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Oct 28, 2022

Indigenous Youth Wellness Mentor (IYWM) – Full Time

  • Tewegan Housing for Aboriginal Youth
  • $50,855 - $55,185 yearly
Full time Health Care Family and Social Services Youth Services Community Services

Job Description

Job Summary

Under the general direction of the Executive Director, and the day-to-day guidance of the Relational Facilitator the Indigenous Youth Wellness Mentor, Residential Overnight (IYWM-RO), is a member of a team providing 24/7 culturally safer engagement and support with Indigenous Young Women ages 16 to 29 years who are stabilizing from exposure to chaotic spaces and transitions and consequently, are without permanent accommodation or precariously housed. 

The position is responsible to each resident’s day to day experience of purpose and belonging, in balance with communal wellness.

Requirements

The IYWR, Residential Overnight anchors collective well-being by grounding the closure of the day and preparing the house to welcome a new day. The IYWR, Residential Overnight balance’s individual purpose orientation with each resident within the daily routines of the house to foster capacity and support and experiences of connection, belonging, and purpose in the 'right now'.

  1. To role model welcoming and an innate belief in Residents and co- workers’ inherent value, consistent with Relational Practice Standards.
  2. To provide culturally safer engagement, asset mapping, crisis intervention, and de-escalation support with Residents when chaos is impacting their experience of confidence and self-belief.
  3. To engage with residents meaningfully to support their self-identified areas of purpose and specific, resident directed & meaningful day to day routines. 
  4. To motivate and support each Resident’s relational development (as they identify), including sustaining culturally safer rapport and repair in self-regulation when loss or threat of loss is present.
  5. To pro-actively balance house routines with emergent needs of Residents through collaborative engagement and boundary setting to balance unique individual needs with capacities and responsibilities to communal wellness.
  6. To share timely, accurate, and practical education and information on resources, trends, and issues with co- workers and residents, including informed consent for timely referral to service providers were directed by the young woman.
  7. From time to time, to support Residents with accompaniment into the community for appointments or to orient to land and transit.  
  8. To contribute to collaborative learning and supervision, fulfilling training requirements including Mentor Relational Accountability Agreements, Full Time responsibilities, and quarterly participation in land-based learning activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

  1. Consistent and daily engagement (in person, via txt, or by email) with Indigenous young women ages 16 to 29 years of age within a collaborative, relational and person-centered approach grounded in a Indigenous trauma- informed practice.
  2. Complete daily health and wellness, house & land care tasks as proscribed in daily duties checklist and working operations.
  3. Ensure that administrative tasks which facilitate the life cycle of house routines are completed: i.e., processing program fee’s, updating grocery order and inventory needs, cleaning rooms for transition, preparing day logs and communication tools, preparing welcome baskets, stocking inventory...etc.
  4. Implement IHR Safety Audit, Compass Reporting, pro-active engagement and crisis response skills to promote self-determined connection, assets, and material resources and as directed by young women providing quick warm referral to relevant partners.
  5. Consistent application of IHR Audit to support individual
  6. To utilize clear, concise, and effective written and verbal communication in day-to-day duties including daily logging, case-noting, and completion of
  7. Facilitate the safety of all house spaces by following protocols related to violence prevention, interruption, and repair: Compass reporting, IHR Audit, including appropriate use of On Call support.

Preferred Skills and Qualifications

  1. Indigenous ancestry and Indigenous first language speakers preferred.
  2. Formal education in health or social services program (Social Work, Psychology, Mental Health & Addictions Support Worker, Education, Health Services ...etc), or equivalent combination of education and experience.
  3. A minimum of two years direct service work experience with Indigenous young women and their communities that demonstrates the following competencies:

    a.  Demonstrated capacity to quickly establish safe rapport and provide practical and meaningful support which amplifies capacity, resilience, and skill of Indigenous young women impacted by 'right now' chaos including pro-active engagement, verbal deescalation, and crisis intervention.

    b. Effective ‘right now’ support with Indigenous young people identifying with impacts of intergenerational severing from connection: mental health, addictions, violence, homelessness, loneliness, loss of purposefulness

    c. Agile capacity to identify and co-navigate mainstream and Indigenous services and resources in a manner which promotes internalized experiences of self-determination, self-belief, and future/purpose orientation and reduces harms.

