Peer Support Worker, Mental Health

Salary

The salary range for this position is CAD $31.64/Hr. - CAD $31.64/Hr.

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The hours of work, including start and stop times, days off, work area and work site may be subject to change consistent with operations requirements and applicable provisions of the Collective Agreement and statutes. **Testing may be required. ***A criminal record check may be required

Summary

Lived experience belongs at the heart of mental health care. Come be part of a team where your lived experience can help someone else feel less alone in theirs.

Providence Health Care's Mental Health Program is now hiring Peer Support Workers for multiple teams across the organization as we gear up for the opening of the new St. Paul’s Hospital. As a Peer, you’ll draw on your lived/living experience to support patients and families navigating mental health and substance use challenges, help people access the services and supports that matter to them, and build more trusting relationships between patients and care providers. You’ll join a close-knit interdisciplinary community where peer perspectives are valued not only in day-to-day care, but also in harm reduction, strategic planning, redevelopment and the future of mental health services at PHC.

Areas of opportunity include:

• Inpatient Psychiatric Units at St. Paul’s Hospital, which provide assessment, treatment and stabilization of adults with acute mental health concerns. Peers on inpatient units support with treatment planning, activities, and the transition out of hospital.
• Complex Intervention Response Team (CIRT) is an interdisciplinary rapid response team that specializes in mental health and substance use care, providing timely support, advice, and/or education as needed to clinicians across various units so they can best support their patients who have complex mental health and/or substance use care needs in addition to their medical reason for being in the hospital, working to improve crisis intervention, de-escalation, and stabilization while ensuring culturally responsive care.

The New St. Paul's Hospital.

Come be part of one of the most ambitious healthcare projects in Canada and help shape what’s next for mental health care. As Canada’s healthcare landscape is changing, the new St. Paul’s Hospital is being built to lead that change, including a major expansion of mental health services.

Opening in February 2027, the new St. Paul’s Hospital is one of the most technologically advanced and ambitious healthcare projects in Canada, bringing together digitally enabled care, research, innovation and an integrated approach to meeting the needs of the patients and communities we serve. As part of this transformation, PHC is expanding its Mental Health services, creating an opportunity for RNs and RPNs to join our Acute Mental Health Program at a pivotal time and help shape how complex mental health care is delivered in purpose-built, inpatient rooms designed from the ground up to help support both patients and clinical teams.

What you will be doing:

• Provide peer support and advocacy: Build trusting, non-judgmental relationships with patients and families, drawing on lived/living experience to provide emotional support, advocacy and practical guidance through mental health, substance use and healthcare systems.

• Connect people with care, culture and community: Help patients access harm reduction services, Indigenous Wellness Liaisons, cultural and spiritual supports, community programs and other resources that align with their needs, goals and identities.

• Help make care more person-centred and trauma-informed: Act as a bridge between patients and healthcare providers, bringing a peer perspective that supports culturally safe, trauma-informed, harm reduction-focused and person- and family-centred care.

• Help shape the future of peer-informed care: Participate in team meetings, strategic planning, redevelopment, working groups and program improvement initiatives, contributing lived/living experience to how mental health services are delivered across PHC.

What You Bring

Education, Training and Experience

• A level of education, training and experience equivalent to a recognized Certificate in Social Services or as an Addiction Service Worker plus one (1) year recent, related experience.
• Lived or living experience relevant to the client group served, such as structural inequity, interpersonal trauma, racism, trauma, substance use, poverty, sex work, and/or physical or mental health challenges.
• Completion of a recognized Peer Support Training program.

Skills and Abilities

• Knowledge of principles of peer support practice and ability to apply principles of recovery in mental illness/substance.
• Knowledge of harm reduction principles and practices.
• Knowledge of the principles of cultural safety and humility.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to deal with others effectively.
• Ability to organize work.
• Ability to operate related equipment.
• Physical ability to perform the duties of the position.

What We Offer

• A competitive salary: $31.64 CAD per hour.
• Growth opportunities: We welcome individuals at all stages of their career, offering opportunities for professional development and growth.
• State-of-the-art facilities: The new St. Paul’s Hospital and health campus will be the most innovative approach to the delivery of integrated care in B.C. and Canada, designed to appropriately address the future health needs of patients, families, and our communities. From hospital care to primary and community health solutions, the new St. Paul’s Hospital and health campus will continue to lead innovations in care, research, and teaching. The new St. Paul’s Hospital is expected to open in 2027.
• Inclusive culture: We respect the diversity, dignity and interdependence of all persons. We value the cultural richness that our diverse workforce brings to the care of our equally diverse population of patients and residents.
• Meaningful impact: You will have the opportunity to work for an organization that is deeply committed to safeguarding of our surrounding environment by contributing to high quality care while promoting sustainable practices in your everyday work.

Who We Are:

Providence Health Care is one of the largest faith-based health care organizations in Canada. For the people at Providence, living our Mission, Vision and Values means providing British Columbians with compassionate, socially just, exceptional and innovative care every day.

From our humble roots 129 years ago, Providence Health Care has grown into a globally recognized leader in research, teaching, and care. As individuals within a mission-driven organization, we choose to be part of PHC because we value its long-standing dedication to social justice and compassionate care, its active efforts to advance environmental sustainability and planetary health, and its meaningful engagement in the process of Truth and Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

Curious about working at PHC and the culture of our teams? Check out the videos below to learn more and meet some of the members of the team you'd be joining:

2026 Team Award : Complex Intervention Response Team (CIRT)

2025 PHC Mission Awards - Mental Health Social Worker Lucky Pickering

Your day to day:

• Provides day to day Peer support and advocacy from knowledge and lived/living experience to patients and families across acute and primary care services, and will liaise with existing Peers and/or Volunteers already working across PHC sites (e.g., acute care, residential services, mental health) and outpatient clinics (i.e., John Ruedy Clinic and the Rapid Access Addiction Clinic) at Providence Health Care.
• Working as an embedded team member in the Complex Intervention Response Team to support patient referrals to the Indigenous Wellness Liaisons, as well as helps facilitate patient and family access to harm reduction services, the St Paul’s Overdose Prevention Site, traditional cultural practices, All Nations Sacred Space, and as required, access to other community health programs, cultural supports, and harm reduction services.
• Acts as a resource for both patients and health care providers by providing emotional support and advocacy and supporting referrals to the Complex Intervention Response Team to ensure health provider relationships are trauma informed, person and family centered, and embedding principles of harm reduction, cultural safety and humility in the delivery of care services.
• Supports Peer initiatives at PHC by participating in working groups and meetings related to strategic planning, harm reduction, redevelopment and other organizational initiatives.
• Tracks referral and program access data utilizing word processing, email, and spreadsheets, or is willing to learn or develop these skills.
• Attends regularly scheduled meetings and provides informal updates on the Peer Support Program.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

We acknowledge that Providence Health Care and the new St. Paul’s Hospital site is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.