Mental Health & Addictions Outreach Counsellor HART Hub

About the Organization:

The Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle (BANAC) is an Indigenous governed, Indigenous led regional social planning and development organization. The BANAC service region now covers Simcoe County, Muskoka, and York region. BANAC works in cooperation with Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous organizations to address community-identified priorities through coordinated planning, implementation and evaluation. BANAC has a mandate to support the continued promotion of Indigenous lifelong learning and community wellness through self-determination and community participation. 

BANAC offers many innovative programs and services including Aging Well Senior Supports, Bebminot Family Wellness, the Biinoojinsauk Child Care Centre, Maapii Enjii Zaagi Gaazwad and the Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin Indigenous Interprofessional Primary Care Team.  Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin offers a wholistic approach to wellness that includes traditional healing practices in primary care, community clinics, addiction and recovery services, counselling programs, midwifery, land-based healing programs, and community health promotion. 

About the Role:

This position operates within an Indigenous-led and Indigenous-governed organization that is accountable to the communities it serves. Work is grounded in the principle of Indigenous Health in Indigenous Hands, ensuring that all programs and services are developed, delivered, and evaluated under Indigenous governance structures and community direction. In alignment with Indigenous and provincial standards, the organization upholds excellence in care, accountability, and compliance while centering on Indigenous knowledge systems, cultural safety, and self-determination in health and social service deliverables.

All employees are required to participate in organizational Indigenous Cultural Safety training and to engage in ongoing reflexive practices as part of their professional development. This includes a commitment to examining personal and systemic biases, deepening understanding of Indigenous histories and experiences, and ensuring that service delivery aligns with the values of respect, reciprocity, and wholism that guide the organization’s work.

As a key member of the interdisciplinary team, the Mental Health and Addictions (MHA) Outreach Counsellor provides direct support to individuals who are experiencing homelessness or are precariously housed and navigating complex mental health and substance use needs. This role includes comprehensive assessment, collaborative treatment navigation, and ongoing service delivery in community-based and non-traditional settings, including shelters, community-locations, and transitional housing environments. Services are provided using a wholistic approach that supports the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing of each client as they work toward their substance use and wellness goals.

The Outreach Counsellor works in a mobile and community-based setting—including shelters, encampments, transitional housing sites, and other outreach locations to meet individuals where they are at, in both location and in their readiness for change, by offering trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and strengths-based support. They collaborate closely with care teams, primary care providers, and community partners to ensure timely access to addictions treatment, substance use resources, and coordinated follow-up care. The Outreach Counsellor also supports the facilitation of group-based or low-barrier addiction support programming as part of a rotating schedule within the broader Community Addictions Support and Treatment (CAST) Team. CAST services are designed to increase access to substance use treatment and care pathways for those who may otherwise fall through the cracks of traditional systems.

What You Bring:

• Relevant post-secondary education to mental health and addictions treatment
• Demonstrated experience working with Indigenous communities and clients to provide wholistic culturally safe and trauma informed care
• Knowledge of community resources and experience navigating and connecting with mental health and add Experience in mental health and/or addictions (community-based setting preferred).
• Must have access to a vehicle, a valid Ontario driver’s license, and adequate automobile insurance as well as a driving record that permits insurance through BANAC.
• Ensure activities meet with (and integrate with) organizational requirements for quality management, health and safety, values, and mission, together with embracing our harm reduction philosophy.
• Utilize a client-centered approach as to develop trusting relationships with clients.
• Understand provincial/local legislation as well as government policies, procedures, and practices pertaining to services provided by the agency
• Knowledge and practice of harm reduction, client-centered recovery philosophy, and community service delivery.
• Knowledge of community resources connected to the provision of mental health and addiction services.
• Able to influence stakeholders through diplomacy as well as negotiation skills in client/system advocacy.
• Good interpersonal and networking skills.
• Knowledge of assessment, planning, and skill teaching strategies.
• Able to anticipate crises and to apply appropriate non-violent crisis intervention skills to de-escalate the situation.
• Able to multi-task and work with a sense of urgency when required.
• Knowledge of mental illness, addictions, withdrawal management, and medications, as well as the ability to assist clients with symptom management.
• Understand how commonly requested services function, such as OW and ODSP.
• Able to analyze issues and reframe them for clients in order to assist in problem-solving

This position is being posted in response to an existing vacancy at the Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle.

What We Offer:

Our work is accountable to Indigenous communities, guided by relationships, knowledge, and practices that shape how we serve and learn together. Joining the BANAC team means contributing to work that is community-driven, relational and grounded in Indigenous values of respect, reciprocity, and wholism. We work alongside community members, Indigenous organizations and the broader community to ensure our programs reflect the voices and strengths of those we serve.

We provide a generous group health benefits package, participation in HOOPP, paid vacation, cultural leave days, extended holidays, professional training opportunities and the opportunity to work in a dynamic community-based supportive work environment.

Information About Working at BANAC Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin:

• Work is typically performed in BANAC clinics, offices and / or in community settings.
• Regular travel to meetings and communities is required; access to a personal vehicle is considered an asset.
• Regular overtime work may be required to accommodate business needs and BANAC team members enjoy a flexible work schedule.
• BANAC work site locations are periodically exposed to smoke due to the burning of sacred medicines: tobacco, sweet grass, sage and / or cedar.

All pertinent employment conditions are specified within the employment agreement with BANAC and include the following:

• Ability to attend all BANAC worksite locations is required
• Valid C.P.R. and A.E.D. Certificates are required
• Valid Class G Ontario Driver’s License is required
• An up-to-date clear Vulnerable Sector Check is required
• An up-to-date clear TST result

Applying to this Job:

The position is open to all those interested even if they do not meet all the qualifications listed. At BANAC we recognize that lived experience can provide knowledge and skills equivalent to formal education and / or professional experience. Individuals who have relevant community connections, lived experience, and / or cultural knowledge that align with the job’s responsibilities are strongly encouraged to apply.  To further promote our accountability to the Indigenous communities we serve and to ensure services align with the values of respect, reciprocity, and wholism that guide the organization’s work, preference will be given to candidates of Indigenous ancestry.  BANAC strongly encourages applicants to self-identify within the application process.

Please apply directly on the Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle careers site at www.banac.on.ca/careers.

Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle is committed to providing accessible employment practices that are compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.  If you require accommodation for disability during any stage of the recruitment process, please advise the Human Resources Department at: HR email address.

DISCLAIMER:  This job posting indicates the general scope and level of work expected.  It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties and / or responsibilities that will be required by the incumbent.  The incumbent may be asked to perform other duties as required to support business needs.