  4. Demonstrated capacity to recognize and stand with a young person at moments of discomfort, audit the environment for stressors, and meaningfully co-create options that enhance the individuals experience of control and capacity to ‘manage’
  5. Self-directed, industrious, persistently seeking out purposeful opportunities for co-creation with residents and co-workers.
  6. Heightened commitment to a collaborative, self-reflective, and team approach.
  7. Demonstrated time management, prioritization, and organizational practice to balance managing engagement and support with house routines and spontaneous engagement via phone, text, or in person crisis presentation.
  8. Preferred certification and practices include current CPI, ASIST, MI Advanced, Overdose Recognition & Intervention, 

 

 

Scheduled Hours of Rotation 

IYWM-RO works a bi-weekly shifted rotation:

  1. Week 1: 3 x 12hr overnights a week, 4 days off;

  2. Week 2: 4 x 8 hr. overnights, 3 days off

  3. 20hrs per mo. to learning and development

Compensation

Salary:  $50,855 to $55, 185 per annum
Term:    720hrs/3 mo. Probation Period
Benefits: Comprehensive Prescription Drug, Medical, Para Medical, and Vision, AD & LTD, with extensive access to full suite and Indigenous specific EAP.
3 weeks, Annual Vacation

 

Tewegan’s mission is to offer a culturally safer, resilient, and Indigenous trauma informed place of welcome and transition with Indigenous young women ages 16 to 29 years of age who are living Indigenous homelessness. We exist to offer a place which tethers Indigenous young women to their experience of meaning, purpose, belonging and hope through Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. This is culturally rooted Life Promotion.

Tewegan aims to restore connection & to increase connection & Indigenous youth wellness by interrupting the risks of ‘Right Now’ harms of colonization in the daily lives of Indigenous young women, through:

  1. Reflection of innate purpose and capacity

  2. Mapping stressors and sources of chaos to their sources in the environment

  3. Stemming resource depletion from ongoing threat of loss,

  4. Co-creating culturally safer assets that are generative and emplace self-belief, confidence, purpose, and belonging. 

Our ‘tool’ of choice to interrupt these harms, including Indigenous Homelessness, is 'Home’ –not only the physical site, but the connection and relationship to All Our Relations.

Tewegan believes that Indigenous Knowledge Recognition Principles are fundamental to guiding our responsibilities and wellness as helpers. Each principal centers the expression of our helper practices in the wisdom of the young women.

BEING SELF DETERMINING: To be self-valuing and defining through a relational helper lens.
  • Supports control and choice, by consistently & clearly communicating our Role and Boundaries
  • Persistently exercises our helper responsibilities to our ‘Care Muscles’, taking responsibility for ongoing learning, and impact.
  • Acts as a ‘servant leader’, role modelling cultural humility, genuine compassion, and empathy with residents and co-workers without expectation or emotional labor.

BEING GENERATIVE: To foster renewal and co-creation in ‘power’ distribution
  • Takes time to meaningfully build co-created space and to anchor quality and relevant information in support work,
  • Is industrious, reflecting curiosity, possibility, and high regard in every interaction with residents and co-workers, particularly when setting limits
  • Relentlessly listens for gifts, assets, opportunities, and gains while also inviting capacity by checking for continuous consent  
  • Is consistent and attentive to care activities that are inclusive of spirt, land, ceremony, and the house proper.

PLACE BASED: Is present, situationally aware, and pro-active and relationally inclusive
  • Meets the person where they are at, anchoring meaningfully to the urgency of the present, supporting co-regulation and amplifying capacity
  • Practices deep listening, de-escalating to create opportunity to listen or to offer meaningful options in the moment.
  • Co-creates space to attend to ‘Right Now’ harms while fostering possibility, hope, and courage.
  • Appropriate knowledge of referral resources that can provide supports ‘Right Now’

LIVING IN RELATION: Being inclusive of our responsibilities to the land, plants, animals, and spirit world in our practices.
 
  • Facilitates the capacity for Two-eyed seeing/weaving of systemic navigation
  • Is inclusive of our responsibilities and relations to this land, its peoples, plants, animals, and the spirit world; Being inclusive of belonging across time and lands, and consistently applying this knowledge as a right now practice.
Tewegan Housing for Aboriginal Youth
About Tewegan Housing for Aboriginal Youth

Tewegan Housing for Aboriginal Youth is an Ottawa-based transitional home for First Nations, Inuit and Métis women, ages 16 to 29. We provide a safe, culture-oriented environment where women can celebrate their traditions and acquire skills that will help them in life. We offer a wide range of programs and services including cultural programs, financial planning, outreach supports, counseling, assistance finding permanent housing and more. 

Tewegan Housing for Aboriginal Youth is a 12 bed transitional home for First Nations, Inuit and Métis women, ages 16 to 29, who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

We Offer:

  • A safe, culture-based environment
  • Opportunities for young women to learn about and celebrate their traditions
  • Confidential and supportive counseling
  • Information
  • Community Referrals
  • Programs and Services to help young women gain important life skills

As an Aboriginal organization, Tewegan recognizes that culture is vital to young First Nation, Inuit and Métis women, providing them with a sense of self and personal identity.

Tewegan is a place for women to live comfortably and feel safe in a supportive home environment, to explore their cultural identity, and to directly connect with the Aboriginal community, providing encouragement and support needed to develop the tools they will require to be successful in life. Tewegan is further committed to connecting each young woman to her cultural identity and providing assistance in obtaining her goal(s) toward employment and/or continuing her education.

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