Job Summary

The Peer Service Navigator will facilitate women’s access to services and supports including referrals to internal and external services. She will work with women who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and who live in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver to support them to find the services that they require.

Reporting to the Specialized Services Manager, she will work in collaboration with other DEWC staff to promote integrated services to women.  She will work from a feminist perspective and within an anti-oppression framework.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Work within the Drop-In Centre or Shelter assisting women through the referral process to internal and external services such as housing, victim services, legal aid, and education, ensuring a successful transfer of service.
• Works collaboratively with Peer Support staff to identify and connect women who may need support and referral.
• Provides information and referral to women in such areas as income assistance, housing, health services, drug & alcohol treatment and recovery, counseling, and education
• Assist women to access services by accompanying them to those referral points when required.
• Manage crisis between, within, and among various groups and individuals in the Drop-In or Shelter space, including ensures women who appear in crisis are offered appropriate support such as medical, counseling, or advocacy services
• Use empathy and trauma-informed practice to assess what services a woman requires
• Create and maintain records within the funder database
• Work collaboratively with other DEWC programs and services providing support and coverage needed, including in the Drop In and/or Shelter
• Act as an ambassador for DEWC by representing and modeling DEWC mission and values.
• Other related duties not specified that may be assigned from time to time

Required Qualifications:

• Two (2) years of recent related experience working with marginalized preferably within a Drop in or Shelter environment
• Must have a strong working knowledge and analysis of the issues impacting women in the downtown east side, including gender-based violence, mental health, homelessness, and addictions
• Must work from strong feminist analysis and within an anti-oppression framework
• Must have a strong working knowledge of support services and housing options for the low-income community including social housing, cooperative housing; and affordability housing societies
• Experience providing assisted referrals as well as familiarity with support services, agencies, and community resources in the Downtown Eastside
• Skilled in program facilitation and development as well as working in partnerships with allied service providers
• Understanding of and practicing a trauma informed care response when working with women
• Efficient organizational skills including record-keeping, scheduling, and problem-solving abilities
• Demonstrated administrative skills, including report writing and IT aptitude
• Strong conflict resolution skills and practice
• Demonstrated crises intervention training and experience
• Excellent communication skills required, including the ability to work in a respectful and cooperative manner with co-workers, volunteers, and center members
• Ability to work within a chaotic environment and with a diverse community of women
• A First Aid certificate and NVCI is required
• Candidate must undergo a criminal record check
• Women with addiction issues need to be at least 2 years clean and sober
• Hourly position that requires some work outside of normal business hours to undertake position responsibilities, meet deadlines, and ensure delivery of high-quality programs and services

Position reports to: Specialized Services Manager

Organizational Status

The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre operates on the unceded & ancestral Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Territories (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ), to provide a safe, non-judgmental environment for women from all walks of life, who live and/or work in the Downtown Eastside.  To achieve this goal, the Centre provides supportive surroundings with meals, counseling, advocacy and programs which nurture and empower members. The Downtown Eastside (DTES) as a neighborhood is well-known within Vancouver and even across Canada for its disproportionate levels of poverty and extreme marginalization. Home to populations made vulnerable including those who are homeless, mentally ill, and/or with addictions, it is also a place known for its creativity, community activism, and tenacity in the face of tremendous stigma.

DEWC staff are called to enhance connections and collaboration and promote an atmosphere of safety in all aspects of their work.  DEWC acknowledges that our work environment is directly impacted by all forms of oppression and the impact of colonialism where staff will be witness to women’s trauma and the consequences of injustice.