Life Skills Instructor – Community Connections Program

About the role

The Life Skills Instructor supports NVSSS’s Community Connections Program by delivering practical life‑skills education, coaching, and group programming to individuals facing homelessness, housing instability, poverty, mental‑health or substance‑use challenges. The role is based at St. Michael's Community Centre in Merritt, BC, and may also involve operating the centre as a cooling or warming space during extreme weather.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and facilitate workshops on budgeting, healthy eating, personal hygiene, household management, communication, employment readiness, time management, tenant readiness, health, and community engagement.
• Adapt lesson plans to diverse learning needs, literacy levels, cultural backgrounds, and lived experiences.
• Deliver group workshops, drop‑in sessions, and one‑on‑one coaching in a safe, inclusive, trauma‑informed environment.
• Assist participants in setting personal goals, applying new skills, and navigating community resources.
• Support daily operations of the Community Connections Program, including organizing guest speakers, events, and volunteer activities.
• Help run the centre as a cooling space during heat waves and a warming space during severe weather.

Required profile

• Experience working with vulnerable populations such as people experiencing homelessness, mental‑health or substance‑use challenges.
• Ability to create a welcoming, inclusive, and trauma‑informed learning environment.
• Strong communication and coaching skills to support individual and group learning.
• Flexibility to adapt programming to varied cultural and literacy backgrounds.

Required skills