Community Support Worker

What are some of the tasks you could expect to do?

• Interviewing clients to determine if they are eligible for social assistance and what type
• Providing emotional support to clients in need
• Referring clients to the right resources to help them with problems such as homelessness or addiction
• Keeping records and monitoring clients' progress and development
• Educating the general public
• Managing other workers

What are some of the Attributes and Abilities of a Community Support Worker?

• The ability to work with other professionals like nurses, psychologists, social workers, and other
• The ability to work in challenging situations
• The ability to work in a vast array of facilities like hospitals and clinics, shelters, group homes and social service agencies
• The ability to have compassion for those in need

What Type of Work Can I Expect as a Community Support Worker?

• Community support workers help people in need get food, shelter, health care, companionship, and hope.
• Community support workers may work as social service assistants, welfare officers, outreach workers, residential counsellors, childcare or youth workers, or case management aides.  Their clients include people facing a vast array of problems such as homelessness, substance abuse, family violence, poverty, physical disability, or mental illness.
• Community Support Workers focus on empowering those who have developmental disabilities and/or dual diagnosis and promoting the development of their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well being. A key component of their job is to develop clients' independence, which will allow them to function appropriately in the community.  Services can also include behavior management, life skills training, crisis intervention, companionship, partaking in recreational activities and counseling.  They provide emotional support and may help people take care of everyday problems relating to personal hygiene, money, or medical concerns. For example, a community support worker who is helping a homeless client with an illness such as schizophrenia might encourage him or her to stay in the shelter and remain on medication, and may arrange for the client to see a psychiatrist.
• Community support workers administer and implement a variety of social assistance programs and community services, and assist clients to deal with personal and social problems.  They gather information and keep records about their clients' histories, monitor their progress which can include psychological, medical, and financial, and determine whether they are eligible for social assistance programs, such as financial support or even special transportation. They may also connect them with the appropriate community resources, such as recreation groups or treatment groups for problems such as addiction or traumatic stress.

What are the working conditions like?

Community Support Workers are employed in a vast variety of different places.  These include halfway houses, correctional facilities, street-based outreach services, psychiatric hospitals, outpatient clinics, group homes, shelters, and social service and government agencies. They may do some of their work at clients¹ homes.

They work with other professionals in the health care and human services fields, such as nurses, rehabilitation counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and faith-based agency workers.

Most full-time community support workers work standard 40 hours a week but their schedules depend on where they work.  Some community support workers may work weekends and evenings. Shelters and residential institutions have staff on duty at all times.  

The work can be stressful, exhausting and emotionally draining but extremely rewarding and deeply satisfying at the same time.  Community support workers are able to watch their clients become more effective in managing their own lives.

What are the employment options?

• Child and Youth Programs
• Rehabilitation/Detoxification Centers
• Non Profit Organizations
• Community Living
• Group Homes
• Half-way Houses
• Outreach Programs
• Women’s Shelters
• Community Service Agencies
• Private Social Services Agencies
• Mental Health Centres
• Resident Care Facilities
• Correctional Facilities and more

How much can I expect to earn as a Community Support Worker?

Community workers are employed by social service and government agencies, non-profit groups, hospitals, rehabilitation centres, and long-term care, mental health, and correctional facilities.

According to government studies, Community workers generally earn somewhere between $32,000 and $36,000 a year but with experience can earn up to $65,000 a year.  There are a number of factors affecting income including education, experience, employer, and geographic location.

Workers with post-secondary education who work for larger organizations in big cities tend to make the most.  Those who advance to management positions earn salaries at the top end of the scale.