Family Support Worker; Counsellor AB

Position: Family Support Worker (Counsellor 2AB)
Location: Liverpool

Competition #:  48819

Department:  Opportunities and Social Development

Location:

LIVERPOOL

Type of Employment:  Permanent

Union Status:  NSGEU - NSPG

Closing Date:  03-Jun-26

About Our Opportunity
As a Family Support Worker, you will provide support to the children, youth and families connected to the Child and Family Wellbeing program. You will have an in-depth involvement and will play an active role in working with children, youth and families to build resilience and inspire change. While working collaboratively with the social worker, you will develop and deliver a plan to provide service, education, support and advocacy to the families, children & youth in care.

Primary Accountabilities

Developing strategies and providing knowledge, tools and guidance to families and youth to support independent living and meeting their physical/emotional, social and learning needs.

Building positive relationships with diverse clients (families, children & youth), ensuring respect, empathy and an understanding of the impact of their trauma.

Advocating for clients and helping them connect to community supports and resources.

Assisting with income and social supports, affordable housing and life skills.

Making independent visits to clients in their homes/communities and attending court sessions.

Comprehensive and timely evaluation of ongoing services to clients with an intent to find solutions and improve services.

Qualifications and Experience
You have an approved Child & Youth Care Worker diploma from a provincially approved post‑secondary institution. An undergraduate degree in Social Sciences is considered an asset.

You are compassionate, empathetic and resilient with a focus on inclusivity and understanding the needs of diverse clients. You must demonstrate:

Knowledge of child development, family dynamics and community resources along with an understanding of physical, psychological, and emotional needs of children and youth in a family setting as well as in care.

Knowledge of financial management and healthy child development & life skills.

Understanding and experience with working towards the objectives of the established case plans.

Ability to work independently and in a team environment, to strengthen and improve the support provided to children and families.

Ability to work collaboratively and build relationships & networks with diverse individuals, groups and communities.

Effective interactive communication skills (written and verbal) to engage collaborations and navigate diverse client environments with tact and empathy.

Ability to adapt to the changing/unpredictable client circumstances, exercise timely judgement and make decisions to provide a culturally responsive service to clients.

Knowledge of various software packages, such as Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams).

Assets for this role

previous experience in child welfare or other social services,

experience with the department case management systems (ICM/CCM)

Equivalencies
We recognize equivalent combinations of training, education, and experience, providing opportunities for individuals with diverse backgrounds to contribute their skills and expertise. Equivalencies include, but are not limited to:

A related bachelor’s in social science (such as Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, or Community Studies)

A completed diploma in Disability Supports or Social Services

Benefits
Based on the employment status and union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as a Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Health, Dental, Life Insurance, General illness, Short and Long Term Disability, Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs. For information on all our Benefit program offerings, :
Benefits for government employees.

Working Conditions
Most of your work involves independently meeting with clients conducting their sessions predominately in isolation from other staff in various locations (i.e. offices, homes (hazards may be present within homes), community agencies/organizations) in both rural and urban settings; this can be outside regular working hours. This necessitates considerable driving time,…