Workplace Mental Health Specialist - City of Vancouver, Vancouver

The Opportunity

The City of Vancouver is actively seeking a dedicated Workplace Mental Health Specialist to join its esteemed team. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to one of the world's most liveable cities, recognized among BC’s Top Employers and Canada’s Greenest Employers. If you are searching for meaningful City of Vancouver jobs in Vancouver, this role offers a chance to advance core commitments to public service, sustainability, and equity. As a key part of the Human Resources department, this specialist position is crucial for supporting the psychological health and safety of City staff, thereby reducing overall health risk and enhancing workplace wellness. This role is ideal for those looking for impactful City of Vancouver careers in administration, focusing on fostering a supportive and inclusive environment.

What You'll Bring

To excel in this role, you will possess a strong foundation in mental health and wellness, coupled with practical experience in a public sector setting. Your ability to apply trauma-informed and culturally competent practices will be essential.

• Bachelor’s in Counselling, Social Work, or Clinical, Organizational, or Industrial Psychology, Organizational Behaviour, Occupational Wellness, or a related field, and five years’ related experience including public sector experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Certification in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), Mental Health First Aid and/or Psychological First Aid training is required.
• Post-degree clinical experience is an asset, with experience specifically in group counselling or facilitation.
• Demonstrated crisis management skills and ability to provide crisis solutions to clients is essential.
• Eligible for registration with a professional College (when available) or Counselling Association (if applicable) would be an asset.

Your knowledge and skills will encompass a broad range of areas critical to supporting psychological health and safety in the workplace:

• Knowledge and experience related to trauma and evidence informed well-being program development and implementation, organizational psychology, organizational wellness, and disability management.
• Solid understanding of social determinants of health and how systems of oppression, including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, colonialism, and others impact and exacerbate personal and workplace well-being concerns.
• Considerable knowledge of Indigenous culturally informed practices and care.
• Considerable knowledge of trauma informed practices, concurrent disorders, socioeconomic determinants of health and health inequalities, such as houselessness, crisis intervention strategies, strengths-based models, client-centred and recovery-oriented approaches.
• Knowledge and understanding of violence prevention and intervention, including an understanding of gender-based violence/assault/stalking.
• Working knowledge and familiarity with available health and social service programs.
• Knowledge of common drugs, their effects, and the toxic drug crisis.
• Knowledge and understanding of occupational and non-occupational psychological and physical injuries and illness and Return to Work processes.
• Knowledge of the CSA-Z1003 Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace as well as ISO 45003 – Psychological health and safety at work.
• Considerable knowledge of disability, wellness, and human rights legislation.
• Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Superior clinical skills, including significant understanding of mental health and substance abuse issues and short-term, solution-focused treatment approaches.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills including technical writing, facilitating meetings, giving presentations and the ability to influence and promote teamwork and build relationships with a broad range of stakeholders including senior leaders and union leadership.
• Demonstrated crisis management and conflict resolution/de-escalation skills and ability to provide CISM/CISD solutions to staff.
• Ability to empathetically respond to and support individuals of diverse cultures, ethnic and social backgrounds, values, attitudes, and languages; ability to maintain a non-judgmental and non-stigmatizing approach.
• Ability to communicate and promote the City’s wellness resources and vision effectively in individual or group situations.
• Proven ability to work in a complex multi-union environment.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal supervision, prioritize, multi-task, and be well organized with thorough attention to detail.
• Ability to work well under pressure, manage multiple tasks and changing priorities with tight deadlines.
• Strong problem-solving, multi-tasking, time-management, documentation skills; demonstrated ability to update program policies, procedures, and materials.
• Ability to ensure for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion lens in work developed, and implemented.
• Ability to maintain confidential documents and employee information.
• Willingness to participate in on-the-job on-going training and pursue external trainings.
• A valid BC driver's license is required.
• Available to work evenings and/or weekends.
• Languages additional to English are an asset but are not required.

Day-to-Day

In this dynamic role, the Workplace Mental Health Specialist provides essential support to City staff, focusing on both preventative measures and critical incident response. Your day-to-day activities will involve a blend of direct intervention, psychoeducational initiatives, and collaborative efforts to enhance overall workplace psychological well-being.

• Attend in person City worksites following a critical incident or crisis to offer debriefing services, CISM/CISD, and/or psychological support to impacted staff on an immediate or as requested basis.
• Offer virtual or telephonic post-incident support or debriefing and function as consultant for CISM/CISD services.
• Provide a preliminary assessment of post-incident psychological risks to Workplace Safety, Recovery, Wellness & Benefits and/or WorkSafeBC as needed, and coach managers/supervisors as required.
• Support workplace investigation process, as needed, in collaboration with Workplace Safety, WorkSafeBC, Recovery Wellness & Benefits, unions and managers/supervisors; provide subject matter expertise to assist with the implementation of corrective actions following incident investigations.
• Educate managers/supervisors of importance of workplace mental health support and CISM, and how to conduct well-being check-ins with their teams, post incident and on a short and long-term basis.
• Support teams and individuals with workplace mental health challenges or issues, working in collaboration with management, unions and other City resources, such as Human Resources and the Indigenous Relations team, as needed.
• Connect staff to well-being services, such as the City’s Employee Family Assistance Program, following incidents to allow for ongoing support, as needed; remain up to date on City and community resources for augmenting programs as needed.
• Deliver defusing, debriefing or on-site support for terminations, restructuring, or organizational change.
• Check-in and follow up about work or workplace challenges, supporting staff mental well-being in a preventative capacity.
• Participate within Vancouver’s Emergency Operations Center during stage 1 through 3 activations offering CISM and psychological support to staff.
• Work closely with management, unions, and employees to ensure appropriate, safe, timely and durable return to work occurs when workplace incidents result in impacted individuals taking time off work.
• Assist in development, promotion of CISM and psychological wellness resources for City Staff in the form of presentations, process documents, conversation guides and courses ensuring for trauma informed approaches.
• Keep leaders and senior leadership apprised of emerging issues and trends related to employee well-being and workplace critical incidents; report psychological safety risks and hazards and support process/resource improvements.
• Educate managers/supervisors on recognizing and responding to employee psychological and physical health challenges.
• Assist in development and delivery of psycho-educational workshops to City teams/groups on topics related to psychological safety and mental health in the workplace, such as Mental Health First Aid.
• Support senior leadership, mid-level leaders and all employees to adopt and own psychological wellness practices throughout the organization.
• Assist with monthly, quarterly, and/or annual reports on program deliverables with participation, completion, and outcome measures.
• Complete Crisis Management Services administrative requirements as directed.
• Other duties/responsibilities as assigned.

Who You'll Work With

As a Workplace Mental Health Specialist, you will collaborate extensively across the City of Vancouver's diverse departments. This includes working closely with management, unions, Human Resources, and the Indigenous Relations team. You will empower City leaders to champion psychological safety within their teams and engage directly with employees to provide crucial support and connect them with wellness services. The City of Vancouver is committed to recruiting a diverse workforce and fostering an innovative, inclusive, and engaging workplace, where your ability to work empathetically with individuals from all backgrounds will be highly valued.