Counsellor

Job Category
M&P – AAPS

Job Profile
AAPS Salaried – Counsellors/Psychologists, Level B

Job Title
Counsellor

Department
Team D Counselling Services Student Health and Wellbeing VP Students

Compensation Range
$7,400.83 – $11,540.42 CAD Monthly

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date
April 2, 2024

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.

Job End Date

This position is located within a health-care facility. Therefore, this positions requires successful verification of full vaccination against Covid-19 provided prior to the start date, as required by the provincial health mandate.  

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Summary

The UBC Faculty of Medicine MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) is delivered across four regional academic campuses and over 15 clinical academic campuses across the province. There are currently 306 seats in the MDUP per year, regionally distributed, with 198 in each class of the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program, and 36 in each class of the Southern Medical Program, the Island Medical Program and the Northern Medical Program.  This position will provide counselling and develop wellbeing programming for all MD Undergraduate program (MDUP) students in the UBC Faculty of Medicine MDUP.

UBC Faculty of Medicine (FoM) values equity and accessibility and recognizes that there is an underrepresentation of Indigenous and Black physicians in British Columbia.  In alignment with the Faculty of Medicine vision, the Medical Undergraduate Program (MDUP) is dedicated to support and build a learner community that reflects the social identities represented in the growing population of British Columbia.  To achieve this, the MDUP has several pathway programs including the Indigenous Student Pathway and the Black Student Pathways program.  There is an imperative to ensure adequate supports for these students as they navigate the mental and psychosocial demands of medical school in keeping with the call to action (Action 41*) of the UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan and recommendations from UBC: The President’s Task Force on Anti-racism and Inclusive Excellence (Recommendation 11**).

Through the Indigenous pathway and Black pathway, the MDUP prioritizes supporting and connecting Indigenous and Black students with opportunities that honour traditions, lived experiences and knowledge while inviting diverse perspectives. As such, this role would require skills and competencies to provide counselling services and programming which supports the needs of MDUP Indigenous and Black medical students.  This includes the ability to offer culturally safe mental health and support services basing work on foundational healing values such as cultural humility, a person-centered approach, trauma-informed healing work, and continued dedication to improving services with a lens of self-reflection. Indigenous and Black students may be located in regional distributed sites including the Vancouver-Fraser Medical Program, the Island Medical Program, the Southern Medical Program and the Northern Medical Program. Indigenous medical students refers to all First Nations, Inuit and Metis people.  There are currently 48 students within the MDUP.  Black medical students refers to individual self-identify as Black or multiracial with Black ancestry.  There are currently 17 students within the MDUP.

Counselling and development of wellbeing programming for all MD Undergraduate program students in the UBC Faculty of Medicine includes providing counselling services to students at all sites.  Counselling provided will be in the form of single session/short term counselling, triage and referral to stepped care including UBC, UBC-Okanagan (UBC-O), University of Victoria (UVIC) and the University of Northern British Columbia  (UNBC) Counselling Services, Student Health Service, Physician Health Program and other distributed site resources and emergency services as appropriate. The position will offer consultation to MDUP faculty and staff including response to crises and promotes mental wellbeing for students in the Faculty of Medicine MDUP through the development and delivery of wellness programming.

This position is based in the Vancouver-Fraser region (composing the Vancouver-Fraser Medical Program and the Fraser Medical Cohort). The Vancouver Campus of UBC is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam).

* Action 41: Enhance trauma, violence and other counselling or cultural support services for Indigenous students, faculty and staff

**Recommendation 11: Examine and address Whiteness, multiculturalism, reducing, constraining and actions that minimize actual, real Indigenous justice, and that reproduce systemic racism, White-influenced power dynamics, cultural biases and antiIndigenous misogyny in hiring practice and outcomes.

Organizational Status

Reports to the Associate Director, Counselling Services, Student Health and Wellbeing, for oversight of clinical work. Reports to an Assistant Dean, Student Affairs, VFMP, Faculty of Medicine for MDUP Student Affairs operational matters, and for direction of non-clinical work with respect to medical student wellbeing. Works collaboratively with the Faculty of Medicine MDUP Student Affairs team as well as the team of professionals within UBC Student Health and Wellbeing, actively participating in and contributing to the development and delivery of effective mental wellbeing programs and services. Works in collaboration with other UBC student services and community resources, including Indigenous-centered or Black-centered student services and resources (eg. UBC Indigenous or Black Mental Health and Wellbeing Programs, Indigenous Elders, ).  

