Life Coach (Home and Community Support Worker)

at  Powell River Educational Services Society

COMPANY DESCRIPTION:

PRESS is a BC registered non-profit society, which is indigenous lead and based out of Powell River, BC. Our core intent to create opportunities to assist vulnerable, marginalized, and at-risk individuals and groups to overcome social isolation, economic challenges, and cultural barriers to realize their full potential.
Our Disability Services division supports individuals who live on the Sunshine Coast, mid Vancouver Island and the North Shore of Vancouver through residential care and/or community-based services. We pride ourselves on successfully serving clients with high complexity in their challenges. Our success is from adoption of a clients’ and family first philosophy, and through our ongoing collaboration with the individuals, their family members, the care team staff, health care professionals, therapists, and other community partners to meet the individuals’ specific needs. We endeavour to support our clients to connect with others in their communities to find their role and purpose in life in a meaningful, safe and enduring way.

ARE YOU FUN LOVING, POSITIVE, ENERGETIC, AND ALSO CALM, PATIENT, AND KIND? WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE IN ANOTHER PERSON’S FUNCTIONING AND QUALITY OF LIFE?

For a team of 1 manager and 5 staff, we are seeking compassionate and dedicated Life Coaches (Home and Community Support Workers) to provide essential supervision, development support, and care to a 19-year-old with medical, cognitive, and emotional/behavioral challenges, in the young adult’s private condo and in their nearby community.
In this role, your primary focus will be on enhancing the daily living skills of the client, increasing their overall functioning, and improving their quality of life. This position requires a blend of past complex care experience, the ability to learn new client specific knowledge and skills, and the ability to work in ongoing collaboration with the young adult, their family, the rest of the care team, health care providers, therapists and other community partners.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• A diploma, bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in a health care/human service/social service field and 2 years’ experience in providing care and/or working with individuals with disabilities are required
• Fully proficient spoken and written English language is required
• Strong interpersonal skills, the ability to build rapport, and the ability to flex in approach and response for better outcomes
• A background in nursing, medicine, another health care field, occupational therapy, speech language remediation, physiotherapy, kinesiology, rehabilitation assistance, psychology, counselling, behaviour consulting/intervention, mental health support, home/community support, life skills development, social skills development, teaching, education assistance, or early childhood education assistance would be advantageous but not mandatory
• Experience working with individuals with complex (multi-domain) challenges and/or brain injury would be advantageous but not mandatory
• Excellent organization skills and high attention to detail
• A genuine passion for helping others improve their quality of life through skill development
• Note: Initial and ongoing training to meet the young adult’s complex needs will be provided.
  · Note: The position is ideal for those already committed to working in the support worker field and/or for students pursuing work experience for prospective master’s degree grad studies in the above listed fields.

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING? YOU WILL:

· independently provide supervision and care, with support from the manager, family, and co-workers
· create an effective therapeutic relationship with the client
· implement approaches that support the young adult to participate in daily living skills (i.e. completing personal hygiene, preparing meals/cooking, organizing the home, doing laundry, performing light housekeeping and cleaning tasks, shopping for groceries, running errands, banking, etc.)
· independently complete the other housekeeping/cleaning/house management tasks to maintain a safe, clean and fully organized environment
· support the young adult to participate in a daily exercise
· support the young adult to use emotional self-regulation skills and behave in socially acceptable ways
· support the young adult to develop social skills (e.g. greet others, meet others, contact others, do activities with others, reciprocally communicate with others, etc.) for the development of healthy meaningful relationships
· engage the young adult in meaningful recreational and social activities, that create enjoyment, promote social interaction, and support skill development
· support the young adult to participate in online and in-person learning to develop functional literacy skills, money management skills, etc.
· support the young adult to successfully participate in volunteer work and eventually in paid work if possible
· support the young adult to attend medical and therapy appointments
· monitor the young adult’s medical conditions, administer regular and as needed medications, report and document all medical changes
· maintain accurate records of the client’s development progress and medical status, and report to others
· foster a supportive environment that encourages the young adult to express their needs and preferences but also supports the young adult to make effective decisions
· Note: You can sleep at night, but may be required to wake and provide care to the young adult as needed
· Note: You will reside at the young adults’ residence during your workdays, and at your own home on days off