusion in order to assist them to become contributing members of society and to live in dignity.

**Position**:
Reporting to the Settlement Manager and working closely with the Mental Health Workers, Crisis Counsellor, and Community-based Volunteers, the Community Mental Health Ambassador is responsible for providing culturally specific community outreach, education, information, promote awareness of mental health services and to promote help-seeking behaviours, and refer community members to mental health resources and supports in Peel.

The Community Mental Health Ambassador will identify new and strengthen existing partnerships and collaborations with a focus on improving access to mental health for the newcomer community in the Peel region, in particular Dari, Pashto, Farsi, Arabic, Urdu and Somali speakers. They will identify the needs and gaps within newcomer communities and work to better address these through knowledge provision and dissemination, advocacy and collaborative initiatives.

They will be responsible for updating community resources, information and presentations, with an eye to raising awareness and dispelling stigma within these communities vis-à-vis mental health and available services. They will also work to raise awareness among service providers and other stakeholders of the barriers to access for newcomer communities with possible solutions as to how these may be overcome.

The Community Mental Health Ambassador will be responsible for managing a team of outreach volunteers and working in close collaboration with the other members of the AWO Mental Health staff and other community services in the Peel Region.

**Responsibilities**:

- Responsible for safe and meaningful engagement with stakeholders and community members to promote mental health services.
- Identifies new community partnerships and strengthening existing ones to promote mental health awareness in newcomer communities; engages with local stakeholders including community groups, religious organizations, and other service providers.
- Develops and shares mental health related materials and information to newcomer community members.
- Support community wellness and education through mental health promotion information sessions, and distributes resources through sessions/events, presentations at local community venues, religious venues, and businesses.
- Dispels culturally specific stigma, myths and misinformation through culturally and language specific education and information sessions.
- Responds to community members’ queries and concerns regarding a variety of mental health promotion topics.
- Refers community members to appropriate resources and supports within AWO and Peel community.
- Works with AWO’s Mental Health team to implement outreach strategies.
- Works with the Volunteer Coordinator to recruit and train volunteers to provide community-based outreach and connection.
- Delivers orientation for Community-based volunteers; manages and oversees the work of Community-based Volunteers to ensure effective community engagement and provides on-going support and guidance to this team.
- Monitors and evaluates overall impact and adjusts strategies according to learnings with an eye to continuous improvement; collects and reports data from outreach events and activities.
- Engages and participates effectively in team and staff meetings to bring forward and address any relevant issues and concerns.
- Performs other duties as required.

**Skills & Experience**
- Post-Secondary education in relevant field (psychology, public health/or health sciences, social work) and prior experience in mental health promotion and community engagement
- Critical understanding of theoretical approaches and determinants of health strategies required for health promotion activities and interventions.
- Strong understanding of institutional and other systemic barriers and how they impact refugee and newcomer immigrant individuals/communities and access to services.
- Lived experience with migration and mental health challenges and resiliency strategies strongly preferred.
- Ability to motivate and inform a diverse population, including community members, business owners and other local agencies to modify behavior to reduce and mitigate the impact of mental illness within the community.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills to clearly convey inf