Mental Health Housing Clinician (Masters)

Vancouver Coastal Health • Vancouver, BC

8d • Onsite

About The Position

The Mental Health Housing Clinician at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) works within a client and family centered care model as part of an interdisciplinary team. The primary goal is to place clients with mental illness in appropriate housing. This involves performing initial screening and conducting mental health housing assessments to determine the most suitable housing model based on client needs, housing policies, and best practices. The clinician also assesses and refers clients requiring home support or adult day care to help them maintain independent community living. Collaboration, consultation, and information sharing are key for continuity of care and community resource coordination. The role includes providing education and information services to housing agencies, staff, and other healthcare providers regarding mental health housing issues. Additionally, the clinician is responsible for maintaining client records, participating in in-services and team meetings, and engaging in ongoing program planning and quality improvement activities. The Mental Health Housing Clinician is an integral part of the HOPE (Housing Outreach Preventing Eviction) team, which supports clients in Vancouver to maintain their housing. HOPE focuses on short-term interventions, including intensive deep-cleaning and household management support, to address immediate eviction risks, life safety concerns, or barriers to hospital discharge. In this context, the clinician plays a crucial role in overseeing assessment, intervention, and discharge planning for all HOPE clients.

Requirements

• Master’s Degree in a Health Sciences discipline from a recognized program
• Two (2) year’s recent experience working with individuals with a mental illness, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Valid BC Driver’s License may be required as local area travel may require the use of a vehicle or other accepted mode of transportation
• Knowledge of the principles of recovery in mental illness
• Comprehensive knowledge of mental health housing models and resources
• Broad knowledge of mental health illness, issues and treatments
• Broad knowledge of community resources and other health care disciplines and their role in client care
• Broad knowledge of legislation and government policies and procedures that relate to the client
• Broad knowledge of adult education principles, methods and tools
• Demonstrated ability to provide psychiatric assessments, crisis intervention and case coordination
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively as a member of a multidisciplinary team
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with clients and their families, colleagues, physician, and other health care staff, both one-on-one and in groups
• Demonstrated ability to prepare and maintain a variety of charts, records and reports related to work, to perform all duties with minimal supervision
• Demonstrated ability to independently plan, organize, and adapt to a changing workload
• Demonstrated ability to establish workload priorities in collaboration with others in a complex health care environment
• Demonstrated listening and information seeking skills that promotes communication and lead to a co-operative approach to problem solving within a multidisciplinary setting
• Demonstrated ability to adjust to new or unexpected events, problem solve, and deal effectively with conflict situations
• Physical ability to perform the duties of the position
• Ability to operate related equipment
• Basic computer literacy to operate a computerized client care information system and word processing, spreadsheet, Internet and e-mail software

Responsibilities

• Work as part of an interdisciplinary team to place clients with mental illness in appropriate housing
• Perform initial screening and conduct mental health housing assessments to determine the appropriate housing model based on clients needs, housing policies, and best practices
• Assess and refer clients who require home support or adult day care participation to maintain independent community living
• Collaborate, consult and share information for continuity of care and community resource coordination
• Provide education and information services for housing agencies and staff, and other health care providers regarding mental health housing issues
• Maintain appropriate client records
• Participate in in-services and team meetings
• Engage in on going program planning and quality improvement activities
• Oversee assessment, intervention, and discharge planning for all HOPE clients

Benefits

• Comprehensive health benefits package, including MSP, extended health and dental and municipal pension plan
• Employer-paid training and leadership development opportunities
• Wellness supports, including counselling, critical incident and innovative wellness services are available to employees and their immediate families
• Award-winning recognition programs to honour staff, medical staff and volunteers
• Access to exclusive discount offers and deals for VCH staff

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees