Job Description

POSITION

Lead Clinical Counsellor

START DATE

Flexible (Spring/Summer 2025)

ABOUT SPLIT ROCK HEALING HOUSE

Split Rock Healing House is located on Takiga Lake near the community of Witset, BC and will offer 6 beds to Indigenous youth in northern BC. The Healing House is currently finalizing construction and is scheduled to open in the early fall of 2025.

Split Rock Healing House will be operated through an Indigenous lens, and will support youth in the context of their family and community while addressing their physical, spiritual, mental and emotional healing and well-being. Youth will have access to professional trauma-informed counsellors, social workers, Elders and knowledge keepers, and will hold space for family support and community healing. Emphasis has also been placed on creating a supportive transition for youth once they have completed their stay at the Healing House by incorporating mentorship, family guidance and counselling, and by building community around the Healing House so that it can be a touchstone for youth to access services and be provided with support even after their stay.

“Guiding and empowering Indigenous youth by incorporating cultural teachings and Indigenous youth need for a positive, productive and healthier lifestyle.”

ABOUT THE POSITION

The Counsellor is a full-time, pivotal role at Split Rock Healing House focused on building trusting, respectful relationships with Indigenous youth. As a positive role model and compassionate advocate, the Counsellor leads daily one-on-one and group counselling sessions, conducts assessments, and designs culturally sensitive treatment plans that integrate both Western and traditional First Nations practices. This role emphasizes creative, strategic, and trauma-informed approaches to care-planning, intervention, and on-site support, ensuring a safe, supportive environment that empowers youth and enhances their overall well-being.

The counsellor should be:

• Creative, strategic and confident in their approach to youth work.
• Passionate about empowering Indigenous youth.
• Have a strong spirit of collaboration, dependability, positivity, and a love of what they do.
• Believe in open and positive communication with everyone.
• A desire to give back to the community by being a positive role model for youth.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The Counsellor shall be responsible for:

• Establishing a strong therapeutic rapport with youth and interdisciplinary team members, providing case management, advocacy, and informal counselling
• Leading individual and group counselling sessions, conducting comprehensive assessments, including risk assessments, and coordinating culturally appropriate care for Indigenous youth with complex mental health concerns using evidence-based practices
• Developing and implementing safety plans as part of individualized treatment, ensuring youth and staff are supported in managing risks.
• Collaborating with external agencies to develop, review, and adjust individualized treatment plans
• Providing culturally sensitive interventions, integrating both Western therapeutic approaches, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and traditional Indigenous healing practices
• Organizing, supervising, and facilitating therapeutic activities for youth, ensuring accurate clinical documentation, including progress notes, treatment plans, and case summaries, while maintaining compliance with confidentiality and regulatory requirements
• Supporting youth in daily living through the development of a trusting, non-judgmental relationship, while modelling positive behaviours
• Collaborating with external counsellors to provide ongoing support and professional development for staff
• Prior to opening, contributing to the overall project design to support Indigenous youth including but not limited to:
• Selection and implementation of healing modalities that will be used
• Determining number, type and frequency of individual, group and family sessions
• Guide development and implementation of intake and assessment process

QUALIFICATIONS

Preference will be given to applicants who possess:

• Two (2) years or more experience working with First Nation’s youth and their families, with responsibility for providing a wide range of community based mental health services.
• A strong understanding and knowledge of First Nations culture
• Two (2) two years recent related experience in areas requiring understanding of trauma in the context of Indigenous people
• An understanding of mental health and alcohol and drug addiction issues
• Knowledge and ability to conduct psychiatric and suicide risk assessments
• Psychiatric and addictions treatment methodologies, crisis intervention and response techniques and strategies, the change process, and community dynamics
• Knowledge of available programs and services, their interrelationships, and their function in delivering care
• Knowledge of applicable legislation, such as the Mental Health Act, Child Protection legislation, and the Adult Guardianship Act
• Experience conducting individual, group, and family therapy.
• Experience working with Moderate to Severe Mental Health.
• Experience working with substance use disorders and harm reduction.
• Experience working providing culturally appropriate therapy.
• Experience working within a trauma-informed practice.
• Two years of relevant counselling work/clinical practice and/or equivalent experience (such as a combination of clinical practice with adults, social work, addictions counselling, child and youth care).
• Understanding of the intergenerational impacts of the residential school systems, colonization, the First Nations Community, and an understanding and willingness to participate in First Nations protocols, practices, and ceremonies.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, coupled with strong crisis intervention and conflict mediation skills.
• Demonstrated knowledge of mental health issues, addiction issues, concurrent disorders, and FASD.
• Satisfactory Criminal Record Check and Vulnerable Sector Check.
• Must possess and maintain a valid class 5 BC Driver’s license with no restriction or equivalent (i.e. from another Canadian Province).

EDUCATION

• Master's degree in Counselling, Social Work, Educational Counselling, Clinical Counselling, Clinical Psychology or Child and Youth Care or comparable graduate degree at the Master’s level from an accredited university.
• Registration with (or eligible for registration with) the relevant professional body as required (BCCSW, BCPA) or certification with either the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (RCC) or the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCC).

WITSET FIRST NATION’S HIRING POLICY

Witset First Nation who operates Split Rock Healing House provides equal employment opportunities to all, regardless of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, political belief, creed, disability that does not prohibit performance of essential job functions or that cannot be accommodated, or conviction for which a pardon has been granted.

Should two or more applicants have comparable or equivalent skills and qualifications, preference will be given, in the following order, to:

• persons with specific knowledge of and/ or experience with the Wet'suwet' en language, culture, history and customs;
• persons of Aboriginal, Metis or Inuit ancestry; and
• all others.

JOB PERKS

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive benefits package
• RRSP matching up to 5%
• Opportunity to engage in meaningful and challenging work within a healing environment, making a direct impact on Indigenous youth in BC

SALARY RANGE

$90,000-$140,000 per year, commensurate with experience

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