Peer Support Worker, Substance Use Services (Urban Health)

Providence Healthcare; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Providence Health Care is seeking Peer Support Workers to provide emotional support and advocacy for individuals with substance use disorders. The role involves working within an interdisciplinary team to facilitate access to essential services while promoting a culturally safe and trauma-informed approach. Candidates should have lived experience and relevant training in social services, aiming to make a meaningful impact on marginalized communities.

Benefits

Comprehensive medical and dental benefits

Unionized stability

Employer-matched pension contributions

Opportunities for professional development

Innovation-driven health campus

Qualifications

• Experience relevant to the client group, including lived experience.
• Minimum one year recent experience in a related field.

Responsibilities

• Provide emotional support and advocacy to clients facing substance use issues.
• Facilitate access to wellness and cultural supports.
• Collaborate with healthcare teams to promote trauma-informed care.

Skills

Peer support practice

Harm reduction principles

Cultural safety and humility

Effective communication

Organizational skills

Emotional support and advocacy

Education

Certificate in Social Services or Addiction Service Worker

Completion of a recognized Peer Support Training program

Job description

Salary

The salary range for this position is CAD $29.83/Hr. - CAD $29.83/Hr.

Summary

Providence Health Care's Urban Health team is accepting applications for Peers Support Workers for multiple positions across the organization. We often have a range of casual, part-time, and full-time opportunities available. Shifts vary depending on the unit but may include 8AM-4PM, 8:30AM-4:30PM, 3PM-7PM, 3:30-11:30PM, 7:30AM-7:30PM, and 7:30PM-7:30AM. Areas of opportunity include:

• Addiction Medicine Consult Team (AMCT) is a interdisciplinary, referral-based consultation service. The AMCT provides compassionate, evidence-based addiction care to hospitalized patients through trauma-informed, harm reduction–oriented consultation and support. The team works collaboratively across PHC's care settings to address substance use with dignity, cultural safety, and person-centered care.

• Road to Recovery strives to better address treatment of substance use issues by providing the right support to each client at the right time. People who use substances deserve the same access to evidence-based care as anyone else, free from stigma. As with all of our services at PHC, R2R delivers care in a way that strives to be person-centred, trauma-informed and culturally safe. Launched in 2023, R2R supports clients at every phase of their wellness and recovery journey by coordinating seamless care, even if there are setbacks or relapses along the way. The R2R services in operation today include 25 detox beds located at St. Paul's Hospital, 20 transitional care beds for clients awaiting space in a treatment program or long-term housing, and the R2R Aftercare Team, which launched in Fall 2024, providing outreach aftercare in the community. The initiative is rolling out in steps, with additional treatment services to come soon.

If you have a passion for a harm reduction-focussed approach to supporting patients with substance use disorders, this is a fantastic opportunity to join a tight-knit and supportive interdisciplinary team that fosters a working environment with a sense of community amongst practitioners dedicated to patient care. Being a Peer in Urban Health provides incredible opportunities for interdisciplinary learning, mentorship, and professional development.

What you will be doing:

Reporting to the Peer Support Coordinator, the Peer Support Worker is a person who self-identifies as a Peer, meaning a person with lived/living experience relevant to the client group served, such as structural inequity, interpersonal trauma, racism, trauma, substance use, poverty, sex work, and/or physical or mental health challenges. This role works as an embedded team member in the Urban Health and Substance Use Program and works alongside other Peers and Indigenous Wellness Liaisons to provide individual Peer support from lived experience to patients and families accessing services at Providence Health Care. This position acts as a resource for both patients and healthcare providers by providing emotional support and patient advocacy, and promoting health provider relationships that are trauma informed, free of anti-Indigenous racism, and person centered. They will participate in meaningful engagement as Peers for ongoing work in strategic planning, harm reduction, and redevelopment, and support research centres within Providence Health Care Research Institute.

• Provide Peer-Based Emotional Support and Advocacy: Draw on lived experience to offer compassionate support and advocacy to patients and families navigating substance use, trauma, and systemic barriers across care settings.

• Facilitate Access to Services and Cultural Supports: Help patients connect with Indigenous Wellness Liaisons, harm reduction services, the St. Paul’s Overdose Prevention Site, cultural spaces like the All Nations Sacred Space, and other community-based supports.

