2/10/2022: Member Support and Information Recap

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The topic for this Member Support and Information Exchange meeting was Organizational Wellness. We spoke about how members and their staff are faring, asked questions, and raised some issues. This topic was chosen in response to member concerns about individual and organizational wellness and how it relates to recruitment and retention.

Meeting Discussion

Questions from the group:

  • What is Mental Health vs Personal Struggle?
  • How are organizations discussing transitioning back to the workplace with their staff?
  • What does policy around transitioning back to the workplace look like, as PHO Orders loosen?

Discussion:

  • Consideration that staff members are being impacted by more than just doing their jobs. The are also impacted personally by the pandemic, in their own daily lives.
  • Some organizations have kept all programs operational with limited staff.
  • Other organizations have had to carefully review policy and make necessary amendments: a prime example provided was to redefine / reclassify certain programs that are essential, such as prenatal care and supports.
  • What is Mental Health vs Personal Struggle: one member described making this differentiation as part of a proactive and positive way to address/manage staff morale issues.
  • Flexibility is needed to be competitive when recruiting/retaining staff, although challenges come with this, too. Some ideas shared include understanding the challenges and benefits of staff working from home, and reviewing internal policy regarding sick leave, vacation leave, and how wellness and or family days can be introduced.
  • Putting ‘staff wellness’ into policy – people drawn to the industry are ‘the caregivers’ – there is a need to care for them too.
  • Consider review of eligibility for benefits: some organizations offer benefits right away vs after a waiting period.
  • Training, Education, Professional Development on the job: one organization has increased this as a staff incentive.
  • Clinician positions difficult to fill. New clinicians moving from schooling directly to Health Authorities or private practice before CSS – CSS as ‘training ground’ is becoming a thing of the past.
  • Many facing staffing shortage: one organization has had to shut a program for days due to lack of staff.
  • Wage redress is in the works, however, organizations need staff now.
  • Uneven competition with both private sector and private practice, particularly with positions that require specific certification, i.e. Clinicians.
  • Wage levels and incentives are on very different levels. Government funded positions/programs in community social services (CSS) much lower than private – onboarding incentives are a challenge for CSS.
  • Ability to plan for sustainable positions without dedicated and increased funding is challenging.

Members asked for access to the games provided during The Federation’s last June Conference (2021). Those interested can contact marshall@fcssbc.ca (who ran the party game breakout room).

Upcoming Meetings

The goal of the Member Support and Information Exchange meetings is to support you, our members, as leaders in your organizations and communities. It is a time to raise your policy and practice concerns or questions so that we can bring them to the attention of our government partners or others.

MSIE calls are held the 2nd Thursday of the month:

  • Mar 10: 10:00 –11:00 AM (topic to be determined)
  • Apr 14: 10:00–11:00 AM (topic to be determined)
  • May 12: 10:00–11:00 AM (topic to be determined)

Federation News

Accreditation Circle

If you are looking for support with your virtual accreditation, you are welcome to join Federation members on our monthly virtual accreditation calls. These happen on the 3rd Friday of the month, with the next call happening Friday, February 18th from 11:00-12:00. Please contact Pam or Stephanie for more information at pam@fcssbc.ca or stephanie@fcssbc.ca

Community Social Services Training Fund (CSSTF)

There are two workshops being offered in March 2022: Culturally Welcoming & Inclusive Volunteer Programs and Financial Literacy & Empowerment. To register or learn more, visit The Federation’s website. Navigate to the Training tab at the top, and click on Subsidized Workshops. Members and non-members are welcome to apply.

Participation is easy:

  1. Complete the online application to the CSSTF. Upon approval, The Federation can cover your attendance fee.
  2. Complete the workshop registration process for the specific training that you have been approved for. CSSTF coordinators will provide specific course registration links when applications have been approved.

And applications are still open for training fund monies. Even if your organization has received grant funding in previous rounds, you are now eligible to receive round 3 grant funding for additional training.

Support to Practice Supervision Training

Since April 2021, The Federation has partnered with Community Action Initiative and CityU to offer an innovative, cohort-based professional development series called Support To Practice Supervision Training. Support 2 Practice Supervision Training helps you understand the spectrum of supervisory responsibilities and equips you with the necessary skills to meet the unique needs of your clients and staff. We are pleased to be offering eight more cohorts, happening now through to the end of 2022. Registration is now open for Cohorts 7 and 8. Learn more and register on our website!

 

Wishing you wellness!
The Federation Team

Projects & Issues Update: Round Table, SHSS, WorkSafeBC, Support 2 Practice

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We are well into the new year but as you may suspect, The Federation remains hard at work on a number of important issues that demanded our attention through 2021. Our entire board of directors and staff team are continuing to support you through the ongoing pandemic restrictions and changing guidelines while also advocating on your behalf across a range of important sector issues—procurement, systems of care, collaboration, and reconciliation.

As always, I encourage you to reach out to either of us (or anyone on The Federation team) if you have questions, comments, or ideas about the projects and issues detailed below or any other Federation work. Your expertise, time, and creativity are the most valuable resources we have when it comes to building the kind of strong, sustainable community social services sector we all want.

Rick FitzZaland
Executive Director

Catherine Rana
Director of Programs and Services

Social Services Sector Round Table

The Social Services Sector Round Table’s last two meetings of 2021 focused on procurement, reconciliation, and pandemic guidelines and restrictions.

