General Counsellor- Temporary

**Job Title**: General Counsellor
- Temporary

**Employment Type**: - Temporary Contract (6 months)

**Hours of Work**: 35 hrs. / Week,

**Hourly Wage**: $31.29

**Department**: Counselling & Court Services

**Reports to**: Program Manager

**Classification**: Counsellor (Bargaining member position)

**About Us**

Elizabeth Fry Toronto delivers gender based, trauma informed services and advocates for justice and equity for women and non-binary people who are criminalized and their families. We envision communities where women are not criminalized.

**Job Summary**

The General Counsellor
- Temporary position is responsible for the development, administration and evaluation of General Counselling Services. Providing individual counselling and psycho-educational group intervention services on a variety of issues to women in the community, women with condition of sentencing from the courts and child protection services. In addition to providing direct service, the General Counsellor
- Temporary Position will actively work to deliver the program according to best practice standards as well as liaise and build partnerships with courts and other community partners.

The General Counsellor
- Temporary Position will adhere to the agency’s values and service standards as well as program delivery and evaluation frameworks. Using a trauma-informed and harm reduction model of care, the Counsellor will ensure that service users accessing the programs are provided a warm, safe environment that fosters self-determination, healing, and growth. The incumbent will demonstrate a high degree of professionalism, initiative, collaboration, and solutions-oriented approach in the delivery of services.

Please note that this job is in-person with a limited amount of remote work. This dynamic position reports directly to the Manager, Counselling & Court Services. Working within the mandated protocols the General Counsellor
- Temporary position will be required to fulfill the following core duties:
**Individual & Group Counselling**
- Provide client intake and assessments to determine client eligibility for individual or group counselling.
- Provide individual and group counselling to clients addressing variety of issues.
- Deliver programs through a client-centered, intersectional, feminist and trauma-informed lens.
- Utilize crisis counselling and intervention where and when required.
- Conduct mid and post assessment to gage successes and challenges.
- Work with assigned caseload tracking client’s progress.
- Conduct risk assessment and safety planning as per client’s needs.
- Facilitate and co-facilitate groups and psycho-educational workshops quarterly.
- Perform all key functions in relations to group preparation and completion.
- Provide counselling on a variety of issues to women including GBV, DV, IPV, anger management, healing from abuse and trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) etc.
- Provide services and supports to mothers reuniting with families’ post incarceration, provide strategies for building positive self-esteem in children and offer tools for effective parenting and communication with their children.
- Provide psycho-educational workshops to newcomer women focusing on prevention of conflict with the law in the Canadian cultural and legal context.

**Client Support**
- Identify and advocate on behalf of clients for support and services with internal and external resources, navigating through systemic barriers.
- Build and liaise with the clients’ community supports to reduce risk of recidivism and enhance safety.
- Liase with probation/parole officers, referral agencies, courts and other community agencies.
- Engage in active problem solving around participants’ needs for services as they transition out of the program.
- Provide information, resources, referrals and supports to program participants.
- Maintain accurate and timely records of activities, case management notes, and services provided to each client, logging events and progress.
- Update and revise client files at each point of contact in a timely manner to ensure the availability of up to date information.

**Program Administration & Development**
- Maintain client files according to agency and funder requirements/guidelines.
- Further develop and enhance the curriculum according to best practice guidelines.
- Enter client data accurately and completely utilizing the agency’s existing data management system.
- Maintain notes in data management system according to agency protocol.
- Maintain client filing systems and correspondence in print and electronic formats.
- Work closely with volunteers and students assisting the Counselling & Court Services program.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the program in collaboration with program manager.
- Create all program procedural documents in consultation with manager.
- Maintain program statistics and other reporting data as required completing monthly stats and program information as required.
- Netwo