Community Navigator

**Employment Opportunity**:Community Navigator (Designated, Full Time, Permanent)

**Designation Status**

Avalon is committed to building a diverse team. This opportunity is designated to applicants that identify as Indigenous, African Nova Scotian/Black, or People of Colour.

**About Avalon**

Avalon Sexual Assault Centre provides a continuum of supports and services to individuals affected by sexualized violence. We’ve been a safe space and an advocate for survivors since 1983. Our feminist organization is rooted in the community and committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. We provide services in the Halifax region and across Nova Scotia.

**About the Role**

We are seeking an enthusiastic Community Navigator to join our team. Working closely with and reporting to the Navigation Coordinator, the Community Navigator will work collaboratively with Avalon staff, community partners, and survivors to identify and address barriers impacting access to services and supports for undeserved communities. The Community Navigator will work from a feminist and anti-oppression framework to help create a community-supported system of response and healing.

**Key Responsibilities**
- Community Navigation_
- Maintain a case load supporting survivors in navigating community and systems-based supports as well as accessing Avalon program and supports.
- Establish relationships of trust with survivors by providing emotional and practical support in the office, online, or on scene.
- Explore the needs of survivors in relation to criminal justice responses, support programs, and community agencies, and assist in their understanding and access to these options through sharing information and facilitating referrals.
- Support community members in accessing Avalon programs and supports.
- Work with Avalon staff to determine barriers to accessing Avalon services.
- Community Partnerships_
- Enhance partnerships in the provision of sexual assault supports organizationally and in community.
- Collaborate with community organizations to facilitate access to support and appropriate community and systems-based resources.
- Work with partners to reduce barriers to service access.
- Network with community organizations who represent marginalized populations within our community (youth, LGBTQIA2S+, and Black, Indigenous, People of Colour-focused organizations and groups, etc.), to increase awareness about Avalon’s programs and services, to facilitate referrals to and from Avalon, and to assist with a collaborated and coordinated response to marginalized survivors or sexualized violence.
- Network with key systems (healthcare, university/college, department of community services, housing, legal, etc.) to increase awareness about Avalon’s programs and services, to facilitate referrals to and from Avalon, and to assist with a more collaborated and coordinated response to marginalized survivors of sexualized violence.
- Act as a liaison between Avalon and community and systems-based resources.
- In partnership with Avalon staff, deliver public education opportunities with the goal of enhancing support in the community.
- Provide information sessions for community partners and/or their clients about Avalon programs and services to foster trusting relationships.

**Qualifications**
- University degree in social work, psychology, or a related field an asset. Relevant professional experience or lived experience will also be considered.  
- Minimum one year experience working with clients in a frontline support capacity. Experience working with survivors of sexualized violence an asset.
- Experience facilitating community partnerships.
- Excellent communication skills. 
- Strong interpersonal skills. 
- Ability to work independently and in a self-directing manner.
- Ability to maintain necessary records and documentation and to engage in evaluation of programs and services.
- Knowledge of feminist and trauma-informed practice.
- Understanding of community models of care, with commitment to anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and inclusive values. 
- Knowledge of the intersectional dimension of systemic inequalities and oppression, including but not limited to racism, colonialism, sexism/misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, classism/poverty, ableism, ageism, etc.

**Additional Competencies and Knowledge**
- Understanding of sexualized violence and sexual assault trauma. 
- Knowledge of the cultural and social contexts that contribute to sexualized violence and its impacts on individuals and communities and experience working with diverse populations.

**Why Work for Avalon?**

Avalon recognizes and values the complexity and skill required in providing support to historical and acute traumas. As a proudly unionized and anti-oppressive workplace we are committed to fostering an organizational culture that actively promotes healthy work-life balance and invests in the support and growth of staff. This includes: 
- 20 paid vacation day