Job Specification
Position Title:
Education & Skills Coordinator
Job Code:
10218 - Rehabilitation Officer 2, Correctional Services
Purpose of Position :
To assist with the assessment of youth in order to identify educational reintegration needs that are supportive of therapeutic reintegration plans. To facilitate the coordination, planning and development of individualized and/or group reintegration programs for youth by fostering and maintaining relationships with school boards and community partners. To provide skill-based programming such as vocational, technical trades, literacy support, school readiness, and other therapeutic reintegration activities and/or to supervise volunteers engaged in these activities. Support the reintegration leave process by
coordinating individual needs of youth off-site in collaboration with the Case Management Team.
Duties / Responsibilities :
At Brookside Youth Centre, which provides Youth Justice Services to male youth, aged 12 to 17 at the time of their offence, who are charged with or convicted of provincial offences, the incumbent:
Meets with the young persons identified via the Case Management process or by referral from prime worker/social worker to assess individual reintegration educational program needs, develop individual therapeutic reintegration plans for youth, and meets with multi-disciplinary Case Management Teams to ensure the program compliments other activities and treatments and facilitates rehabilitation by:
• With the case management team and academic partners, assessing youths for reintegration educational needs planning, by conducting interviews and completing assessment documentation to determine youth interests, abilities and readiness for participation: reviewing documentation and providing consultations, liaising with the Case Management Team, unit staff and professional staff regarding youth; observing youth participation, abilities, interaction, emotional behavior, cognitive and physical performance, while engaging in selected activities.
• Assist youth in formulating their reintegration education goals and designing individualized plans, which forms part of the overall rehabilitation plan. Reviewing plan with youth to establish rapport and achieve youth's commitment to ensure optimum participation.
• Act as a facilitator between young persons with other Section 23 programs and community schools.
• Where young persons may be unable to attend school if suspended, support all efforts to enable their education to be maintained.
• Consulting and collaborating with community agencies including, community case manager.
• Collaboration with the Case Management Team to implement and monitor the plan, and evaluate youth progress and make modifications to plan as required. Attend case management meetings, case conferences and other team meetings.
• Reviewing individual education reintegration plans regularly with youth and revising as required to meet rehabilitative goals.
• Liaison between school and units.
• Conducting follow-up visits with youth when they have returned to the community, assessing their progress with their ability to cope independently with the education reintegration plan and ensuring continuation of required services with an academic focus.
• Maintaining case records, reports and ensuring youth file reflects academic criteria consistent with CFSA licensing standards.
Plans, develops and organizes a balanced and varied (academic, culture) therapeutic reintegration program by:
• Identifying the number and types of individual and group reintegration programs required to meet the assessed needs.
• Identifying community members and agencies to provide the education reintegration activities required to meet needs either on a one-on-one basis where specialized programming required.
• Locating a place to hold each activity.
• Scheduling community members and youths for education-based individual and group activities.
• Scheduling back-up activities during the start-up period to ensure youth are engaged.
• Communicating and publicizing the time and location of education reintegration activities to all youth and registering interested youth.
• Ensuring ongoing supervision and formal evaluation of programs, maintaining those that are rehabilitative and changing those that are not.
• Ensuring the safety of participating youth by providing supervision, equipment, supplies, and a location that is safe, secure and appropriate to the activity.
• Providing academic transitional services to assist youth within the school and with community reintegration, with particular emphasis on detention youth without a community case manager.
Other Duties:
• Coordinate community partners with specialized skills to teach youth skills and vocations, with examples such as painting, dry-walling, cooking and other trades: obtains supplies and appropriate location, schedule, communicates and publicizes schedule, registers youth, ensures supervision of class.
• Organize special events or reintegration leaves for educational purposes; attracts volunteers to assist; obtain a location for practice and the event; schedules the event; publicizes the date, place and participants.
• Conducts presentations, seminars or other community-based educational and public relations activities with a focus on academic reintegration.
• Other duties as assigned
Staffing and Licencing :
Flexible hours based on program requirements. Community travel as part of education reintegration planning.
Knowledge :
Work requires a sound knowledge of rehabilitation counseling principles, theories, and techniques, such as learning, personality and behavioral theories as well as a detailed knowledge of reintegration theories and methodologies normally acquired through post-secondary education in rehabilitation counseling. Demonstrated ability to apply this knowledge to establish an education reintegration program for a diverse male population, ages 12-17, in a Youth Justice Centre setting and to a range of activities such as counseling, assessment, program planning, program scheduling, community networking with an educational focus. A comprehensive knowledge of a broad spectrum of reintegration programs, community resources, the business and industrial community and voluntary organizations; comprehensive knowledge of various physical and emotional disabilities, prognosis, the extent and impact of functional loss, to integration planning; knowledge of diagnostic and treatment procedures used by related disciplines. In-depth knowledge of the community, the schools, agencies providing services to youth to ensure appropriate network developed to support individual education reintegration plans both in the facility and upon release. Excellent knowledge of the youth justice system legislation, assessment tools and facility protocols and local Operating Policy and Procedures to support programming and planning.
Skills :
Assessment and counseling skills to design effective, responsive individual education reintegration plans for youth (analysis of case history, reports of psychologists, social workers, Youth Justice staff; interviews, assessment; devising and implementing a rehabilitative reintegration plan; motivation.and follow-up procedures); analytical and professional reintegration and rehabilitation skills to determine the suitability of education reintegration activities: excellent design skills to design individual reintegration programs; excellent programming skills to develop a broad range of reintegration activities in the facility; excellent organization skills to check on progress of a large number of clients; well-developed writing skills to report on individual progress, to revise or expand education reintegration plans as required to facilitate rehabilitation. Excellent interpersonal skills to advocate on behalf of diverse youth population in the facility or community, when motivating and counselling youth, and other concerned parties (i.e. Family) and when coaching/facilitating case management team members. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to relate and respond to youth in tactful and sensitive manner develop rapport, to liaise with agencies, conduct seminars, or other educational activities within the community
Freedom of Action :
Employee works under the supervision of the Deputy of Administration within the Local Operating Policy & Procedures of the facility and the professional standards of the disciplines of therapeutic reintegration and rehabilitation.