Support and Care Navigator

Description

Reena Inc is supporting this recruitment for the Thornhill Community Health Centre. The hiring employer is not Reena Inc.

THORNHILL COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE

The Thornhill Community Health Centre (CHC) is an interdisciplinary primary care and community health organization committed to providing accessible, inclusive, and proactive care for individuals and communities facing barriers to care.

Thornhill CHC incorporates accessibility-focused, disability-informed, and equity-centred approaches to care, with a particular focus on supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), neurodiverse individuals, seniors, caregivers, and other underserved populations.

The CHC works collaboratively with community partners, healthcare providers, and interdisciplinary teams to improve access to comprehensive, person-centred care and promote health equity across the community.
About the position
The Support and Care Navigator serves as a key point of contact for clients, caregivers, and community members, supporting access to primary care, mental health, allied health, and community services through intake, assessment, care coordination, referrals, and follow-up.
Working within an interdisciplinary team, the role provides clinical and administrative support, contributes to health promotion and preventative care initiatives, and assists with service coordination across the continuum of care.
The incumbent ensures client-centered, equitable, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed care while supporting outreach, quality improvement, accurate documentation, confidentiality, and compliance with all standards.

Hours of Work This position follows a CHC team-based primary care model with scheduled clinical hours as follows:

• Monday–Wednesday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Thursday: 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
• Friday: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
• Sunday: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (approximately once per month)

Total weekly hours: 37.5 hours (CHC standard). A 30-minute unpaid lunch break is scheduled Monday to Friday.During the initial operational phase, these hours will apply as outlined above. Once the clinic is fully operational, hours may be adjusted in alignment with service needs and interdisciplinary team-based scheduling.This role also includes periodic participation in shared after-hours on-call coverage with physicians and nurse practitioners (typically a few days every few months).

Salary range: $60,000 – $77,000.
Usage of Artificial Intelligence
We use AI-supported technology to help sort applications according to role-specific criteria, but all decisions throughout the hiring process are made by human reviewers.

Reena is committed to providing accessible employment practices that are in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (‘AODA’). If you require accommodation for disability during any stage of the recruitment process, please notify Human Resources.

Key Responsibilities

1. Client Intake, Navigation & Care Coordination

• Serve as a welcoming first point of contact for clients, caregivers, and community members.
• Conduct intake interviews, registration processes, and eligibility screening.
• Collect, maintain, and update client demographic, socio-demographic, health equity, and reporting information.
• Conduct screening and assessment activities using approved tools such as PHQ-9, GAD-7, falls risk assessments, frailty assessments, and other standardized screening instruments.
• Provide comprehensive orientation to Thornhill CHC programs and services.
• Assist clients in accessing primary care, mental health services, allied health services, health promotion programs, and community-based supports.
• Coordinate internal and external referrals and support follow-up activities.
• Assist clients with forms, applications, interpretation services, transportation supports, government benefits, and access to community resources.
• Support care planning and ongoing follow-up as part of the interdisciplinary circle of care.
• Support patient attachment, onboarding, waitlist management, ongoing primary care client tracking, and associated reporting requirements.

2. Clinical Support

• Support physicians, nurse practitioners, and allied health providers with patient flow and care coordination.
• Support implementation of preventative care initiatives, screening programs, chronic disease management activities, and health promotion programming.
• Provide backup support related to medication inventory management, vaccine storage, infection prevention control, including sterilization and clinical supply management.

3. Medical Office & Administrative Support

• Schedule appointments and coordinate client follow-up.
• Support incoming and outgoing clinical communications, including fax, phone, secure messaging, and electronic referrals.
• Provide backup support for reception and front desk operations as required.
• Support client recall and reminder activities.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Qualifications 1) Education

• Post-Secondary Diploma or degree in Nursing.
• Additional training in care coordination, system navigation, health promotion, mental health, chronic disease management, or community development is considered an asset.
• Certification in CPR and First Aid is considered an asset.
• Current registration in good standing with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) as a Registered Practical Nurse (RPN)

2) Experience

• Minimum two (2) years of related experience in a community health centre, primary care setting, community support agency, hospital, mental health organization, social service agency, long term care home, or other health and human services environment.
• Experience conducting client intake, screening, assessment, registration, and service navigation.
• Experience supporting individuals with complex health, social, mental health, housing, financial or accessibility needs.
• Experience coordinating referrals and collaborating with interdisciplinary teams and community partners.
• Experience working with diverse, marginalized and equity-deserving populations.
• Experience using electronic medical records (EMRs), client information systems, databases, and Microsoft Office Applications

3) Knowledge

• Knowledge of screening and assessment tools, including mental health, frailty, falls risk, and health status assessments.
• Knowledge of care coordination principles, person-centred care, and interdisciplinary healthcare practice.
• Knowledge of Ontario’s healthcare system, including primary care, community health services, mental health services, and community support resources.
• Knowledge of PHIPA, privacy legislation, confidentiality requirements, and accessibility standards in healthcare.
• Understanding of health equity, social determinants of health, trauma-informed care, cultural safety, anti-racism, anti-oppression, and disability-informed approaches to service delivery.

Reena is a non-profit organization that promotes dignity, individuality, independence, personal growth and community inclusion for people with diverse abilities within a framework of Jewish culture and values.

Reena was established in 1973 by parents of children with developmental disabilities as a practical alternative to institutions. In 1977, Reena began receiving funding from the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services and since that time has grown to provide support for hundreds of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Reena offers a variety of services including: residential support, respite programs, counselling, therapy and advocacy.