OVERVIEW

Michael Garron Hospital Emergency Department is committed to providing patient centered emergency care to the community. The department receives over 100,000 visits annually. Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) is searching for a Peer Support Program Supervisor for the Peer Support Program, which provides real time in-person support for young adults with mental health and substance use health related issues in the Emergency Department (ED). The Peer Support Program is staffed by 3-4 part time peer supporters. This project is a collaboration between the Schwartz/Reisman Emergency Medicine Institute (SREMI), Peer Support Canada, and Michael Garron Hospital. SREMI and Peer Support Canada will provide training and education for new staff.

The successful candidate is expected to exercise sound judgment while overseeing the administrative aspects of the Peer Support Program. The Peer Support Program Supervisor will possess an excellent understanding of peer support and the issues facing a large, diverse, and complex medical department in an academic teaching hospital. They will work under the supervision of the MGH Emergency Department Manager.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

This role includes the following responsibilities:

Overseeing the continued development, implementation, refinement and expansion of the ED Peer Support Worker, Pathway to Peers (P2P) role at Michael Garron Emergency Department. The Peer Support Program Supervisor will be the interface between the Peer Support Program and the ED operational leadership team and will be expected to function as a spokesperson for the Peer Support Program. The Peer Support Program Supervisor will develop relationships with community partners to ensure the wellbeing of patients and improve health outcomes. The Peer Support Program Supervisor will produce and maintain P2P education and training materials and will report peer support program progress updates to the hospital and donors.

The Peer Support Program Supervisor is responsible for the mentorship of peer support staff. The role works in collaboration with ED operational leads to maintain practice in line with Peer Support Canada values, including awareness of the scope of the role of peer support workers and recovery-oriented responses (e.g., suicide risk, child welfare). The Peer Support Program Supervisor operationalizes the success of the P2P team members, and ensure duties are being performed, as assigned. The Peer Support Program Supervisor sets performance goals for achieving maximum scope of practice, individual and team, and monitors progress towards area of responsibility. The Peer Support Program Supervisor provides debriefing with peer support staff including weekly team meetings, and offers immediate debriefing as needed. The Peer Support Program Supervisor is responsible for recruitment and onboarding support for the peers at Michael Garron Hospital ED. The Peer Support Program Supervisor is responsible for liaising with P2P program representatives at Peer Support Canada and SREMI.

P2P is a research project aimed at understanding the impact of peer support on our patients and identifying opportunities for improvement. This role includes promotional and conference presentations with the peers. Outreach will be done to various community agencies and post-secondary schools reflective of patients seen in ED, as well as attending and presenting at national and international conferences from a peer support perspective.

The Peer Support Program Supervisor will also support other quality or efficiency initiatives that will improve the quality of care for ED patients.

The Peer Support Program Supervisor will have a thorough understanding of trauma informed care, harm reduction strategies, cultural safety, and the importance of social determinants of health on patient outcomes. Working from a trauma informed perspective, the successful candidate will have an awareness of the complexities of supporting staff with lived experience in a non-clinical role within a clinical, often triggering, environment. This role requires excellent communication skills fostering trust and providing meaningful rapport for peer workers, as well as awareness of community supports and problem solving.

The successful candidate will be provided the following training:

Supervising Peer Workers: A Toolkit for implementing and supporting successful peer staff roles in mainstream mental health and substance use/addiction organizations (Centre for Excellence in Peer Support & Centre for Innovation in Peer Support); Organizational Health: Building Resilient Teams and a Secondary Trauma-Informed Workplace, and Compassionate Leadership: Effectively Managing Teams in the Shifting Landscape of Work (TEND Academy); Safeguards, Trauma Informed Supervision; Critical Incident Group Debriefing (Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute). Peer Support Training facilitated by Peer Support Canada.

EDUCATION

• Successful completion of a university degree in a relevant healthcare field from an accredited educational institution.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of five (5) years of recent and related experience (of which 1-2 years of consistent development in a Leadership capacity) required.
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook.
• Strong work ethic; positive, client focused attitude; superior professionalism; dependability and reliability; demonstrated commitment to providing outstanding customer service.
• Superior written/oral communication and presentation skills; excellent interpersonal and relationship building skills; ability to effectively convey factual information and detailed explanations.
• Thorough understanding of privacy legislation related to healthcare.
• Excellent time management, organizational and self-planning skills displaying flexibility by adjusting work schedules according to changing priorities, meeting demanding deadlines and producing high quality work.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, work independently, make decisions, exercise good judgment in the supervision of others.
• Strong understanding of the importance of lived experience with mental health and addictions related to health outcomes.
• Understanding and alignment with Peer Support Canada core values and principles.
• Ability to work in a dynamic and fast paced multidisciplinary environment.
• Demonstrated satisfactory work performance and attendance history.
• Experience providing peer support services rooted in lived and living experience of mental health and/or substance use health challenges to young adults from varied populations experiencing distress and/or crisis considered an asset.
• Good work and attendance record required.
• All employees of Michael Garron Hospital (MGH), a division of Toronto East Health Network (TEHN) [formerly Toronto EastGeneral Hospital (TEGH)] agree to work within the legislated practices of the Occupational Health and Safety Act of Ontario.
• All employees of MGH are responsible to contribute to a transparent culture of patient and staff safety by adhering to and abiding by patientand staff safety policies and procedures set by MGH.
• All employees are accountable for protecting the psychological health and safety of themselves and their co-workers through adherence to MGH's policies and practices.