Location:       Abbotsford and other communities in the Fraser Valley

Are you flexible, creative, organized, energetic and fun, confident and engaged, self-motivated and independent? You may be the right person for a newly created position, the LIFE Services coach.

Many people with diverse abilities want to work and have full lives. LIFE Services is a new community living service that recognizes those goals and provides a four-pillar approach to supporting people to achieve them: Learning, Inclusion, Friendship, Employment, or LIFE. It recognizes that success in a job means more than just landing a job. It means building life skills, strengthening community connections and lifelong learning; setting in place all those necessary pieces that sustain a job.

The LIFE Services coach will support people with diverse abilities to pursue vocational interests through volunteer and employment opportunities. As a LIFE Services coach, you will collaborate with each person you work with as they explore their goals in areas such as building personal support networks, fitness and recreational activities, friendships and community connections. Each person will direct their own services by participating with you in a dynamic planning and evaluation process. You will be continually adapting people’s support plans as their needs or the needs of the employer, change. Throughout the process, you will walk alongside them, facilitating and coaching. As they develop natural supports in their community, they will gradually shift their reliance away from the service.

The job is a combination of in-person engagement as well as background support, including research, planning, design, networking, and administration. With LIFE Services being such a person-centred service, you will be flexible in scheduling. Your workspace will often be in the community and on the go. It might be making a few calls or researching community opportunities in a café while you’re waiting to pick someone up from an interview. You will be a part of a Bethesda team that is experienced in supporting people, but you must be comfortable working independently.

Being a part of another’s growth and thriving is life-giving. If you love serving others, this position will be endlessly rewarding. Read on for more details…

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

The LIFE Services coach’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Discovering interests, skills, abilities and growth areas of each person receiving the service.
• Creating support plans and strategies for success in collaboration with the person supported.
• Training, supporting and monitoring people supported in a variety of employment, community and learning settings in areas such as job skills, communication skills, self-determination and confidence building, transit training, personal safety, healthy lifestyles, and relationship building.
• Researching potential employers, and connecting people to employers, community activities and learning opportunities that match the interests, skills and abilities of the person supported.
• Providing or arranging for training and workplace readiness.
• Assisting the person to establish effective relationships with their employer and other connections they’ve made in their community.
• Monitoring and problem-solving through regular contact with the people receiving services and their employer.
• Providing crisis support when issues arise for the people receiving services and the employer.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the support plan and strategies in collaboration with the person supported and adapting it as needed.
• Contributing as part of a Bethesda staff team and fostering healthy working relationships.
• Developing and maintaining effective working relationships with potential employers and recognizing and celebrating inclusive workplaces.
• Liaising with other agencies and organizations.
• Developing networking connections with other community service providers, professionals, educational institutions, and employers.
• Using technology for research, reporting, and administrative requirements.
• Reporting regularly to manager verbally and with written documentation, records and statistics.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• 32 hour and 24 hour/week positions are available.
• Work schedule flexibility that may include evenings and weekends. The service is user-driven and is delivered when a person needs it.
• Self-motivated and able to work independently in community.
• Critical thinking and problem solving, computer skills and reporting, time management and organization, communication, patience/supportive, empathetic.
• Confidentiality is required with respect to people receiving our services and the operations of Bethesda.
• Possess a personal vehicle.
• Possession of Canadian, landed immigrant or legal working status.
• Standard requirements for support workers employed in BC (criminal record check, medical clearance, class 5 driver’s licence (class 4 may be required), tuberculosis screening, ICBC driving record, immunization records/history).
• A philosophy of care in line with Bethesda’s philosophy of Christian service and support for people with diverse abilities.
• Full COVID-19 immunization.
• Relevant education (social work, counselling or related field) or equivalent experience.

BENEFITS

• Hiring bonus for external applicants: $100 at time of hire, another $200 after 1 year of continuous employment and completion of all job requirements.
• Training will be provided.
• Pay rate: $23.10 – 26.91/hr.
• Benefits, including 3 weeks vacation, are provided to permanent positions with guaranteed hours of 20 or more/week.
• Exclusive employee discounts on a range of products and services through Bethesda’s Perkopolis account.

At Bethesda, we’re about creating community among the people we serve, our staff and our surrounding communities. We are all interdependent as we experience life together, and all valuable for the abilities we share. We know we learn from and need each other to thrive.

Bethesda’s ministry is a Christian faith-based service. The position of support worker requires a high degree of Christian commitment and love to the people we support and to the philosophy of Bethesda.

For more information about Bethesda, visit us at bethesdabc.com or on social media.