Edmonton Catholic Schools is a large urban school division whose mission is to provide a Catholic education that inspires students to learn and that prepares them to live fully and to serve God in one another. The Division is comprised of over 50,000 students and over 5,500 employees in 95 schools plus other sites.

Knowledge

Mental Health Specialist I

Requisition ID : 11170 Hours Per Week : 35

Position : New FTE : 1

Department : Occu, Phy & MH Therapy No Months Per Year : 10

Position Status : Permanent Employee Group : OOS

Rate of Pay : $63,833 - $79,833 Posting Closing Date :

The Mental Health Specialist I supports the mental health and well-being of students through direct intervention, consultation, and/or collaboration with school staff. This position focuses on providing counseling services, implementing evidence-based interventions, and supporting the development of social-emotional learning programs, without conducting individual student formal assessment or diagnosis. This role primarily provides individual counselling, small group therapy and Universal design for learning strategies in classes or across the school. The goal is to provide short term, effective mental health interventions to as many students in need as possible, reducing challenges that hinder their school participation and maximizing their academic learning.

This posting will remain open until filled.

Responsibilities And Activities

Mental Health Counselling Services (60%)

- Apply the use of relationship in individual counselling to determine student goals and needs, such as managing emotions, development of self-knowledge and personal resources.




- Utilize a variety of evidence-based counselling modalities to address student mental health needs in small group counselling, promoting emotional well-being and resilience.
- Contribute to the delivery of social-emotional learning (SEL) programs within classes and schools to enhance students' social and emotional skills, fostering a supportive school workplace.
- Provide crisis prevention, consultation, and intervention services, including suicide risk assessments and safety planning, in collaboration with school administrators, key school staff, and family members to ensure student safety and well-being.
- Provide psychoeducation, modeling and strategies to staff and students to establish trauma-sensitive, neurodiversity-affirming, and safe & caring school practices.

Intervention Planning, Documentation and Evaluation (20%)

- Develop therapeutic goals and implement short-term, evidence-based interventions for students experiencing mental health-related challenges to address their specific needs and promote positive outcomes.
- Recommend evidence-based strategies to school staff and families to support students across contexts.
- Maintain accurate documentation of students’ information, session notes, intervention, and progress.
- Use outcome measures to evaluate the effectiveness of counselling and improve intervention strategies





Collaboration and Consultation (10%)

- Collaborate with multi-disciplinary team members to identify student/family needs, coordinate inter-disciplinary services, as well as share observations, recommendations and support plans.
- Liaise with family, community professionals and health service providers to support comprehensive care or apply strategies across the student’s contexts (home, community and school)
- Act as a resource for school staff regarding mental health strategies and practices to enhance their capacity to support students effectively.
- Make referrals for specialised community mental health assessment for students presenting symptoms of mental health disorders
- Collaborate as needed with other professionals involved with the child and family, including Recovery Alberta, justice and Children & Family Services, to provide integrated support.
- Advocate on behalf of the child and family as appropriate to ensure their needs are met, and their voices are heard

Professional Development and Education (10%)

- Contribute to team and department initiatives assigned by the Manager to achieve division-wide student mental health and well-being goals
- Provide training and workshops for staff and families on topics of mental health to enhance their understanding and capacity to support students.
- Maintain professional registration through annual competency goals and development activities, including conferences, in-services, workshops, peer support, literature searches, and research.
- Meets regularly with the manager-appointed contract clinical supervisor to participate i

📌 Mental Health Specialist I (Edmonton)
🏢 Edmonton Catholic Schools
📍 Edmonton