Work Performed

• Works closely with Health Promotion and Education as well as MDUP Student Affairs Faculty and staff to develop and deliver culturally appropriate mental wellbeing programming for UBC MDUP  students throughout their time in the MDUP including orientations, outreach programs, workshops, seminars, groups and other resources that helps students normalize stress, understand how to manage stress, race-based trauma and maintain mental wellbeing, and how to seek support when needed. Also supports UBC student societies in their wellbeing events, including outreach events for peer support, mental health advocacy, and mental health destigmatization.
• Provides single session and brief one-on-one counselling by phone, video, and in-person to support students in the Faculty of Medicine MDUP who are experiencing mental health difficulties. Follows appropriate documentation and confidential record-keeping protocols established by UBC Counselling Services and UBC records management policies.
• Meets the unique needs of Indigenous student populations within the MDUP with mental health programming grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being, and Indigineous-centred service approaches to counselling. Includes an understanding of how the calls to action, calls to justice and recommendations presented in key reports and rulings are being honoured and implemented in programming services (eg. Report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the In Plain Site report).  
• Meets the unique needs of Black students within the MDUP by recognizing, reinforcing and building understanding of alternative ways of knowing and being to support healing, health and resilience for Black students.
• Conducts assessment to clarify MDUP students’ mental health needs and to inform wellness planning and treatment.
• Works within an integrated, collaborative stepped care system of mental health support, providing referral for registered UBC MDUP students to resources on and off campus as needed including culturally appropriate self-directed online resources, peer support, coaching, group programs, individual counselling, medical care, and crisis intervention.
• Builds and maintains a network of resources including UBC (including distributed sites) and external counselling resources specific to the needs of students in the Faculty of Medicine MDUP.
• Provides consultation, collaborates and supports MDUP staff, faculty and student peer leaders on student mental health concerns including crises.
• Develops, implements and delivers orientations, presentations and training on how to support students’ mental wellbeing for MDUP faculty and staff.
• Participates in meetings with Faculty of Medicine MDUP Student Affairs professionals and Counselling Services case management and administrative meetings.
• Facilitates, in connection with UBC Counselling Services as appropriate, the operation of counselling programs within the faculty (e.g. group counselling, etc.).
• Prepares reports, publications and other documents as required, and may be asked to sit on and participate on committees and working groups in the Faculty of Medicine
• Works closely with communications professionals to develop content for and promote wellbeing programming for Faculty of Medicine MDUP students. Responsible for ensuring student wellbeing web resources are up to date and accurate.
• May provide group supervision for project staff and/or students involved in peer programs, work-study programs, and/or volunteer assignments.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

Must be able to act with a considerable degree of autonomy and independence in the provision of mental health support to students while adhering to the ethical standards of the profession. Poor professional judgment or unethical practice would be extremely detrimental to student wellbeing and in some cases could be life threatening. It would also have a significant negative impact on public relations and the reputation of the Faculty of Medicine, the University and in some cases result in legal liability for the University.

The consequence of error for Indigenous or Black students could mean a further perpetuation of harm; fear to seek out supports and resources again due to safety concerns. For students who have been and are historically, ongoingly and persistently excluded from the pursuit of medical education, a consequence of error could have a detrimental impact on their self-worth and sense of belonging, which may contribute to further alienation.  Faculty of Medicine is committed to stand by the truth and reconciliation, the values of Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence, the implementation of the Indigenous Strategic Plan, and helping remove barriers for Black and Indigenous students in applying to medical school of UBC.

Supervision Received
Acts independently within established clinical and ethical guidelines, including Indigenous principles of knowing and being. Works within a model of collegial consultation and collaboration, under the direction of an Associate Director of Counselling Services and under the direction of the Assistant Dean, Student Affairs, VFMP, Faculty of Medicine.
Supervision Given
May provide supervision for project staff and/or students involved in peer programs, work-study programs, and/or volunteer assignments. May delegate administrative work to program assistants.
Minimum Qualifications
Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology or a related field. Eligible for professional certification in British Columbia. Minimum of five years of experience in clinical counselling plus experience supervising Master’s level practicum students.
– Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

– Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• Eligible for registration as a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Registered Social Worker in British Columbia or as a Canadian Certified Counsellor.
• Relevant professional experience rooted in Indigenous and/or Black communities and knowledge systems.
• Training and experience in single session, triage, stepped care and brief therapy preferred.
• Proven sensibility and appreciation of the role that gender, race, disability, gender identity, sexuality, socio-economic background play in the experience of health and wellbeing.
• Creates and fosters an environment that promotes inclusivity and the values of respect, integrity, compassion, collaboration and equity.
• Ability to engage comfortably in discussions with students, faculty and staff on anti-racism and discrimination, equity, diversity and inclusion using current discourse (e.g. decolonization, anti-oppression, social justice, inter-culturalism, feminism, critical race theory, disability studies, queer studies).
• Experience in effective problem solving and continuous improvement of programs and services, including working to decolonize mental health practice and advancing the educational aspirations of Indigenous and Black students.
• Experience coaching, consulting, advising, or counselling using equity, anti-racism, anti-oppression and decolonization principles in both group and 1:1 settings.
• Demonstrated ability to provide services that are responsive and sensitive to the needs of different intersectional identities, including racialized students, students with disabilities and 2SLGBTQIA+ students. 
• Demonstrated knowledge of student development theory and experience in program development, consultation and outreach.
• Skilled in fostering a learning environment that centers the needs of Indigenous and Black students and effectively promotes growth and cultural change for the broader MDUP learning environment.
• Possession of excellent interpersonal and organizational skills that facilitate teamwork and the development of effective working relationships in diverse team environments.
• Ability to navigate difficult and uncomfortable conversations with students, faculty and staff.
• Possession of a humility, open-minded, flexible, reflexive, growth mind-set to understand the experience of different intersectional identities.
• Ability to work effectively and productively and build relationships with diverse, intercultural groups.
• Commitment to continual learning.
• Appropriate coursework and training in mental health assessment, individual and group counselling, program evaluation, adolescent and adult development, learning theory, career development, cross-cultural counselling and diversity, personality theory, diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology, cultural humility and sensitivity, race-based traumatic stress and racial trauma. Expertise and experience in treatment of a wide range of concerns that Black and Indigenous post-secondary and professional program students may experience including defining identity, racism and microaggressions, intergenerational trauma associated with colonization, stress, depression, anxiety, substance use, relationship difficulties, eating/body image issues, career/life planning, transition issues and sexual violence, etc.
• Experience in successfully navigating and engaging with institutional systems, services, and support within a post-secondary institution.
• University or college counselling experience an asset.