Compensation: $30/hour

Hours of Work: 32 hours per week

Supervisor: Healthy Campus Alberta Coordinator

Term of Position: October 16, 2023 – June 30, 2024 (potential to extend depending on status of funding)

Position Location: Work from home (involves travel for in-person meetings and events)

Reporting to the Healthy Campus Alberta Coordinator, the purpose of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Facilitator position is to enhance the understanding and practice related to post-secondary mental health and addiction by disseminating information related to best practice and creating spaces for conversation related to implementing evidence-informed mental health promotion programs, policies, and practices.  As part of this strategy, the Healthy Campus Alberta Research and Knowledge Exchange Facilitator will work with the Healthy Campus Alberta Coordinator and key partners to establish a collaborative practice model for mental health and wellness promotion at Alberta post-secondary institutions.

This position will work closely with the Healthy Campus Alberta team to find and consolidate resources and best practices from across the province and beyond for the purpose of supporting the ongoing work of the HCA Community of Practice.  This position will provide support to the Healthy Campus Alberta team by informing content delivery across multiple platforms including webinars, the website, and community events.  This position requires considerable independent judgement and initiative, in addition to tact, diplomacy and good judgement in interacting with students, staff members, post-secondary institutions and external community organizations.  There is a high volume of work, multiple priorities, and numerous stakeholders.  The ability to work in a team environment is important as well as the ability to interact with others in a courteous, patient, and helpful manner.  

Healthy Campus Alberta is a post-secondary community of practice comprised of students, post-secondary service providers, and community stakeholders who are dedicated to supporting post-secondary mental health on Alberta campuses. Healthy Campus Alberta aims to create an inclusive, collaborative, and community integrated approach to mental health and wellness across post-secondary institutions in Alberta. The community of practice achieves this through accessible and sustainable program ideas; sharing best practices and research; and fostering a culture of support and compassion for all post-secondary institutions across Alberta, all while recognizing their unique needs for success.  The Healthy Campus Alberta staff team works to facilitate and support the life of the Community of Practice.

The location for this position is flexible; however, as this is a provincial project, some travel may be required for in-person meetings and events.  Work is of varying complexity, with peak periods and varying timelines for completion.

This position is offered through Healthy Campus Alberta, a named project under the Canadian Mental Health Association, Alberta Division. 

Position duties will include the following:

Learning Calendar Management

• Manage the learning agenda of Healthy Campus Alberta through relevant online learning opportunities, developing resources, community events and training opportunities, conference presentations and external sessions in consultation with the HCA community and staff facilitation team.
• Organize webinars by researching content (identifying experts/initiatives in relevant topic areas), supporting presenters, managing the logistics of webinar facilitation, and coordinating webinar metrics.
• Liaise with the CMHA Alberta Communications team for the timely promotion of learning events, uploading of resources, and webinar recordings to the website.
• Ensure that larger learning opportunities (i.e., Wellness Summit and Regional Gatherings) fit with the broader learning calendar by mentoring and training student staff to facilitate learning activities.
• Using existing feedback from the community, organize and host 1-3 train the trainer opportunities.

Best Practice Facilitation

• Facilitate the identification, access, and dissemination of relevant best practice (i.e., relevant programs, methods, and policies in campus mental health promotion) and identify and address resource gaps on the HCA website and learning calendar.
• In collaboration with the HCA team, maintain and develop tools, evaluate the effectiveness/sustainability of the tools developed, and make recommendations for improvement.
• Facilitate provincial conversations and learning opportunities that support the implementation of the National Standard of Canada for the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Post Secondary Students and provincial survey roll-out.

Evaluation Support

• Support an ongoing evaluation strategy for Healthy Campus Alberta including consistent and meaningful evaluation, outputs, and outcomes as per the logic model, with a focus on learning calendar and best practice facilitation.
• Propose and implement needed changes and improvements to the Healthy Campus Alberta evaluation strategy and metrics organization.

Staff Team Support

• Work with the HCA Coordinator to create opportunities for student staff engagement across project activities, including the mentorship of student staff, student of staff projects, and creation / maintenance of staff training resources / professional development.
• Actively participate in the Healthy Campus Alberta team including attending in-person orientation day, weekly meetings, events, and interacting on the online team platform. Participate in CMHA-AB staff team activities as required.
• Support the HCA Coordinator with tasks as they related to learning calendar management, best practice facilitation and evaluation support, this may include strategic planning, scheduling projects, compiling metrics, and contributing to annual written grant reports.

HCA Community Relationship Building

• Work with the HCA Coordinator to build relationships with Healthy Campus Alberta community of practice members, e.g., attending regional committee meetings, connecting with provincial and national partners and maintaining connections with provincial student groups.
• Attend and provide day-of support for HCA-planned Regional Gatherings and the Wellness Summit.

Qualifications

The successful candidate should possess the following:

• • Interest in/and understanding of post-secondary mental health including knowledge of the principals and practices of mental health promotion, knowledge of the mental health and addiction system in Alberta and knowledge of the non-profit sector
  • Familiarity with relevant mental health and substance abuse issues and evidence-based campus strategies to address them including experience applying evidence base practice in a campus context.
  • Undergrad or graduate degree in a related field, such as Health Promotion, Nursing, Social Work, or Adult Learning is preferred
  • Familiarity with Healthy Campus Alberta including engagement with the CoP at events and webinars, experience in facilitating community learning and knowledge exchange is considered an asset
  • Experience in educational leadership (such as curriculum development, teaching assistant, workshop leadership) is an asset
  • Ability to synthesize and disseminate information about complex systems and ideas to a diverse audience
  • Understanding of social determinants of health and systemic factors impacting mental health
  • Ability to take initiative and be flexible
  • Ability to work independently and manage tasks
  • Ability to evaluate and sort information and present complex concepts
  • Superior attention to detail skills
  • Possesses tact and discretion and maintains confidentiality
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
  • Computer proficiency in Microsoft Office Applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint)