Behavioural Supports Ontario Worker

Do you have a passion for working with older adults, including people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and their care partners? Are you looking for a position that offers variety and incredible job satisfaction?

**What We Offer**:

- Paid sick time
- Birthday off paid
- Generous vacation time
- Flexible work models
- Paid personal days
- Positive workplace culture

**About This Position**:
**Immediate Supervisor**:Manager of Community Clinical Services

**Direct Reports**:Manager of Clinical Services and Director of Programs and Services

**Job Status**: Full-time, 1-year (12 month) contract, 35 hours per week, occasional evening and weekend work required.

**Location**:

- Alzheimer Society Southwest Partners**:Oxford Site** - 575 Peel St. Woodstock (With some travel required within Middlesex, Oxford and Elgin counties).
- **Woodstock Hospital (WH): 310 Juliana Drive, Woodstock**

**Summary**:
This position is a full-time 1-year (12 month) contract position working half as Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) - Oxford and half as Dementia Resource Consultant (DRC) - Oxford and both positions will be job shared with a colleague.

**Behavioral Support Ontario Worker**: Under the direction of the Manager of Community Clinical Services, the incumbent will work with persons living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia (ADOD), including Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), or other memory complaints who are presenting with responsive behaviors in the community at the STEGH emergency department. The incumbent will work with the individual, their care partners, and other health care providers to ensure access to information, support, and education that assists them on their journey with the disease. The goal is to provide needed support, build effective and efficient utilization of community resources, promote links with primary care and community resource agencies; reduce care partner crisis situations and thereby reduce care partner burden. The BSO Worker will work closely with the local Behavioural Supports specialized team(s) and emergency department staff to provide interventions such as assessment, system navigation, short term one to one supportive counselling, crisis intervention, case management, discharge planning, and referrals to community agencies as appropriate.

**Dementia Resource Consultant**: serving as the initial point of contact for Woodstock Hospital (WH) Emergency Department (ED) and Home and Community Care Support Services staff and people living with dementia and their care partners who enter WH ED. These individuals may become clients of Alzheimer Society Southwest Partners (AlzSWP), including persons living with dementia and/or care partners.

Dementia Resource Consultants (DRCs) at AlzSWP work in the Emergency Departments of London Heath Sciences Centre, University Hospital, STEGH and Woodstock Hospital as part of the Integrated Dementia Resource Team (DREAM Team). The DREAM team is a collaboration with 7 other regional Alzheimer Societies and respective emergency departments. The DRC will provide support connecting persons living with dementia and/or care partners to programs and services within the Alzheimer Society (such as, behavioural support outreach, counselling, respite) and other community resources. The DRC follows their journey through service coordination and collaboration with other staff of AlzSWP and community partner organizations. The DRC also educates/models for the ED team members behavioural strategies to mitigate the risk or necessity for restraints in the ED through the use of Montessori activities and GPA strategies.

**Specific Job Responsibilities as BSO Worker**:

- Receive and respond to BSO client referrals in a timely manner,
- Provide psychosocial assessments and develop care plans for clients living with dementia with responsive behaviors and their care partner network working together with health system partners,
- Initiate intervention immediately in urgent situations,
- Provide dementia related supportive counselling to clients as needed,
- Consult with Alzheimer Society peers/colleagues on specific cases in which clients are engaging in responsive behaviours,
- Identify person-centered, abilities focused care partner strategies for behavior management,
- Provide regular follow up with current clients as established in agency policy,
- Comply with reporting requirements of the AlzSWP and those of the relevant professional body (OCSWSSW, RNO),
- Ensure clients are aware of existing community resources, and provide assistance as needed to clients who wish to access them,
- Refer to appropriate community resources as required,
- Facilitate support and education groups as assigned.

**Specific Job Responsibilities as DRC**:

- Speaks with clients on the phone or in person (walk-in), acting as an initial point of contact for potential clients who present in the ED at WH,
- Screens and assesses potential care partner clients based on standa