SUMMARY OF POSITION:
This Bethesda House program provides specialized, intensive support to youth who are survivors of, or at significant risk of, human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
The Youth Support Specialist delivers frontline, relationship-based support within a high-risk and highly specialized environment, focusing on safety, stabilization, recovery, and long-term exit from exploitation.
This role involves conducting comprehensive assessments, developing individualized service and placement pathways, and working collaboratively with youth, families, kinship networks, and community partners to reduce trafficking risk and support sustainable, non-exploitative living environments.
All work is grounded in trauma-informed, survivor-centered, anti-oppressive, culturally responsive, and harm reduction approaches, with recognition of the disproportionate impact of exploitation on Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, and otherwise marginalized youth. Practice is guided by cultural humility, relational engagement, and respect for youth autonomy and choice.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Specialized Youth Survivor Support
- Build consistent, trusting, and non-judgmental relationships with youth
- Provide intensive one-to-one support to youth experiencing or at risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation
- Support youth in strengthening autonomy, recognizing exploitation dynamics, and exploring safety and exit options at their own pace
- Provide emotional support, crisis intervention, and stabilization during periods of heightened risk
- Facilitate life skills, psychoeducational, and structured programming that reflects youth identity, culture, and lived experience
- Actively engage youth in daily activities and routines to promote connection, participation, and relationship-building
- Maintain a safe, clean, and supportive household. Tasks may include, but are not limited to, cleaning, cooking, property maintenance, executing health department procedures, etc.
2. Assessment & Exploitation-Focused Planning
- Conduct ongoing, comprehensive assessments including:
o Trafficking and exploitation risk
o Coercive control and grooming dynamics
o Mental health, substance use, and trauma impacts
o Family, kinship, and natural support systems
- Integrate trafficking-specific indicators, youth-identified priorities, and cultural context into planning
- Develop and regularly update individualized service plans focused on cultural safety, stability, and long-term well-being
3. Safety Planning & Trafficking-Related Risk Response
- Conduct ongoing safety and risk assessments related to trafficking, exploitation, and missing-from-care concerns
- Develop individualized safety plans addressing:
o Contact with traffickers or exploiters
o Online recruitment and grooming
o Transportation, housing, and financial vulnerabilities
- Respond to crisis situations using trauma-informed, culturally safe, and non-violent de-escalation approaches
- Recognize and actively respond to situations involving coercion, exploitation, or trafficking
- Collaborate with appropriate systems to disrupt exploitation where safe, ethical, and youth-informed
4. Case Management & System Navigation
- Complete intakes, assessments, service planning, and placement documentation
- Support youth in accessing healthcare, mental health services, cultural supports, education, legal services, housing, and income supports
- Advocate with and alongside youth within complex systems while respecting and honoring their autonomy, voice, and choice
- Coordinate with internal and external partners to support continuity of care and reduce system-related harm and re-traumatization
5. Documentation & Administrative Responsibilities
- Maintain accurate, timely, and trauma-informed documentation including case notes, safety plans, placement planning, and incident reports
- Ensure confidentiality, informed consent, and appropriate information sharing in accordance with legislation and policy
- Participate in supervision, team meetings, case conferencing, and specialized trafficking-related training
6. Collaboration & Community Engagement
- Build and maintain strong relationships with community partners including child welfare, Indigenous organizations, healthcare, education, housing, trafficking-specific services, and/or community agencies
- Participate in coordinated, cross-sector responses that prioritize youth safety, dignity, cultural identity, and long-term stability
- Promote awareness of anti-trafficking pathways and available program supports
7. Organizational Contribution
- Work as a positive, accountable, and trauma-aware member of the Bethesda House team
- Contribute to program development, evaluation, and continuous improvement of trafficking-specific practices
- Uphold agency values, policies, and ethical standards
- Perform other duties as required to support effective and ethical human trafficking responses
8. Placement Pathways, Transitions & Reconnection
- Lead development of safe, non-exploitative placement pathways for youth exiting or disrupting trafficking situations
- Prioritize placement options that reduce risk of re-exploitation, including:
o Family reunification (where safe and desired)
o Kinship or customary care
o Community-based placements with appropriate trafficking-informed and culturally responsive supports
- Engage families, kinship, and caregivers using a strengths-based, trauma-informed, and anti-oppressive approach
- Support mediation, reconnection, and relationship repair where appropriate
- Collaborate closely with child welfare, housing, justice, education, and trafficking-specific partners to coordinate transitions and placement stability
SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE & COMPETENCIES:
- Strong understanding of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, grooming, coercive control, trauma bonding, and gender-based violence
- Demonstrated ability to apply trauma-informed, survivor-centered, anti-oppressive, and culturally responsive practices
- Knowledge of systemic factors impacting youth, including colonization, residential schools, intergenerational trauma, and structural inequities
- Strong relationship-building and engagement skills with youth
- Ability to assess and respond to complex safety and risk concerns
- Ability to work alone or with others, often in busy conditions with competing priorities
- Effective crisis intervention and de-escalation skills
- Strong professional judgment, boundaries, and ethical decision-making
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and documentation skills
WORKING CONDITIONS:
- Fast-paced, high-demand, and unpredictable environment
- Regular exposure to crisis situations and complex trauma
- Potential exposure to verbally or physically aggressive behavior
- Risk of secondary traumatic stress; access to clinical supervision and wellness supports provided
- Some physical demands, including light to medium lifting
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Post-secondary education in Social Work, Child & Youth Care, Social Services, Indigenous Studies, or a related field, or equivalent experience
- Minimum 1–2 years’ experience working with high-risk or trafficking impacted youth
- Demonstrated experience in safety planning, placement pathways, or family/kinship work preferred
- Training in trauma-informed care, crisis intervention, culturally safe practices, and de-escalation (or willingness to obtain)
- First Aid/CPR certification required
- Valid G driver’s license and clean driver’s abstract
- Satisfactory Broad Record Check required
COMMITMENT TO EQUITY & INCLUSION:
Bethesda House is committed to equity, inclusion, and survivor-centered practice. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous peoples, racialized communities, 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, persons with disabilities, and those with lived or living experience related to human trafficking and exploitation.
POSITIONS AVAILABLE:
Full-Time Line – 2 positions available (Awake Overnight)
- Sunday–Wednesday | 9:30pm–7:30am
- Monday–Thursday | 9:30pm–7:30am
Although we welcome all to apply, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
Additionally, you can submit your resume and cover letter to: [email protected]
Please include which position(s) you are applying for in your cover letter and/or subject line .
Pay: $24.00-$28.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Dental care
- On-site parking
- Paid time off
- Vision care
Work Location: In person
