City : CAN - MB - Province

Category : CHW-Community Support Services

Industry : Civil and Social Organizations

Employer : Canadian Red Cross

Title: Friendly Calls/Mental Health Specialist

Employee Working Location: Office/In-person (Winnipeg, MB)   

Employment status: Temporary full time (10 months)

Salary band: $64,106 - $80,133/year

The Canadian Red Cross (CRC) – one of the most inspirational not-for-profit organizations on this planet and an awardee on the Forbes list of Canada’s Best Employers 2022 - is seeking a Friendly Calls/Mental Health Specialist to join our team.   

We are guided by our Fundamental Principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. We help people and communities in Canada and around the world in times of need and support them in strengthening their resilience.   

Starting with the hiring process, we are committed to having an accessible, diverse, inclusive, and barrier-free work environment where everyone can reach their full potential. We encourage all qualified persons who share our values and want to contribute to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace to apply.   

The incumbent will provide technical support at the provincial level to address the enhanced psychosocial needs of Friendly Calls program and participants through community engagement, direct service provision to individuals/families, capacity building within the personnel, and response readiness.

In this role, you will: 

Responsibility 1: Community Engagement

• Work collaboratively with Friendly Calls personnel to engage community stakeholders, champions, partner organizations, other service providers, and priority audiences to improve awareness of the service and identify appropriate pathways
• Identify referral pathways that support the unique enhanced needs of individual participants/families served through the Friendly Calls program as well as general pathways for common needs
• Develop tools including guidelines, documents, trainings to convey stakeholders and pathways in a meaningful way to meet FC personnel needs
• Highlight gaps, workarounds, alternative resources where needed and contribute to implementation of Community Engagement and Accountability minimum standards 

Responsibility 2: Direct Enhanced Psychosocial Support

• Offer technical support to FC personnel on common and unique enhanced needs within the service (mental health, psychosocial support, gender equity, protection, social inclusion and engagement) including FC volunteers and Coordinators in the provinces, FC/MHPSS Advisors within the centralized intake
• Provide direct support to individuals/families experiencing heightened needs where specific resources or further review of needs through application of established modalities would benefit the health/wellness of participants while still be supporting through Friendly Calls (e.g. identifying resources to support food insecurity concerns raised, review potential elder abuse concerns and other protection concerns)
• Support escalated discharges where a participant’s needs are beyond the scope of the service and redirection to clinical counselling, professional mental health services or advanced services are required through a warm hand-off, de-escalation, and other skillful means
• Promote client-centred, strengths-based interactions across the continuum of care, upholding minimum standards and commitments for the Friendly Calls and MHPSS services

Responsibility 3: Build Volunteer & Program Capacity

• Support CRC personnel capacity through debriefing, resource lists, working collaboratively with CRC staff on developing tools, guidance, training on common issues and other means
• Support the monitoring and evaluation of the service in the context of Friendly Calls
• Advise CRC FC personnel on risks and mitigation including protection considerations
• Work collaboratively with CRC personnel (FC and otherwise) to address gaps and for the service to better meet the needs of participants, their families and communities, particularly with priority audiences (Seniors, Indigenous Communities, Frontline Workers, Parents/Caregivers).

Responsibility 4: Response Readiness

• Work in collaboration with CRC Personnel, MHPSS Specialists focused on EMCI and MHPSS/FC Advisors, to provide support as appropriate during Responses, MHPSS surge needs  or fluctuations in Friendly Calls service needs (including cross-training for improved interoperability)Provide occasional coverage of MHPSS Provincial Disaster Coordination Team (PDCT), as required

What we are looking for: 

• Professional certification or graduate qualification in medicine, psychology, social work, nursing or other mental health related field;
• Current Professional Registration (registered and in good standing) within province of operation;
• Psychological First Aid training an asset;
• Minimum 6 years professional experience, including 2 years in a leadership position;
• Professional experience in public health an asset;
• Experience in emergency management is an asset;
• Experience with Indigenous populations is a strong asset;
• Management experience in facilitating and/or developing and implementing community programs and strategies;
• Strategic thinking skills to recognize how specific actions and messages will impact different stakeholders;
• Able to coordinate and foster effective working relationships with various stakeholders;
• Ability to reinforce self-determination and coping mechanisms (i.e. aiding in re-establishment of traditional forms of support and coping found in the community;
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively on program initiatives in a complex matrix environment.;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and strong demonstrated ability to adapt to audiences' needs (employees, management, external partners and stakeholders and community, etc.)
• Ability to leverage existing and new relationships with various stakeholders.
• Strong facilitation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to explore and analyze complex issues and to prepare written evaluations and recommendations for leadership.
• Advanced level of self-awareness, maturity and stability in order to work in an effective and professional manner.
• Fluency in English is required, French is an asset. 

Working conditions:  

• Primarily this position will work remotely and/or from a home office environment that supports sufficient internet for Voice over Internet and Virtual Team meetings, confidential/quiet space for engaging with CRC personnel or participants virtually
• Travel within province to support community engagements
• Travel within province and/or potentially within Canada to support response deployment within 24 hours' notice for 3-4 weeks at a time if Response support needed
• If driving for society business; a valid driver's license is required with a satisfactory drivers’ abstract.
• Eligibility to work in Canada: At this time, we welcome applications from candidates eligible to work in Canada. If you are not a citizen or permanent resident of Canada, we encourage you to carefully review your visa to find out whether you are eligible to work in the job you are considering applying for. Refer to our FAQ for more information. 
• If you are selected for this role, you will be required to complete a successful pre-employment screening process which includes a satisfactory Enhanced Police Information Check (E-PIC). 
• At this time, the CRC has temporarily suspended our Covid-19 vaccination policy and does not require but continues to strongly encourage full vaccination of all our personnel. 

Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible - those who apply after the selection process has started may be held for a second review if needed OR reviewed for alternative roles. We appreciate the time and effort it takes to apply and thank you in advance. 

If you require accommodation measures during any phase of the hiring process, please notify us as soon as possible. All information received in relation to accommodation requests will be kept confidential.  

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