Counsellor and Advocate, VAW

Career Opportunity

Internal/ External

Counsellor and Advocate, VAW

Full-Time

This job posting is for an existing vacancy within our organization. It is the mission of Tungasuvvingat Inuit (TI) to broadly provide Inuit-specific programs that contribute to the health and wellbeing of Inuit and to encourage and support similar programs for Inuit across the country. TI has over 30 years of highly successful experience in crafting the design, development, and delivery of a wide range of effective, client-centered services.

By incorporating the principles of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ), TI continues to deliver quality programs and services that directly benefit our growing urban Inuit population.

The VAW Counsellor and Advocate is responsible for providing community-based, culturally specific, counselling, support, and referral services for Inuit women aged 16 years and older who identify themselves as having been sexually, physically, or emotionally abused by their partners or significant others. TI’s VAW Counselling program assists Inuit women, and their dependents, who have experienced violence to heal and reclaim their safety and empower them in their various roles, including that of caregiver.

The VAW Counsellor and Advocate provide individual and group counselling; supports women to understand their rights; safety planning; violence prevention measures; assist caregivers in supporting their children to heal from the effects of witnessing violence; and assists and advocates for women and their dependents regarding their health, safety, and well‑being.

Responsibilities:

• With support from the Manager of Family Well‑being, coordination of all aspects of the program, including operationalizing annual objectives and work plans in keeping with Inuit culture, language, and tradition.
• Provide counselling in efforts to mitigate social determinants of health, and to help resolve other social and personal obstacles.
• Advocating within the criminal and family court systems as required.
• Assist clients with external resources such as social service support (legal, financial aid, social assistance, etc.), housing support, medical treatment, addiction treatment, etc.
• Assist clients with internal resources such as food security, housing, addiction treatment, CAS consultation services, etc.
• Delivery of workshops and activities through a cultural lens, responding to the varying needs of families (such as health, risk factors and nutrition).
• Assess clients’ physical and mental wellbeing, helping clients achieve autonomy, and coordinating and providing safe, timely services to clients.
• Conduct psychosocial assessments to determine the level of need and acuity.
• Case conference with internal and external stakeholders to ensure clients’ needs are being serviced appropriately (doctors, lawyers, etc.)
• General case management (assist in obtaining identification papers, medical coverage, and non-insured health benefits, etc.).
• Work with clients who have concurrent disorders, and complex mental health needs/disorders by providing a trauma-informed anti‑oppression feminist approach to services.
• Work collaboratively with other TI programs
• Provide client‑centered crisis support/counselling to assist women seeking urgent services.
• Short‑term, goal‑focused, non‑judgmental, and supportive counselling for women in the community.
• Develop comprehensive and concrete safety plans with women and their dependents that is reflective of the woman’s immediate personal circumstances, needs, and choices. Safety plans will identify the steps a woman and her children can take to increase their safety and help to prepare them for the possibility of further violence. Plans will include, but not be limited to:
  • Emergency escape plans for various…