Come work as an Indigenous Cultural Practitioner with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) on the South Vancouver Withdrawal Management in Vancouver. BC. Apply now to join the team!
The Indigenous Cultural Practitioner works within the context of a person, family, and community-centred trauma and violence-informed, and I culturally safe care model, and in accordance with established vision and values of the organization, and respectfully appreciates the values and history of Indigenous Peoples and Nations in Canada.
The Indigenous Cultural Practitioner is responsible in the support of an integrated traditional wellness program in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighborhood, and connecting with VCH clinicians across Mental Health, Substance Use and Primary Care services, to integrate traditional wellness into care plans for Indigenous clients. Working in part in an outreach capacity, and without general supervision, the Indigenous Cultural Practitioner provides culturally competent, and safe interventions or practices for Indigenous clients who are experiencing or are at risk for homelessness with complex substance use and mental wellness issues, within community settings.
The Indigenous Cultural Practitioner will provide culturally safe and sensitive services to Indigenous individuals experiencing complex psycho-social challenges including but not limited to: chronic health concerns, intergenerational trauma history, mental health and substance use, significant financial insecurity, experiences of violence and housing instability. The Indigenous Cultural Practitioner will be providing direct client care and must be equipped to provide strength-based and trauma-informed cultural interventions in the context of the care plan, and consultation with complex discharge planning, establishing, maintaining, and enhancing therapeutic relationships, coordinating, and evaluating clients’ response to the care plan.
The position will also develop and enhances community communications/relationships, providing consultation services to VCH clinicians across Mental Health, Substance Use and Primary Care services, engages in on- going team planning, development, evaluation, and quality improvement activities to achieve excellence in client care, and will inform policies and procedures in collaboration with the Indigenous Cultural Outreach team.
The hours of work including days off and work area may be subject to change consistent with operational requirements and the provision of the Collective Agreement and applicable statutes. Successful applicants may be required to complete a Criminal Records Review Check.
As per Ministry of Health policy, all health care workers working in publicly-funded health care facilities are required to report their past receipt of certain vaccines or history of certain infections. Collecting these records will allow for offering of any missing vaccines, and for appropriate actions to be taken in the event of any future exposure to a communicable disease or during outbreaks. For all new hires and appointments to Vancouver Coastal Health, you will be asked to provide this information as part of the onboarding process.
WHY JOIN VANCOUVER COASTAL HEALTH?
VCH is a world class innovator in medical care, research and teaching, delivering service to more than one million BC residents. At VCH, we embrace thinking boldly, taking smart risks, and "going first" when we believe it will lead to the best possible outcomes for patients and their families. We invite you to join us in creating healthy lives in healthy communities by showcasing our passion for care, connection to the communities we serve and our culture of teamwork that makes VCH a great place to work.
- Comprehensive health benefits package, including MSP, extended health and dental and municipal pension plan
- Grow your career with employer-paid training and leadership development opportunities
- Wellness supports, including counselling, critical incident and innovative wellness services are available to employees and their immediate families
- Award-winning recognition programs to honour staff, medical staff and volunteers
- Access to exclusive discount offers and deals for VCH staff
At Vancouver Coastal Health, our vision of healthy lives in healthy communities inspires us and our values and pillars guide us. We support equitable practices, diverse teams and inclusive environments, which are vital to creating welcoming spaces where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and feel supported. We encourage applications from equity-deserving communities, including Indigenous Peoples and members of racialized groups, people with disabilities and people of all gender identities and expressions and sexual orientation.
Vancouver Coastal Health is proud to be recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, BC’s Top Employers, Canada’s Best Diversity Employers and Canada's Top Employers for Young People in 2026.
Only short-listed applicants will be contacted for this posting.
***Employees of VCH must apply online via the
Internal Career Portal on CareerHub, you are currently viewing the External Career Portal. Refer to the
https://my.vch.ca/working-here/job-postings site for instructions on how to view internal job postings and how to apply as an employee. Current VCH employees who apply to this posting using this external site will be considered as an external candidate. Seniority will not apply.***
Thank you for your interest in Vancouver Coastal Health.
Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree, in a related field or related experience, with demonstrated work with Indigenous communities, supplemented with a minimum of two (2) years of offering cultural supports, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience in the health authority system, and in particular working with Indigenous individuals, communities or organizations on issues related to health and wellness.
- Experience coordinating and delivering traditional wellness/medicine within community.
- For this position, we also want to highlight that First Nations, Inuit, Metis ancestry is regarded as directly relevant to the skills and knowledge for excellence in the position.
- Pursuant to Section 41 of the British Columbia Human Rights Code, preference will be given to individuals of Indigenous identity (First Nations, Inuit, Metis).
Knowledge & Abilities
- Comprehensive knowledge and demonstrated ability to provide culturally safe care, has completed Indigenous Cultural Safety Training.
- Demonstrated understanding and in-depth knowledge of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Peoples and history.
- Demonstrated understanding of provincial and federal guiding principles and documents, for example In Plain Sight report, and calls to action to eliminate Indigenous-specific racism in the health care sector.
- Demonstrated ability to identify and recognize current health care system gaps and barriers for Indigenous individuals and communities seeking health care.
- Demonstrated ability to identify and recognize power inequities within the healthcare system associated with ongoing impacts of colonialism.
- Knowledge of the Mental Health Act as it applies to the rights and obligations of clients and staff.
- Demonstrated ability to identify suicidal ideation and basic intervention.
- Demonstrated knowledge of the principles of recovery in mental health and substance use.
- Demonstrated knowledge and experience in Trauma and Violence Informed Practice.
- Demonstrated ability to apply strengths-based trauma informed principles to practice, has completed trauma informed training.
- Demonstrated knowledge and ability to apply a Harm Reduction approach to care.
- Demonstrated knowledge and ability to conduct assessments and integrate culturally appropriate interventions and practices into care embedding principles of cultural safety.
- Comprehensive knowledge of mental illness and substance use issues including current trends, best practices, and modalities of treatment.
- Broad knowledge of mental health, primary care and substance use service delivery system, service mandates, referral guidelines, legislation, and government policies.
- Demonstrated knowledge or experience in mental health and substance use, and to provide treatment planning and case coordination.
- Broad knowledge of other health disciplines and their role in healthcare.
- Demonstrated ability to be flexible and open to a range of treatment modules for substance use from abstinence and harm reduction.
- Demonstrated ability to plan, implement, facilitate, and evaluate cultural groups, as applicable. Demonstrated ability to facilitate team building. to work both independently and collaboratively, and ability to model and foster a positive, collaborative, and respectful team working environment.
- Demonstrated ability to adjust to new or unexpected events, problem solve, and deal effectively with and/or guide others in resolution of conflict issues using restorative justice approaches.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with clients and their families, colleagues, physician, and other health care staff, both one-on-one and in groups.
- Demonstrated listening and information seeking skills that promotes open and direct communication and leads to a cooperative approach to problem solving.
- Demonstrated ability to set priorities, organize work, and meet deadlines.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with community partners and with individuals from diverse backgrounds.
- Demonstrated ability to operate related equipment. Physical ability to perform the duties of the position.
- Basic computer literacy to operate a computerized client care information system and word processing, spreadsheet, Internet, and e-mail software.
