Job Summary:

In accordance with the Purpose, Vision, Values and Coast Salish Teachings, and strategic direction of PHSA, safety, including both patient and employee safety, is a priority and a responsibility shared by everyone at PHSA. As such, the requirement to continuously improve quality and safety is inherent in all aspects of this position.  

Consistent with the interprofessional setting the Social Worker provides psychosocial and family assessments and intervention to assist children and their families presenting with health, rehabilitation, developmental and mental health issues.  Social work services are provided to children and their families to address social and emotional stressors resulting from the interaction of physical, social, cultural, and psychological outcomes associated with diagnosis and treatment, including loss and bereavement services. The Social Worker provides consultation to team members and relevant community agencies regarding child welfare concerns.  Intervention services provided by the Social Worker includes crisis intervention and short-term counseling, advocacy, liaison with community services, coordination of resources, consultation with teams, collaboration with community agencies, education, program planning and research.  The Social Worker promotes family-centered care and research and education within BC Children’s Hospital, Sunny Hill Health Centre and the community.

Duties/Accountabilities:

1.    Conducts comprehensive psycho-social and family assessments by methods such as interviewing the child and family, obtaining relevant information, gathering social data regarding the child and family and formulation of assessment and plan of intervention, in accordance with professional practice standards and clinical policies.

2.    Supports the child and their family by understanding the nature and treatment of the presenting issues by providing education, short-term counselling and crisis intervention to families and other relevant caregivers.

3.    Provides comprehensive clinical counselling with individuals, families and groups by focusing on the child’s and family’s social, emotional and cultural needs, including adjustment to diagnosis and treatment decisions, loss of functioning and dealing with emotional and family crises in the context of evidence based care.

4.    Supports the child and their families by organizing and facilitating psycho-educational and counselling groups.

5.    Facilitates in complex discharge planning with the team, patient, family and community agencies by coordinating regular meetings to ensure psycho-social follow-up.

6.    Establishes and maintains effective collaborative and constructive liaison relationships with a variety of individuals and groups, including patients and families, community providers, MCFD social workers, schools, hospitals and other agencies, in order to coordinate services across the continuum of health care.

7.    Participates in program planning and development as part of an inter-professional team within BC Children’s Hospital and the continuum of health care. Identifies, promotes and participates in program planning strategies to enhance system processes and resources for children and their families.

8.    Promotes patient and family centered care by participating in relevant committee work within the Social Work discipline, specialized program, hospital-setting, and/or continuum of care.

9.    Collaborates with team members in many forums, both informal and formal, in case consultations by attending team meetings, rounds, family conferences, and psycho-social forums relevant to family centered care.

10.    Provides consultation to team members and relevant community services regarding child protection concerns by being knowledgeable of risk indicators and helping in the identification of risk situations in keeping with the Child, Family, and Community Services Act and provides consultation from a psycho-social perspective.

11.    Advocates for the child and their family or caregiver for resources within the hospital and the community by assessing the financial and other psycho-social needs and works in coordination with community resources to meet these needs.

12.    The social worker identifies and informs administration at C&W of barriers, gaps and/or needs in the social service delivery system that may affect the children and families served by the Hospital.

13.    Supervises Master level social work students on practicum programs within the program by performing duties such as demonstrating and explaining procedures and processes and providing input regarding progress. Provides students with the opportunity to observe and take an active role in the treatment of patients and their families.

14.    Provides orientation to new employees and social work staff by explaining the scope of practice within the program.

15.    Provides information and/or in-services to other team members regarding the social work role, scope of practice, psycho-social comprehensive assessment and interventions, needs of families and family dynamics, and relevant legislation concerning children and child welfare issues.  Provides information on formalized agreements between C&W and MCFD relevant to child protection protocols and other formal agreements with community agencies. Dissemination of information is achieved through a variety of ways, including but not limited to, team meetings, psycho-social rounds, in-services, and ad hoc telephone calls.

16.    Provides information to interprofessional team members of the C&W guidelines, such as Children and Youth at Risk for Abuse and Neglect.  Dissemination of information is achieved through a variety of ways, including but not limited to, team meetings, psycho-social rounds, in-services, and ad hoc telephone calls.

17.    Provides clinical consultation on psycho-social issues, indicators of social work referrals and priority setting with interprofessional team members by presenting at team days and case rounds.   Presents at in-services within the hospital and community.

18.    Participates in psycho-social research activities and program planning and development relevant to the needs of the child and family by methods such as collaborating with members of the interprofessional team, conducting literature searches and planning forums for presentation of findings.

19.    Maintains current knowledge on social work evidence based practice by such methods as reviewing literature, consulting with clinical and community experts in the field, evaluating clinical practice and participating in professional development activities in order to improve care through new practices.

20.    Participates in strategic discipline planning and professional practice by attending regular meetings.

21.    Performs administrative tasks by maintaining clinical documentation, progress notes, workload statistics and updating health records in accordance with established standards.

22.    Performs other related duties as required.

Qualifications:

Education, Training and Experience

•    Master’s Degree in Social Work from an accredited School of Social Work.
•    Minimum 1 year recent related experience with children and their family with a health or disabling condition relevant to the service area within BC Children’s Hospital & Sunny Hill Health Centre including clinical skills in assessment, crisis intervention, therapeutic interventions, individual, group and family counseling; must include experience in mental health, child protection, child development, intimate partner violence, chronic health conditions, disabilities, and grief and loss in a health care or hospital setting; or an equivalent combination of education, training or experience.
•    Current full registration with the British Columbia College of Social Workers.