The Psychiatric Nurse provides treatment and care management services, offering individualized mental health and psychosocial support to guests in their living environment. They promote independence, self-responsibility, and healthy lifestyle choices. The successful candidate demonstrates advanced crisis management and intervention skills and is proficient in assessing, planning, and implementing health services. Working within an interdisciplinary team-based model of care, they prioritize a culturally safe and responsive, trauma-informed approach. They establish a welcoming therapeutic environment, foster client self-determination and independence.

Functions & Responsibilities:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of concurrent disorders, including understanding underlying causes, treatments, and strategies for advanced crisis intervention and counseling.
2. Coordinate care for clients by collaborating with the interprofessional care team. This involves conducting mental health assessments, developing, implementing, maintaining, and adjusting comprehensive treatment plans based on client needs and best practices, administering prescribed medications, and monitoring and assessing clients' mental state and response to medications to ensure optimum client-centered care.
3. Plan and provide direct nursing care to clients in compliance with standards of practice. This includes conducting physical/psychosocial assessments, developing client-specific care plans, and collaborating with other members of the health care team to discuss and review the care plan. The nurse also implements other treatment modalities as required, such as ADLs, wound care, and medication administration.
4. Monitor residents by observing their health condition and environment, including functional ability, living arrangement, and family supports.
5. Document assessments, care plans, observations, interventions, client/family responses, outcomes/evaluations, and referrals following medical standard practices.
6. Implement and evaluate the effectiveness of nursing interventions, modifying as necessary, and recommending adjustments to treatment plans to enable independence.

7. Implement trauma-informed practice and demonstrate a strong understanding of harm reduction principles.
8. Maintain awareness of community social and mental health resources, making this information available to clients while respecting their individual goals.
9. Initiate and participate in case conferences/meetings with clients, family, service providers, and members of the interprofessional team to identify client mental health issues, concerns regarding services and coordination, emergent issues, and discussions of ongoing follow-up care to ensure a coordinated approach to treatment. Act as a client advocate to protect and promote clients' right to autonomy, respect, privacy, dignity, and access to information.
10. Effectively manage crisis situations, using non-violent crisis intervention techniques and behavior management.
11. Work collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team, including providing mentorship, support, and training as needed.
12. Learn and understand Community Builders’ values and philosophy of support, empowerment, inclusion, and openness for staff and residents.
13. Ensure compliance with legislated standards of the medical field and internal policies, recommend best practices for clinical programs, and provide leadership to accomplish these goals with staff.

Education & Experience:

1. Practicing Psychiatric Nurse, registered with the BC College of Nurses and Midwives.
2. Current First Aid and CPR certification.
3. Minimum 1-year experience in a mental health-centered environment.

Abilities:

1. Ability to uphold best practices in the nursing field.
2. Ability to independently analyze and interpret policies and make recommendations on feasible solutions.
3. Ability to independently plan, organize, manage, and control a high volume of activities.
4. Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.
5. Ability to exercise independent judgment and discretion within policy guidelines.

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