Youth & Family Therapist

 

August 27, 2024                                                                                                                             Job Posting #1447

 

YouthLink believes in the potential of every youth. We are dedicated to providing them with the support, guidance and opportunities they need to make positive life choices. We provide youth with brief and ongoing counselling, in-home wraparound support, shelter, housing, educational support, and safe drop-in spaces.  YouthLink works towards equitable outcomes for youth in our community and, as such, is committed to equity-based hiring practices.

We welcome applications from candidates who reflect the communities we serve, particularly candidates from Black communities, Indigenous communities, and racialized people, persons with disabilities, members of diverse gender identities and people with lived experiences.  We are seeking candidates who demonstrably operate and practice from an equity and trauma-informed lens.  We encourage applications from passionate professionals who will help us dismantle systemic barriers and will embrace working outside of Euro-centric practices.

 

YouthLink Benefits are Top of Class!

·        Competitive pay

·        Health & dental coverage for you and your family with 100% premium cost paid by employer.

·        Annual vacation with pay at 1.66 working days for each calendar month to a maximum of 20 working days per year.

·        5 ‘authorized absence’ days for family illness or emergency circumstances that prohibit employees from reporting to work.

·        3 paid agency days every calendar year after 3 calendar months’ service.

·        Maternity / parental /adoption leave top-up payments (to top-up Canadian government unemployment benefit payments).

·        100% premium cost for long-term disability coverage paid by employee.

·        Eligibility to participate in pension plan after 2 years of continuous service with generous matching contribution from employer.

 

Youth and Family Therapist

(Permanent Full-time, 35 hours/week)

Bargaining Unit Position

 

This position is responsible for providing psychotherapy, case management, psycho-education, advocacy, and consultation to individuals, families, and groups for clients presenting with mental health, emotional or behavioural issues. YouthLink serves youth ages 12-21 for ongoing psychotherapy, ages 12 – 24 for Brief Therapy/Short Term Treatment for families and 0-24 for single session counselling. Attachment and family focused models of intervention, integrating lenses that are healing centered, trauma informed, and prioritize equity, anti-racism, and inclusion are expected.  A flexible work schedule and approach is required to ensure service accessibility – including some evenings; services are provided initially in person with virtual service available dependent on client needs and therapists recommendations. The position assumes responsibility of a caseload of youth clients and their families, generating a minimum of 15 attended sessions and 17.5 direct client contacts hours per week.

 

Your Role

·        Providing clinical services throughout YouthLink’s continuum of care, engaging youth and families in multiple levels of care as part of treatment planning, both internally and externally, to improve individual and family functioning.

·        Developing and delivering group psychoeducation and group therapy, for youth and caregivers with similar presenting issues.

·        Providing flexible services that ensure accessibility for youth and families including evenings sessions on two evenings a week.

·        Completing, interpreting and delivering results of appropriate, specialized, standard assessments; providing clinical recommendations to client’s and family members, where appropriate.

·        Collaboratively working with youth and their families to create Treatment Plans that represent therapeutic goals and assessment recommendations related to the continuum of care; assisting clients with intrapsychic change so that more general life goals are also more attainable.

·        Preparing timely, standardized, succinct, Clinical Reports with clinical formulation at the time of Assessment, Treatment Review and End of Service.

·        Understanding the importance of outcome measures; delivering reliable measures in the process of individual, group and family psychotherapy.

·        Researching and preparing appropriate documents and other resources for clients and groups.

·        Recording clinical notes contemporaneously; maintaining all additional records and reports as required by YouthLink policies and procedures.

·        Providing psychotherapeutic and case management service, informed by a trauma lens, attachment and family systems theories, as well as an anti-oppression, anti-racism and equity framework.

·        Leading the collaboration of multidisciplinary professionals in and/or participating as a multidisciplinary professional with complex cases.

·        De-escalating, safety planning and/or reporting to the appropriate person or body any incidents that may jeopardize client or staff safety.

