About Laing House:
Laing House is a non-profit organization with a focus on empowering young people aged 16-29 who have lived mental health experience.
For over twenty years, Laing House has been proudly creating communities centering on peer support, mutual encouragement, hope and recovery guidance.
With our flagship location in our heritage property in the heart of downtown Halifax, a satellite location in Yarmouth, and a wide range of services offered via our Laing Online platform, Laing House offers accessible mental health support for our members across the province.
Our Model: Come as You Are
We create inclusive social hubs where our members can access the resources they need for their mental health recovery and enjoy the benefits of participating in our powerful peer support network.
Our Laing House teams work with our youth members to design holistic plans for goal setting, mastery of life skills, and building resilience. We also strive create environments that foster curiosity, confidence and a sense of community.
Our service menu reflects best practice approaches linked to employment, education, community navigation, healthy living, recreation and creative arts. To respond to the evolving needs of the people we support, many of our programs are co-designed and co-led by our members. We also work closely with partners from the healthcare system, community-based organizations and local businesses to ensure a well-rounded approach to learning and engagement.
In addition to scheduled programming, we offer a drop-in model with flexible hours so we can be a reliable and consistent point of support for our members when they need us. Members can stop by one of our locations to speak to our staff, access information, enjoy a snack, or just relax in a safe and welcoming environment.
About the Role:
As a Laing House Community Support Worker (CSW), you will be responsible for providing tailored, individualized support often linked to goal setting, resilience and wellness. This will include providing resource support related to food security, poverty reduction, Legal Aid, housing, employment & education, health, and recreation.
Role Expectations Include:
- Managing up to 35 assigned members (this includes supporting the design of individualized plans, completing regular check-in meetings, and completing related documentation in our database)
- Assisting members in identifying and actualizing personal goals and priorities
- Engaging members in dialogue linked to promoting wellness
- Providing support for promoting self-advocacy, navigating formal systems and accessing community resources
- Designing programs, activities and services that are relevant, engaging, and reflect member input
- Ensuring that program elements reflect Laing’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
- Contributing to the development of our Laing Online service menu
To be successful in this role, we think it will be necessary for candidates to have:
- Undergraduate degree in a relevant field (Social Work, Recreation Therapy, Occupational Therapy); experience working in the field of youth mental health or mental health recovery may be substituted as an education equivalent
- A high degree of self-awareness and capacity to apply appropriate boundaries
- Minimum of one year of experience working with youth (aged 16-29); this includes experience acquired as part of volunteer work or student placements
- Knowledge of issues facing youth with lived mental health experience
- Experience supporting wellness and resiliency goals
- Familiarity with community-based and formal mental health services available for youth
- Demonstrated skills in meaningful youth engagement
- Experience with group facilitation and program planning
- Strong advocacy and referral skills
- An enthusiastic interest in food-based programming and activities
- An awareness of barriers to food security in Nova Scotia
- Familiarity with Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Framework
Things to know before applying:
- Nature of position: This is a full-time, term position planned for October 2023 to February 2024 (with the potential of extension depending on staffing needs).
- Hours: 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday with rotating Saturday shifts required.
- Remote Work Requests: We support occasional remote work requests for Laing Program Team members but the nature of this position is people-facing and there will be a requirement to be onsite on a regular basis.
- Location: This position is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the successful applicant will be required to report to work at our Barrington Street office beginning in early October 2023. For candidates applying outside of the Halifax region: please be aware that we will not be able to support moving expenses.
- Food Programming: Food is an important part of our service model. We offer food-based programming, design food-skills workshops and are committed to ensuring our Laing members, staff, students and volunteers have reliable access to food when visiting our space. All Program Team members are expected to develop, support and promote our food programs as part of their role (this includes taking part in grocery trips, food preparation, and kitchen clean-up with members and other staff). Formal food training is not required but maintaining an enthusiastic and creative approach to normalizing access to food will be expected.
- COVID 19 Policies: We consider indoor masking as part of our commitment to being an inclusive and accessible space for our staff and members. We have an onsite supply of masks and test kits and our employees are supported to use work time to access COVID-19 vaccination appointments and testing.
- Accessibility: Please note that our main entrances, kitchen, and second-floor work spaces are currently only accessible via stairs
Application Tips and Instructions:
- Please PDF your application: Please submit your cover letter and resume as a single PDF document via the Indeed application portal. Incomplete applications or applications in alternative formats will be excluded from review.
- Please address your cover letter to the "Laing House Hiring Committee"
- Come as You Are: We encourage all qualified candidates to apply including Indigenous peoples, racialized people, persons with disabilities, people with diverse gender identities and expressions, people with diverse sexual orientations, and others who share our goals and values regarding the creation of safe, inclusive spaces. Please be yourself in your cover letter. We are an informal, people-centered work environment and we encourage you to prepare a personalized introduction that comfortably describes you and your experiences that may be relevant to working at Laing House.
Application Deadline: Friday, September 22nd, 2023 at 11:59pm Atlantic Standard Time
We are looking forward to meeting you!
Job Type: Full-time
Salary: $22.71 per hour
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Discounted or free food
- On-site parking
- Work from home
Flexible Language Requirement:
Schedule:
- Monday to Friday
- Weekends as needed
COVID-19 considerations:
We recommend and support indoor masking to prevent the spread of respiratory illness. We also support our staff with paid time off to access COVID-19 related medical appointments.
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Halifax, NS: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- We currently offer programming on Saturdays between 10am and 6pm. CSWs will be expected to work rotating/occasional Saturday shifts. Are you available to work occasional Saturdays (~one Saturday per month)?
Experience:
- youth/youth mental health: 1 year (required)
Licence/Certification:
- First Aid Certification (preferred)
Work Location: In person
Application deadline: 2023-09-15
Expected start date: 2023-10-16
