The Social and Community Service Worker participates in the delivery of services and programs focused on the alleviation of poverty and homelessness, while building healthy relationships between stakeholders, volunteers, and guests in The Mustard Seed’s diverse community.
Reporting to the Community Impact Centre Supervisor, this role helps maintain a safe and welcoming environment where staff, guests, and volunteers become a life-giving community that nurtures hope, health, and transformation. The Social and Community Service Worker supports guests by first listening to and assessing needs, then providing the relevant resources and/or referrals. The position will also assist with intake, initial crisis support, and service tracking. This role will also support The Mustard Seed’s other local Community Impact Centres as needed.
Location: Red Deer Community Impact Centre
Project Number: 021411913
Position Type: Seasonal Employment (Canada Summer Job)
Duration: May to July 2026 (8 weeks)
Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (35 hours per week)
Hourly Rate: $22.00
Reporting to: Community Impact Centre Supervisor
Number of Positions to Fill: 1
RFR#: 2007
*Hiring for this position is still subject to contract approval*
MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Guest Engagement
- Welcome community members, visitors, and other stakeholders into our Centre; sign in guests in our information database and conduct intakes
- Promote programs to guests and encourage participation; aid in the facilitation of programs as needed, including leading volunteers
- Collaborate with guests to encourage positive changes in lifestyle and behavior through supportive relationships and day-to-day interactions
- Refer and advocate for guests to access programs and services within the organization and with other agencies and partners
- Assist with onsite food programming as needed.
Safety and Crisis Response
- Create a safe, healthy, and respectful environment for all community participants, staff, volunteers and visitors accessing our services and programs, with a focus on building meaningful relationships
- Provide conflict resolution using non-violent crisis intervention and use de-escalation techniques with a proactive approach
- Respond to emergencies, including drug poisonings, and assist in crisis situations.
- Perform periodic internal and perimeter safety checks.
- Enforce guests’ loss of services as necessary and participate in restorative practices with guests, escalating to the Restoration Committee when necessary.
- Ensure daily tidiness and cleanliness of the centre
Operational & Administrative Duties
- Ensure all programming materials and equipment are in good working order
- Maintain measurables and assessment tools for programming and ensure that these are recorded/met; collect data and generate reports on statistics as required
- Ensure incident reports and daily logs are done as required in a timely manner
- Receive, process, and sort donations while fostering positive relationships with donors
- Participate in all staff training and attend meetings as required
- Maintain a high level of confidentiality and professionalism
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS
- A diploma or degree in Social Work or related field preferred
- Ability to engage, communicate, and work effectively with a diverse range of people from various cultural and socio-economic backgrounds
- Experienced with developing creative solutions to complex challenges and problems
- Demonstrated conflict management, networking, and interpersonal communication skills
- A self-starter with ability to work well in a cross-functional team
- Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite
WORKING CONDITIONS
- Fast-paced and demanding, with frequent interactions in a dynamic community setting.
- Moderate physical effort is required. Considerable periods of standing, walking, cleaning, sorting, lifting, and typing. Work is primarily indoors with some outdoor tasks that may involve exposure to extreme weather conditions.
- Moderate mental effort is required to pre-emptively identify and assess conflict, problem solve, maintain healthy boundaries, and provide empathetic support for people facing extreme personal challenges.
- May be exposed to or required to respond to drug poisoning and other verbal or physical incidents.
- Employees are to be aware that many of our clients may experience difficulties or impairment at times, which could result in them uttering threats, discriminatory statements, and other insults at your person. This may in a raised voice, or in seeing unpredictable behavior up to and including the possibility of them becoming aggressive
- Training on how to respond is provided, but this is to be considered typical working conditions. Many of our clients are unaware of the impact of these comments and/or actions
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
- An Employment Background Check is required for all positions at The Mustard Seed
- As The Mustard Seed is a Christian ministry, we require our employees to agree to respect and not detract from The Mustard Seed’s Employment Values during their employment at The Mustard Seed.
- Must have legal authorization to work in Canada on a full-time basis for anyone other than current employer
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR CANADA SUMMER JOBS
- Please do not apply if all these conditions are not met
- Be between 18 and 30 years of age
- Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person to whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for the duration of the employment
- Have a valid Social Insurance Number at the start of employment and be legally entitled to work in Canada in accordance with relevant provincial or territorial legislation and regulations
- Not a member of the Immediate Family of the Employer or a member of the Immediate Family of an officer or director of the Employer
- International students are not eligible participants
- For more information about Canada Summer Jobs: https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/youth (https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/youth)
NOTE
- Your privacy is important to us. The information we collect is used solely for consideration for employment.
- We thank all candidates for their interest, however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please.
- Please visit our careers (https://theseed.easyapply.co/) page to see more job opportunities.