The Round Table has been discussing concerns with existing procurement processes, including the colonial and competitive aspects of RFPs. Members affirmed the need for further dialogue between the sector and government in order to explore more equitable, transparent and sustainable ways of managing procurement as well as government engagement with the sector.

While the government is unable to provide legal costs that were incurred as a result of navigating Public Health Orders or mandatory vaccinations, discussions are underway with the Public Health Office around improving the clarity of language in future health orders to minimize confusion for organizations in the sector.

There is also agreement among members that the Round Table needs dedicated time and commitment to put toward reconciliation efforts. The BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres and the Aboriginal Housing Management Association have agreed to help guide this ongoing work.

Over the coming weeks and months, The Federation and our sector partners on the Social Services Sector Round Table will be strategizing how we can best use this mechanism to achieve our collective goals and will be coming up with a plan for the year ahead to move forward on important sector issues.

Specialized Homes and Support Services

In December, The Federation and MCFD hosted a collaborative engagement session on Specialized Home and Support Services transformation. There were 170 participants who attended to learn about the implementation process.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development is committed to the development of a transformation plan. With the assistance of The Federation, current providers will be co-managing the implementation of the new Specialized Homes and Support Services starting April 2022.

This work is fundamentally tied to our long-term goal of changing and reforming procurement with the government. These services will not be going to RFPs; where there is already a contract in place, that agency will be helped to get from where they are to where they need to be to fit in the new service framework. (There will be RFPs where gaps in services are identified.)

Our hope is that MCFD will continue with these large engagement sessions along with additional, regional working tables. In the past, there have been too many long gaps between moments of action. Our goal is to show that this process is working well primarily because of the ongoing and collaborative engagement with the sector.

If you have questions or concerns or want more information, please contact The Federation’s Director of Child, Youth, and Family Advocacy, Michelle Bell at michelle@fcssbc.ca.

WorkSafeBC Board Representation

In December, The Federation and The BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres sent a joint letter to Minister Harry Bains encouraging the BC government to add a member to the WorkSafeBC board of directors that represents and understands BC’s social services sector.

The board currently lacks anyone who could bring the perspective of our broad and complex sector or anyone who could bring an Indigenous lens to the way things like compensation or mental health are governed and administered.

Earlier this month, we met with Minister Bains about this very topic. The minister agreed to pursue the structural changes needed to get Indigenous voices on the WorkSafeBC board and was open to consulting our sector when there are vacancies in the future.

Support 2 Practice Supervision Training

“This course has empowered and validated my practice and added extra skills to my toolbox.”

Since April 2021, The Federation has partnered with Community Action Initiative and CityU to offer an innovative, cohort-based professional development series called Support To Practice Supervision Training. We are pleased to be offering eight more cohorts, happening now through to the end of 2022.

Community Social Services managers and supervisors often hold dual roles; we are responsible for both the administrative oversite of our programs, as well as practice support. These are significant responsibilities in what is already a complex and challenging service landscape.

Support 2 Practice Supervision Training helps you understand the spectrum of supervisory responsibilities and equips you with the necessary skills to meet the unique needs of your clients and staff. Registration is now open for Cohorts 7 and 8. Learn more and register on our website!

Youth Education Bursary

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The Federation’s Youth Education Bursary was one of the things that most strongly drew me to this organization before I joined this team many years ago. And once I took on the role of Executive Director, the bursary program and what it stands for inspired and motivated me in significant ways.

That’s because the Youth Education Bursary is more than just a dollar amount of financial support. Yes, that is a very important part of the program. It offers young people in care a “yes” in what is too often a lifetime of hearing “no” over and over and it makes post-secondary education more accessible.

But the other thing that Federation members were striving to do when they created the bursary was to welcome a new generation of caregivers and practitioners into our sector with support and with love.

The Federation’s Youth Education Bursary recognizes young people as more than simply their experience in government care. It sees their potential and it helps them reach it. And by supporting the bursary and helping us reach as many young people as possible, you—our members—are continuing to do just that.

Recruiting and retaining staff is a challenge at all levels of your organization. The bursary program was and is an intentional effort to create a new pathway into our field for those who fully understand the issues we’re attempting to address.

Applications open now

Bursary application forms (and a link to other resources for young people) are available on our website. The deadline to apply is May 6, 2022. Please share this information with young people in your life and others who help support BC’s youth in care. The eligibility requirements now include young adults up to the age of 30.

Going to post-secondary and filling out applications and paperwork can seem complicated. One way for these kinds of applications to seem less daunting for a young person is to have a kind, caring adult work on it with them. So please offer your help to anyone completing the application.

Help spread the word

Over the past few years, our province has made strides in supporting youth in care through things like tuition waivers. While those are very much steps in the right direction, they aren’t enough on their own—especially since the eligibility criteria for tuition waivers will only help some of BC’s former youth in care.

I encourage you to help us raise awareness about the Youth Education Bursary by displaying a poster in your office or staff room or online. You can view and download the PDF poster here. Spread the word among your networks, on social media, and pass on information to youth in care, people who work with youth in care, and former youth in care.

Thank you

In closing, I want to sincerely thank all of our members for their ongoing support of this important and meaningful program. Your commitment to the bursary program and the growing community of youth working their way into our sector are perfect examples of what Altogether better is all about.
Rick FitzZaland
Executive Director