Wellness Program Coordinator

In addition to Sport and Competition, Special Olympics Ontario has a well developed program for fostering athlete self advocacy, leadership and skill development for people with intellectual disabilities (). Our Health and Research programs focus on providing access, resources and developing supporting research for our athletes and health care professionals with the goal of promoting a healthy lifestyle and improving access to health services for people with .

The Wellness Program Coordinator will support a growing number of health, fitness and wellness initiatives and/or research programs across Ontario. This includes working with teams of clinical directors and health care volunteers to provide screening at events and major games; the development of the Healthy Communities initiative to connect local health professionals with both professional development opportunities and matching athletes with health care providers in localities throughout the province.

In addition, these positions will support the activities of our research coordinators who work directly with major health and academic institutions such as the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, the University of Toronto, York University, Holland Bloorview Children’s Rehabilitation Centre, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and Western University.

• Providing insight and assistance in helping with our Partner in Health directory.
• Engagement with local public health agencies to provide support for competitions.
• This will include the support of the Healthy Athletes program, a free healthcare screening program for people with .
• Support the planned roll out of technology and online systems relating to the Healthy Communities Network; a new platform called the Partner in Health Directory.
• Providing support for families seeking access to Special Olympics Health programming.
• Assisting in development and roll out of Special Olympics fitness programs.
• Coordinate and develop research projects and proposals in conjunction with academic research partners to foster the building of the body of knowledge on research into people with intellectual disabilities and to collaborate on the mobilization of this knowledge for applied purposes.