Group Leader- March Break Respite Camp

Join us in building a world of possibility! Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital is Canada's largest pediatric rehabilitation hospital. We are a top 40 Canadian research hospital that is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and we serve over 9,000 families annually.

Our vision is to support the most meaningful and healthy futures for all children, youth and families. Providing both inpatient and outpatient programs and services, Holland Bloorview is renowned for its expertise in partnering with clients and families to provide exceptional care and is the only organization to ever achieve 100 per cent in three successive quality surveys by Accreditation Canada.

Holland Bloorview has won numerous awards including Greater Toronto's Top Employers, Canada's Top Employers for Young People and Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures. We offer an inspiring, inclusive, innovative, and collaborative work environment with competitive compensation and benefit packages and programs that support ongoing learning and professional growth.

Position Summary

The Creative Arts March Break Respite Camp is a day camp for children and youth with physical disabilities and developmental delays. Participants will interact and play through music, visual art, movement and drama. The goal of the program is to enable participants to have fun through creative, sensory and social experiences and to provide respite relief to families during the March Break school holiday (March 10-14, 2025). Successful candidates must be flexible to participate in training after business hours or on weekends. Evenings: Wednesday February 12, 2025 and Monday March 3, 2025, an additional, mandatory full-team training session Saturday, March 1, 2025 (afternoon), and session preparation on Saturday March 8, 2025.

The Group Leader guides an assigned group of children/youth with disabilities, program support staff and volunteers from one structured activity to another throughout the camp day. They are an effective communicator and collaborator and a compassionate leader. They support and encourage the strengths of participants, staff, and volunteers.

There are 2 Group Leader positions available.

Key Responsibilities

• Ensure safe participation of clients in the assigned group. Clients may have a range of communication styles (i.e. some clients may be non-verbal communicators) and a variety of support needs in areas such as mobility, self-regulation, participation, self care, etc.
• Provide supervision and leadership of participants, volunteers & staff assigned to the group. Your team may include up to 4 volunteers, up to 4 Client Service Assistant (CSA) staff, and up to 4 CCA-Personal Support Worker (PSW) staff. Group Leaders complete written volunteer performance evaluations and provide feedback to staff and volunteers.
• Provide assistance, in collaboration with Client Service Assistants, Personal Support Workers, nurses and volunteers, to participants of your group as need arises (i.e. personal care, lunch supervision, eating support, activity participation, participant self-regulation and behaviour support).
• Collaborate with program staff, volunteers and families to meet program goals.
• Contribute to daily morning and afternoon program meetings.
• Participate in quality improvement initiatives, support the maintenance of a safe and healthy work environment and advance a culture of client/patient safety through work and daily practices.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Minimum High School Diploma required
• Enrollment in or completion of a Diploma in Developmental Service Work, Personal Support Worker certificate/diploma, nursing education, child youth worker/development degree/diploma or an equivalent combination of relevant experience and education would be a strong asset
• Previous work experience with children and youth with physical disabilities, developmental delays, and/or who are neurodivergent is required
• Past work experience in independently lifting, transferring and/or positioning clients with disabilities ages 4 to 18 is required
• Past work experience in supporting eating (i.e. spoon-to-mouth) and personal care (i.e. changing briefs) for clients with disabilities ages 4 to 18 is required
• Proven experience in preparing clients who use wheelchairs for transportation i.e., boarding accessible school bus
• Excellent verbal communication skills as they relate to participants, families and other team members
• Proficient written communication skills to write, understand, and effectively act on written materials from participants, families, and members of the staff team
• Demonstrated ability to quickly assess and respond to participant support needs and/or direct staff and/or volunteers to meet participant needs
• Ability to provide coaching to volunteers, CSA and PSW staff in client care tasks as needed and within the scopes of their roles (lifting, transferring and positioning, feeding/eating, personal care, behaviour support, activity modification to support participation, etc.)
• Proven comfort with creative arts (music, art, drama, movement) facilitation and participation
• Demonstrated organizational skills and ability to efficiently manage working hours
• Ability to take direction and receive feedback
• CPR certification - CPR HS (Heart Saver) certificate recommended
• Non-Violent Crisis Intervention (NVCI) Certificate an asset
• American Sign Language (ASL) qualifications an asset