Youth Worker, Connections Emergency Housing

**Youth Worker, Connections Emergency Housing (FT Permanent).**

Provide youth with supervision and basic needs (food, bedding, and hygiene) while they emerge from crisis. The child and Youth Worker will work with the youth to assess their immediate needs, provide support to the residents, maintain order and assist the residents achieve success in transitioning to securing housing.

**Key Responsibilities**:

- Follow up with youth regarding their case plan, goals, and activities, and make referrals or do warm transfers as required. The youth worker will be a prime worker to up to 4 youths at a time who are residing in the connections program.
- Work with youth to assess their housing needs and help them look for housing. (Youth with higher needs will be referred to the Housing Support Worker.)
- Make appropriate referrals to Housing Workers, ATS, Individual and Family Counsellors, Employment, Education, specialized Support Workers such as Mental Health or Addictions, and others as required.
- Provide youth with encouragement and help connect them to supports that will help them address challenges in their lives and, once re-housed, will provide support that helps them to maintain their housing.
- Provide ongoing daily support, assistance and encouragement to break the cycles of poverty and homelessness.
- Facilitate weekly resident meetings to communicate programs available to residents and receive feedback and address program/client concerns. Workers receive and record concerns from residents and follow up until resolution is achieved. A meeting is held each week on a designated day and time.
- Provide support, crisis intervention and conflict resolution as required.
- Conduct an Exit Interview with the client and enter discharge information into HIFIS. Clean out the room of the discharged client.
- In the event of a crisis or critical incident, immediately report to the appropriate level.
- Compete basic intake using HIFIS to determine eligibility for emergency Housing and assess any immediate needs.
- Within 72 hours of admission, conduct the full Intake process with clients, using the VISPDAT needs assessment tool, the Rapid Re-Housing, Triage, and Intervention program, and the HIFIS case management goal-setting tool.
- Responsible for nightly room checks; to ensure the safety of the residents and facility.
- Medication administration, monitoring, storage, and disposal (as required).
- Enforces house rules, policies, and procedures.
- Make regular rounds throughout program areas and communicate regularly with staff from other program areas.
- Represents the organization and program as required with various aspects of the community including property management staff, schools, York Regional Police and Children’s Aid Society and client family members.
- Completes all mandatory recording and reporting including daily documentation, statistical data collection, recording case notes in HIFIS and input required data fields into HIFIS and Client Records.
- Supports Food Services and Home Base by assisting with serving meals and cleaning of eating area and dishes.
- Provide reports and related information to the Team Leader and/or Manager of Programs as required.
- Attends training workshops and relevant conferences that pertain to the role.
- Other duties as required.

**Education & Skills**:

- Post-Secondary degree/diploma in a Child/youth-related field (e.g. Child and Youth, Social Service Worker, Social Worker, Psychology, Sociology) or the equivalent combination of education and experience working with youth.
- Minimum of three years’ experience working with “at-risk” or street-involved youth. Experience using a case management system or HIFIS and VI-SPDAT as an asset.
- Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI), Suicide Prevention training an asset. Current First Aid/CPR certification is an asset.
- Current vulnerable sector screening (criminal background check).
- Demonstrated extensive knowledge of working with youth, including an understanding of the regulatory environment (e.g. CFSA).
- Demonstrated client-focused counselling skills and role modelling.
- Must possess excellent communication skills and have the ability to be adaptable with a flexible approach taking into consideration the unique qualities of each client.