Occupational Therapist

Office Location

730 Syndicate Ave. South Thunder Bay | Thunder Bay, ON P7E1E9, CAN

Purpose of the position

The Occupational Therapist in this position is primarily responsible for the assessment, treatment and consultation services required as part of the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) and community Child First Team serving children from birth to 18 years of age with a developmental delay or disability living in KO communities. The Occupational Therapist is responsible to provide their professional expertise to identify, diagnose and treat delays and disorders in fine motor, sensory processing and self-help as well as to model for teachers, workers, parents and children effective, occupational therapy strategies that support the needs of all children with a developmental delay or disability within an inclusive classroom and community environment.

The Occupational Therapist will travel to 5 KO communities for one week four times a year and will utilize telemedicine to provide follow up, consultation, teaching and reassessment when not in the communities. Travel to Thunder Bay and Red Lake will also be required at least once every year.

• Accountability
• The Occupational Therapist reports directly to and works under the administrative supervision of the KO Health Director

Duties and Responsibilities

• To liaise closely with the Regional and Community Child First teams to help strengthen the capacity of community teams to deliver effective programs and services to children with a developmental delay or disabilities
• To conduct occupational therapy within the context of typical classroom or community activities (circle time, snack time, center time, gym time, etc.);
• To administer, score and interpret standardized pediatric occupational therapy assessments;
• To create classroom and intervention schedules, lesson plans in collaboration with the classroom teacher;
• To provide parents with activities and interventions they can do in the home that supports the child and their family achieve their goals.
• Provide professional development to teachers and special need teacher assistants, Case Managers and workers in the communities
• To generalize intervention strategies to all natural environments, which include programming for generalization in the classroom, home and new environments;
• To develop and implement lessons and activities to target individual goals of children as outlined in Individual Program Plans and participate in case conferences with team Case Managers, school and parents as needed.

• Risk management
• Work with the communities to Identify and evaluate the risks to the programs (clients, staff, volunteers), and assist the communities to implement measures to control and minimize risks

• Ethical responsibilities
• Maintains confidentiality
• Respect and safeguard client rights
• Respect the client’s autonomy and right to be treated with respect, dignity, and worth
• Safeguard the client’s well-being, and cause no harm to clients
• Ensures that clients have opportunities to express concerns
• Encourages feedback on ways to improve services

• Educational responsibilities
• Promote education and continuous learning
• Participate in educational opportunities
• Share knowledge with colleagues
• Participate in continuous quality improvement activities
• Identify capacity strengthening activities required by the communities and assist them in the development of a capacity strengthening plan

• Record keeping, reporting, and accountability responsibilities
• Keep accurate and timely records and reports observations
• Reports incidents, accidents, and unusual activity, immediately

• Supervision responsibilities
• Participate in and accept supervision/feedback from the Health Director

• Other duties
• Accepts other duties as may be assigned

Minimum Qualifications

• Must be sensitive to the cultural traditions of the Keewaytinook Okimakanak people
• Experience working with First Nation communities
• Proven leadership abilities, including accountability, and work-habits
• Experience and skills working in a political environment
• Experience in collecting and reporting statistics
• Knowledge of the complex multi-layered structure of health and social program targeted to children with
• developmental delays or disabilities and their families
• Master of Science in Occupational Therapy;
• Registered and in good standing with the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario is mandatory;
• Experience in pediatric and sensory integration is strongly recommended, preferably with children in an educational or community setting;
• Effective decision making and leadership qualities;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills;
• Demonstration and oral presentation abilities.

Salary Range

$95,000 - $100,000

Only those chosen for interviews will be contacted.