• Promote Trauma-Informed, Culturally Safe Care: Collaborate with health care teams to support patient referrals and advocate for care grounded in harm reduction, cultural humility, and person- and family-centered principles.

• Contribute to Peer and Organizational Initiatives: Participate in meetings and working groups related to strategic planning, harm reduction, and system redevelopment, while tracking referral data and sharing updates on the Peer Support Program.

What You Bring

Education, Training and Experience

• A level of education, training and experience equivalent to a recognized Certificate in Social Services or as an Addiction Service Worker plus one (1) year recent, related experience. Lived or living experience relevant to the client group served, such as structural inequity, interpersonal trauma, racism, trauma, substance use, poverty, sex work, and/or physical or mental health challenges. Completion of a recognized Peer Support Training program.

Skills and Abilities

• Knowledge of principles of peer support practice and ability to apply principles of recovery in mental illness/substance.
• Knowledge of harm reduction principles and practices.
• Knowledge of the principles of cultural safety and humility.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to deal with others effectively.
• Ability to organize work.
• Ability to operate related equipment.
• Physical ability to perform the duties of the position.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary:$29.83 CAD per hour
• Comprehensivebenefits:Eligible employees receive a robust medical and dental benefits package, includingunlimited physiotherapy and massage, as well as paid vacation
• Unionized Stability:Enjoy the consistency and security offered by a unionized role.
• Pensionplan:Eligible employeescan work towards a comfortable retirement through employer-matched contributions to one of Canada's strongest pension plans!
• Meaningful impact:Your dedication and expertise will directly impact the lives of patients, including many from marginalized communities.
• Growth opportunities:We welcome individuals at all stages of their career, offering opportunities for professional development and growth.
• State-of-the-art facilities:The new St. Paul’s Hospital and health campus will be the most innovative approach to the delivery of integrated care in B.C. and Canada, designed to appropriately address the future health needs of patients, families and our communities. From hospital care to primary and community health solutions, the new St. Paul’s Hospital and health campus will continue to lead innovations in care, research, and teaching. The new St. Paul’s Hospital is expected to open in 2027.
• Inclusive culture:We respect the diversity, dignity and interdependence of all persons. We value the cultural richness that our diverse workforce brings to the care of our equally diverse population of patients and residents.

Who we are:

Providence is a non-profit healthcare provider with over fifteen sites, including a large tertiary hospital in the heart of Vancouver’s beautiful and vibrant Downtown, a smaller community hospital in the idyllic Mount Pleasant neighborhood, one of the largest referral centres for rehabilitation in British Columbia, and five long-term care facilities, as well as other clinics.

As a leading teaching and research organization, and the provincial referral center for Cardiac, HIV/AIDS, and Renal Care, we provide services ranging from acute and long-term care to leading substance use and addiction treatment supporting some of BC’s most marginalized communities. Guided by the motto “how you want to be treated”, delivering exceptional patient and family-centered care is our mission.

Curious about working at PHC and the culture of our teams? Check out the video below to learn more and meet some of the members of the team you'd be joining:

Your day to day:

• Provides day to day Peer support and advocacy from knowledge and lived/living experience to patients and families across acute and primary care services, and will liaise with existing Peers and/or Volunteers already working across PHC sites (e.g., acute care, residential services, mental health) and outpatient clinics (i.e., John Ruedy Clinic and the Rapid Access Addiction Clinic) at Providence Health Care.
• Working as an embedded team member in the Urban Health and Substance Use Program supports patient referrals to the Indigenous Wellness Liaisons, as well as helps facilitate patient and family access to harm reduction services, the St Paul’s Overdose Prevention Site, traditional cultural practices, All Nations Sacred Space, and as required, access to other community health programs, cultural supports, and harm reduction services.
• Acts as a resource for both patients and health care providers by providing emotional support and advocacy, and supporting referrals to the Urban Health and Substance Use Program to ensure health provider relationships are trauma informed, person and family centered, and embedding principles of harm reduction, cultural safety and humility in the delivery of care services.
• Supports Peer initiatives at PHC by participating in working groups and meetings related to strategic planning, harm reduction, redevelopment and other organizational initiatives.
• Tracks referral and program access data utilizing word processing, email, and spreadsheets, or is willing to learn or develop these skills.
• Attends regularly scheduled Urban Health & Substance Use Program meetings and provides informal updates on the Peer Support Program.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

We acknowledge that Providence Health Care and the new St. Paul’s Hospital site is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.