·        Developing professionally through supervision, team meetings, case consultations, clinical rounds, community of practice, internal and external training events.

·        Actively contributing to the Agency’s Strategic Plan by participating in initiatives and committees to support the overall Plan.

·        Taking all reasonable and necessary precautions to protect his or her own health and safety and that of co-workers by complying and demonstrating knowledge of the policies, procedures and safe practices established by YouthLink.

·        All other assigned duties within the clinical realm.

 

What You Bring

 

Education and Training:

·        Master’s degree in a therapy/psychotherapy related field.

·        Licensure in a regulated health college which permits the delivery of the Act of Psychotherapy.

·        Associate or Clinical Membership with the Canadian Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (CAMFT) or Ontario Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (OAMFT) is an asset.

Experience:

·        Minimum of (2) years post masters experience providing healing centered engagement practices, trauma informed individual psychotherapy to youth and/or adults.

·        Experience working in a Children’s Mental Health setting is an asset.

·        Experience providing family therapy from a systemic framework is preferred.

·        Experience with substance use/harm reduction theory and practice as applied to youth and families.

·        Expertise in working with 2SILGBTQ+ youth and their families.

·        Experience supporting BIPOC communities and working with youth and families from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds; providing high quality, culturally safe, anti racist support.

·        Respects the diverse, non-Eurocentric worldviews, values, and cultural norms of members of the community.

·        Knowledge of and commitment to practicing from a decolonizing, anti-racist and anti-oppressive framework; operates using and ABR/AOP lens.

·        Knowledge of history, experience, and consequences of oppression, prejudice, discrimination, and structural inequalities in relation to African Canadian children, youth, and families.

·        Knowledge of appropriate therapeutic approaches informed by anti-oppression/anti-racism and equity.

·        Knowledge of and familiarity with available community and mainstream service resources for culturally safe care and collaboration (e.g. 2SILGBTQ+ and BIPOC youth) and experience referring clients to community resources.

·        Knowledge of how trauma (e.g., personal trauma, community/collective trauma, intergenerational trauma, PTSD, etc.) often affects Black families and the implications for mental well-being, resilience, safety, etc.

·        Sensitivity to issues of power, status/ privilege, trust/mistrust, respect, and intimacy in relationship with client.

·        Demonstrated skills in assessment, systemic formulation, individual psychotherapy, family therapy, treatment planning and case coordination.

·        Established ability to consistently and effectively consider implications of ethical issues in interactions with a variety of client populations; recognizing and applying differing ethical decision making processes as the situation requires.

·        Experience providing service to youth and their families through complex mental health challenges, crisis management and safety planning.

·        Experience with attachment and developmental approaches in working with youth and families.

·        Knowledge of and commitment to evidence based and evidence informed practice.

·        Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build rapport with youth and their families.

·        Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and effectively with colleagues, the community and service providers.

·        Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

·        Comfort and proficiency in using technology to engage youth and families (e.g. phone, text, and video) and in completing clinical documentation (e.g. EHR, Microsoft Word, Adobe, and Outlook).

·        Proficiency in French language is an asset.

·        Proficiency in any other language utilized in the Scarborough community is an asset.

 

Additional Requirements:

·        Must be able to obtain a Vulnerable Sector Police Check.

 

Full job description available here: https://youthlink.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/JD-1447-Family-Youth-Therapist.pdf

 

 

Work Conditions:

·        This position requires evening hours of 2 evenings per week with individual and family sessions ending at 8:00pm. There are some risks involved in this position such as crisis management.

·        Minimal travelling required.

 

Salary Range:  Starting $65,914.

 

How to Apply

·        Submit application to counsellingposting@youthlink.ca -Please quote posting #1447 in the subject line.

As an organization committed to equity and justice in our community, we believe lived experience and knowledge of equity, diversity, belonging and anti-Black racism is a critical component in our recruitment process.  If you have a disability and require accessibility accommodations with the application process, please contact accessibility@youthlink.ca.
·        Application Deadline: Open Until Filled.