Patient Advocate

Environment, Conservation and Parks | Environnement, Protection de la nature et Parcs; Penetanguishene; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Emergency Health Services Division/Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office in Ontario seeks a dedicated advocate to champion patients' rights within the health care delivery system and promote quality of care in mental health services.

You will educate clients, families and hospital staff on mental health legislation, identify systemic issues, liaise with hospitals and community agencies, and maintain comprehensive reports and statistics.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to read, interpret, explain and apply legislation.
• Understanding of mental illnesses and treatment modalities; familiarity with the treatment team roles.
• Knowledge of and experience in providing individual and systemic advocacy services.
• Knowledge of quality of care and life issues and ability to empower individuals to self-advocate.
• Interviewing skills to conduct investigations.
• Negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution skills to resolve issues between clients and clinical staff.
• Interpersonal skills to manage clients with unique communication requirements.
• Persuasion to influence decision-makers when advocating changes to systems, programs or procedures within the facility.
• Ability to determine nature, scope and options for resolutions.
• Identify and define systemic quality of care issues and formulate recommendations.
• Ability to prioritize and manage caseload.
• Explain program purpose and provide advice to obtain support.
• Computer literacy to use and maintain case management database.
• Determine legitimacy of client complaints and threshold for intervention.
• Determine which systemic issues to target for intervention.
• Develop recommendations for changes to organizational policy, processes or structure.

Job description

Apply By: Monday, October 19, 2026 11:59 pm EDT

Emergency Health Services Division/Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office

Are you passionate about human rights and social justice issues?

Working independently in a small team environment, you will demonstrate your knowledge of mental health issues and advocate for the protection of clients' rights.

About the job

Reporting to the Program Manager, you will:

• Advocate on behalf of patients within the health care delivery system.
• Promote their rights and quality of care/life.
• Empower them to speak for their legal and civil rights.
• Educate clients, families and hospital staff on mental health legislation and rights.
• Identify and address systemic issues.
• Liaise with and refer clients to hospital or community agencies.
• Maintain documentation by preparing reports and compiling statistics.

Mental Health Care and Delivery Experience

• Proven ability to read, interpret, explain and apply legislation.
• Understanding of mental illnesses, knowledge of mental health treatment modalities, familiarity with the roles and responsibilities of the treatment team members and familiarity with mental health delivery system in Ontario.
• Knowledge of and experience in providing individual and systemic advocacy services.
• Knowledge of quality of care and life issues and the ability to empower individuals to self-advocate and to speak for their legal and civil rights.

Interpersonal and Influencing Skills

• Interviewing skills to conduct investigations.
• Negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution skills to resolve issues between clients and clinical staff.
• Interpersonal skills to manage clients with unique communications requirements.
• Persuasion skills to influence decision-makers when advocating changes to systems, programs or procedures within the facility.

Analyzing and Problem Solving Skills

• Ability to determine nature, scope and options for resolutions based on investigation and analysis of situations.
• Ability to identify, investigate and define systemic quality of care/quality of life issues and formulate recommendations.
• Ability to prioritize and manage caseload.

Communication and Computer Skills

• Communication and presentation skills to explain the purpose of the program, provide advice on issues and obtain support for the program.
• Computer literacy to use and maintain case management database.

Decision Making Skills

• Ability to determine legitimacy of client complaints and threshold for intervention.
• Ability to determine which systemic issues to target for intervention within the facility.
• You can develop recommendations for changes to organizational policy, processes or structure.

Don't meet every qualification?

If you are excited about this position and meet most, but not all, of the listed qualifications, please still consider applying. We recognize that no one person might have every qualification in this job ad, and you just might be the right candidate!

How we support diversity, inclusion and accessibility

We are building an inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We encourage everyone interested in working with us to apply, including people with disabilities, Indigenous, Black and racialized individuals, as well as people from all ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.

Our hiring process is accessible, consistent with Ontario's Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. We are working to prevent and remove barriers in our hiring processes and can offer accommodation to address specific needs related to Code-protected grounds such as disability, family status and religion. For more information about accommodation during the hiring process please contact us.

• diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives
• accessibility
• Anti-Racism Policy

• 2 English Temporary, duration up to 6 months, 500 Church St, Penetanguishene, Central Region

Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario

• The information that you provide for the purpose of this competition and the results from this competition may be used to fill other positions. These positions may be of various tenures including short-term assignments. Your information and the results from this competition will be retained for the purpose of filling vacancies in accordance with the applicable collective agreement or policy provisions.

Language requirements and assessment:
All external Ontario Public Service (OPS) job ads are posted in English and French. Check the "position(s) language" section at the top of each job ad for the language requirements. For all roles, candidates are assessed in English, the business language of the OPS. If the position is bilingual (English/French), you'll also need to pass a French-language proficiency test.